"Thanks for dinner," I told Julie as we walked down the hall to my dorm room, our hands casually joined between our bodies.

She smiled. "Thank you for trusting me."

"Thanks for listening."

"Thanks for letting me."

I laughed. "Are we just going to stand here thanking each other all night?"

She shrugged, a smile on her face. "I don't know…I haven't got anywhere to be…"

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically as we reached my door.

"Can I ask you something?" Julie asked suddenly, playing with my silver ring I wore on my left hand.

"Sure," I told her.

"You're not attracted to girls at all?"

I laughed. "Why do you wanna know?"

She shrugged. "I just do."

I pulled her into a one armed hug. "Sorry to say Jules, you just don't do it for me. Nor does any other girl, mind you."

She smiled and kissed my collarbone through my shirt. "Sleep well, Adam. I'll be thinking of you."

I kissed her temple. "You sleep well too, Miss Gaffney. I hope you know how much tonight meant to me."

She squeezed my side. "I think I know…"

She smiled again and walked away, waving over her shoulder.

I let myself into my room, glad to see that Guy wasn't there. I wasn't even sure he still lived here, I didn't see him all that often. I was thankful for that.

I put my favourite U2 CD into my player and turned the volume low and collected my stuff for a shower.

I stripped my sling off and eased out of my black t-shirt. I wrapped a plastic bag around my arm and sticky-taped it closed.

As I stood under the hot spray, the strains of my favourite U2 song, 'With Or Without You' floating in from the room, I thought about Julie. About her depression. About how much she really does care about me. I'm lucky to have a friend like her.

I got out of the shower and got dressed slowly in actual clean clothes. Denim jeans and a white t-shirt.

I popped just one regular strength Tylenol for my wrist and completely disregarded the bottle of Xanax in my drawer.

I smiled as I combed my hair left-handed, smiling at the mess I was making. I shrugged slowly into my Eden Hall letter jacket and left my room, making my way down the hall till I came to a stop in front of room 41. The corkboard on the door held a computerized plaque, revealing the occupants of the room.

Fulton Reed and Charlie Conway.

I knocked.

**

I fidgeted nervously until the door opened, revealing Fulton.

"Banks, hey!" he said. "How's it going?"

I smiled. "Good, actually. I wanted to apologize for earlier. I was really short with you, and I'm sorry."

Fulton smiled. "You're forgiven."

I smiled. "Is Charlie in?"

He nodded, stepping out of my way and letting me into the dorm room. Charlie lay across his bed, TV remote in hand, flipping between what sounded like Jay Leno and a hockey game.

"Banks – hey."

He sat up and flicked the TV onto mute.

"I'm going to see Portman, see if he wants to snag a Coke…" Fulton said.

But I wasn't paying attention, I was looking at Charlie. Amazing, good-looking, funny, talented Charlie. He sat there cross-legged on his bed, wearing just boxer shorts and a Spice Girls t-shirt the Ducks had gotten him as a joke Christmas give a few years ago. Who would've thought it would end up being his favourite?

"Uh…hi," I said softly, sitting down across from Charlie on Fulton's bed.

"Hey," Charlie said softly, looking away.

"I just wanted to come over…"

He nodded. "How are you?"

I shrugged. "Managing. You?"

"Yeah…ok."

God, it's like rubbing two stones together and trying to get blood. Is that the analogy?

"I've been meaning to come see you," Charlie admitted. "I wanted to see how you were going with your wrist and stuff."

I nodded. "It's going ok."

"What injuries is it exactly?"

"Hairline fracture," I said. "The worst kind."

Charlie shook his head. "Man, that sucks."

I nodded. "Yeah, it does."

"Will you be able to play again?"

I shrugged. "I have to keep it completely idle for 12 weeks, and then I guess I could start minor physical therapy to get it strong again."

Charlie nodded and looked around nervously. "Well, hopefully you'll be able to play again. The team is suffering without you."

My eyebrows shut up in surprise. "Really?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

He nodded again. "We lost our last game to the Wildcats, 4-3."

I smiled slightly. "I seriously doubt I would've made a difference."

Charlie shrugged. "I'm sure if you weren't on everyone's mind, it would've made a difference."

Huh?

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged again. "You're not stupid, or blind. You know what's been happening the past few weeks. I can nearly bet that every single Duck was thinking about you the other night. Our heads weren't in the game without you taking center."

Wow.

"I'm sorry…"

He looked up, and looked directly at me. "I'm not asking for an apology. All I'm saying is that…I'm sorry, Banks. I'm sorry for acting like such an asshole. For completely abandoning you when you needed a friend most. I'm just so…sorry."

My heart began to beat faster and my palms began to sweat. "I understand."

"You might understand, but that doesn't excuse the way I treated you. You're my best friend Adam, and what I did was not something a best friend should do."

"Hey," I called softly to him. He looked up. "You're forgiven."

Charlie smiled slowly. "That's why you're my best friend. You're awesome."

He leant forward and pulled me into his arms, for a manly, but emotional hug.

"Thanks," I said softly into his neck.

"What for?" he asked me, letting me go, blush creeping into his cheeks.

"Just for being my friend."

He smiled. "I should be saying the same thing to you."

I clapped him on the shoulder with my good hand and smiled. "See you at breakfast?"

He smiled back at me. "I'll call by your room, ok?"

**

~|~ Friday, 10:31

Something amazingly exciting has happened. I GOT MY BEST FRIEND BACK! Charlie Conway is officially taking the place of friend back. It was amazing. I'm actually sitting here, writing left-handed, and crying, I'm so happy!

I went to his room and we just talked, and he apologized. I don't think I've been this happy in a long time.

Adam D. Banks ~|~

**

"Banks! You ready?"

I fumbled over to the door, my good arm in my t-shirt, my not good arm scrambling to shove itself into the right sleeve hole.

I wrenched open the door to reveal Charlie, who consequently busted out laughing at me.

"Ok, shut up," I grumbled, managing to get my cast through the armhole, smiling satisfactorily.

It was amazing. We'd been best friends again for less than 12 hours, but already I felt like a better person in his presence.

"So…you gonna be ready before breakfast is finished…?"

I rolled my eyes and exited my room, pulling the door closed.

"I was thinking," Charlie began as we trekked outside onto the quad. "That maybe we could go for a walk after breakfast and talk. I mean…if that's ok?"

I nodded. "Of course…"

We crossed the green grass between the dorms and the cafeteria, and I smiled. I was happy.

"Adam!" Julie called, hurrying over, raising an eyebrow at me as she noticed Charlie. "How are you?"

I grinned. "I'm great."

She smiled at me and took my hand, squeezing it before starting a conversation with Charlie.

I watched him talk to Julie, his tone effortless, his smile genuine. This was the man I wanted to love for the rest of my life.

We entered the cafeteria and got a table, just me, Charlie and Julie. We were shortly joined by Portman and Fulton, who both seemed decidedly upbeat despite the recent events.

"How in hell do you expect to eat scrambled eggs with one hand?" Charlie demanded of me once we'd gotten our breakfasts.

I smiled and shrugged, not sure of the answer myself.

I clutched my fork in my left hand and gingerly dug it into my eggs. I raised it halfway to my mouth before the eggs tumbled off, hitting my plate with a splat.

Julie laughed and took my fork from me, gathering some eggs and putting it into my mouth.

Everyone laughed as Julie fed me the rest of my eggs. Tomorrow morning I was having toast.