CHAPTER FIVE – Joe 'n Moe's

I slammed the door of my Jetta and took off my sunglasses, securing them into my hair. I grinned as I saw all my friends crowded in the Pike's driveway along with luggage bags, sports equipment and coolers. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon – the trip couldn't have started out any better.

"Char! Perfect! You're here!" Vanessa cried, thankfully. "We're having a tad bit of a problem, trying to figure out who's going in who's car."

There were nine of us all together who were taking the trip to the Jersey shore: all the members of the BSC, the Pike triplets and their friend Craig Sheffield. Thankfully, since it was the long weekend, most of our clients had either planned their own trips or just wanted to spend time with their kids at home.

"Um, I can fit three other people in my car. Then there'll be space for all the extra stuff that can't fit in the SUV," I offered.

"'Extra' being Jenny's half dozen designer bathing suits she brought along for the three days," Karen snickered. Jenny, famously known for being very spoiled, blushed. Karen and Jenny despised each other when they first met as kids, but over time formed a really great friendship. They do pick on each other at times though – this being one of them.

"Yeah, well at least I haven't been wearing the same one since gradeschool!" Jenny countered back, laughing and playfully pushing Karen. Karen had a mock look of anger on her face as Adam cried,

"Ooooh! Burn! Good one, Prezzioso," raising his arm for a high-five. They slapped hands as Karen looked on with an exaggerated pout.

"Aww, don't worry -- we still like you, Brewer," Adam said, smiling and draping his arm around Karen's shoulder. He started tickling her but Karen quickly got away from the hold he had on her.

"Okay! Settle down, peeps," Vanessa said, smiling but raising her voice.

We hashed out a couple of seating plans and decided on one that seemed to work out the best. Jordan, Becca, Vanessa, Adam and Craig would be in the Explorer. Karen and Jenny would be riding with me, along with Byron in the front seat, who would be our navigator (in case the two cars got separated) and the alternate driver. We managed to get everything settled in both cars and were soon pulling out of the Pike's driveway.

In the Explorer ahead of us, we could hear Adam yelling, "Seeeeaaa City, heeeere we come!" with Craig howling like a mad dog through the rolled down windows. We could also hear a noticeably irritated Vanessa, shrieking,

"GUYS! Shut the HELL up!!"

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We had been driving down the interstate for quite a while, when Byron turned down the volume of my car stereo to answer his cell phone. It was Becca, telling us they were hungry and wanted to stop at a diner five minutes past the next exit to grab a snack. We decided it was the perfect time for a pit-stop since we were getting pretty hungry ourselves. The Explorer was already parked in the parking lot when we got to Joe 'n Moe's, a cute diner that looked like it had popped out of a fiftie's movie.

".. And an extra large order of chilli fries to go with those cheeseburgers and oh, two large Cokes." Craig had just finished giving his order to the waitress as we walked in the diner.

"Man, I thought we said 'snack,'" Byron said, laughing.

"Hey," Craig said, raising both his hands, palms up, "a growing boy needs his energy."

"And apparently a whole lotta grease to go with it," Jenny said, crinkling her nose. Laughing, we grabbed the booth right next to theirs and settled in with our menus.

"Any suggestions?" I asked Byron, scanning the desserts list.

"Yeah, they have really good strawberry-rhubarb pie here. You should give it a try," he replied, just as the waitress dropped by our booth. She took all our orders and our drinks came a few minutes later.

"What's with all the coffees, ladies?" Byron asked, motioning to the cups of black coffees in front of Karen and Jenny.

"Like, ohmigod Byron! Didn't you know? Like, coffee's the new 'in' thing right now!" I said in my best valley girl accent. Byron laughed as both Jenny and Karen shot me dirty looks.

"Well, here's the thing," Jenny began. "At the end of the year, Karen and I were waaaay behind in Mr. Webber's math class, right? So here we were, cramming like CRAZY for the final, at Karen's one night and Miss Smarty- Pants here suggests we drink really strong coffee to keep us from falling asleep. It worked perfectly for that one night – the only problem is, now we can't stop."

Byron almost choked on his Coke and laughed, "What do you mean 'now we can't stop'?"

"That's just it. It's weird – like we're addicted to it," Karen replied, opening up packets of sugar.

"Any thoughts of going into rehab?," Byron teased.

"Nope – just the twelve step program," Jenny retorted, grinning. The waitress came back with our orders and we dug in. Just like Byron had said, the pie was terrific.

We spent about half an hour at the diner, most of which was spent waiting for Craig to finish his gigantic order of food. Soon enough, we were hitting the road again.

As I was walking to my car in the parking lot, I heard someone run up behind me and say,

"Hey!" Before I could turn around, I felt someone grab hold of my hand.

It was Byron. I was caught off-guard by the somewhat intimate gesture of hand-holding and I guess my facial expression mimicked what I was feeling, because Byron took one look at my face and quickly dropped my hand. I tried to regain my composure and asked,

"Uh, what's up?"

"You should let me drive the rest of the way. That's what I'm there for, right?" he replied.

"Yeah. I mean, I guess – only if you really want to."

"Great." He stood there, grinning. I looked around the parking lot, wondering why we were still awkwardly standing there, with him grinning at me. "The keys?...." Byron finally said. I blushed. Right. The keys. I tossed them over to him.

"Definitely a good thing that you're letting me drive, Charlotte. You're way too spaced out right now," Byron teased, laughing. "Maybe that pie did something to you." He slid into the driver's seat just as Jenny and Karen walked out of the diner. They were each carrying disposable cups of what I could only assume was coffee.

"What??" Karen cried, as I watched them, shaking my head. "I told you! We're addicted!" I laughed, following them to my car and got into the front seat.

"Ready to go, ladies?" Byron asked, adjusting the rear view mirror.

"Yes, sir," I said, pretending to salute him as he was pulling out of the parking lot. Smiling, he looked over at me and winked.

For the second time that day, I was caught off guard. This time it was from the fact that I suddenly felt something in my tummy do a little flip.

"I must be going insane," I thought to myself. "This is Byron Pike we're talking about..."

I quickly shook off any thoughts of Byron and gazed into the busy highway.