A/N: Alright, we're back. If anybody's still reading this, stay patient because the story is now halfway over and it gets better. Trust me! Anyway, you didn't really want to listen to me ramble on, so here it is.

14.

It was about noon the next day. Louis was in his bed, snoring away as usual. He was done with high school and he thought life was perfect. The phone rang and Louis didn't do any more than grunt and roll over. Ren answered the phone and came upstairs to get her brother. She swung open his door, not knocking, and yelled, "Louis! Telephone!"

Louis opened up a single eye and focused on Ren. "Who is it?" he mumbled in a very sluggish dialect.

"Twitty. Who else?" She tossed him the cordless phone and left.

"Twitty? What is it? You know not to call me this early in the day. It's not even 3 p.m. yet."

"Yeah, I know, man, but you mind if I come over? I need to talk to ya."

"Sure." Then they hung up and Louis rushed to get dressed. Twitty showed up at the house about 10 minutes later. He rang the bell and Louis ran down the stairs, knocked Ren down when he got down stairs and answered the door. He and Twitty exchanged hi-fives and were all smiles for a few seconds. "So, what's up, man? Did you get something to eat over at Amy's?" Louis asked, breaking the ice.

They moved inside and Twitty started telling his story. "Well, dude, after I left the Waffle Hut, I went over to Amy's like I said and then we got to talking and stuff and that led to some deep stuff that we've never really gotten into before. I mean, stuff like college and life plans and she started talking about moving on. And that eventually led to our relationship. And then she said it'd probably be best if we broke up."

Louis grabbed his buddy and brought him in for a friendly, manly squeeze. In other words, Louis hugged his best friend. "Sorry to hear that, bud."

"Yeah, I don't know what to do. I kinda wanna be alone, but that'll probably just get me more depressed."

"Hey, Twitty, you can hang out here as long as you want."

Then Mrs. Stevens came walking through the hallway and saw the boys. "Hi there, Alan. How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm alright," Twitty said sighing and looking at the floor.

Louis put his arm around Twitty's shoulder and said softly to his mom, "His girlfriend dumped him last night."

She placed her hand on her chest and said, "Oh, Alan, I'm so sorry. Would you like me to make you something to eat?"

"Maybe just a glass of milk, Mrs. Stevens." So, she was off and Louis and Twitty took a seat on a nearby couch and Twitty let the whole story come out. He and Amy had dated throughout the whole senior year of high school. They kissed once in awhile, but there was never much more than that. She was more interested in getting "tied down" and Twitty was more interested in music and hanging out with his friends. Then Louis' mom came with a glass of milk for Twitty. "Thank you, Mrs. Stevens," and she left. Then Twitty went on to say that when he, Louis, Tom, and Tawny all went out to eat to celebrate, she felt pretty left out. The group tried to welcome her in, but it was never very easy and she didn't quite fit in. So, in her eyes, breaking up with Twitty was the only reasonable thing to do.

Louis tried to throw in some words of encouragement for his buddy, "Look, Twitty, women -- we don't need 'em. They're worthless. Just extra baggage. That's all! They mean almost nothing. They need men, but men don't need women. They can have their marriage crap and their soap operas and their stupid actor boyfriends. We don't need 'em, man!"

Twitty was about to agree with Louis when he said, "What? Did you say 'stupid actor boyfriends'?"

Louis had a blank look on his face and was looking for something clever to say when he finally said, "I, uh didn't say 'stupid actor boyfriends', I said 'stupid active waiters' because you know, they're always flirting with those stupid waiters at those stupid fancy restaurants that they always expect you to take them to! You know what I mean?"

Twitty slowly grinned and said, "Lou, you're jealous that Tawny's going out with Corey, aren't you?"

Louis put his hands on his hips in disbelief and said, "No! No way!" Then Twitty raised an eyebrow and stared at Louis for a second. "Hmm, maybe a little."

Twitty clapped his together upon this revelation. "Dude! You're jealous of Tawny and Corey! You're even turning red! This is sweet!"

Louis turned to hide his reddening face and said, "I am not!"

Twitty was really smiling by this point, "Aw, dude, I think it's kinda sweet, if you don't mind me saying . . ."

Louis pointed his finger at Twitty and said, "I thought we were here because Amy broke up with you!"

Twitty's happy world came to a crashing halt. "Aw, man, thanks for reminding me. I thought I'd gotten that off my mind."

"Sorry, man. But, hey, what I can I do for ya?"

Twitty was looking for the right thing to say. Except for that brief moment of joy when he figured out that Louis was feeling a little bit of jealousy, Twitty was a pretty depressed guy. "I dunno, man. I know people always want to be left alone right after they get dumped, but I could really use someone to be with for a little while. Do you mind?"

Louis slapped Twitty's back. "Hey, man, you're my best friend. I got your back."

Twitty started smiling again, "Thanks, dude."

Louis and Twitty went up to Louis' room and they popped in a movie and they were back to laughing like old times. They were watching an old Steve Martin movie and they were really cracking up. They laughed so hard they were almost crying. Twitty was doing a lot better. It looked like he had already gotten over Amy. After all, for two people that dated for several months, they didn't go on many dates. Twitty was usually hanging out and conspiring schemes with Louis, although most schemes were Louis' ideas anyway. So, after the movie was over, they collected themselves and they walked back to Twitty's house. "Hey, dude, thanks. I'm doing a little bit better now."

"No problem, man," Louis said. "Anytime. I know you'd do the same for me."

"Later, Lou."

Louis waved to say goodbye, but then he had a revelation. "Hey, Twitty!"

"Yeah?"

"I just had an idea."

"Uh oh. Do I want to know?"

"Oh yeah. This isn't a bad one or anything. What's the one thing we haven't done in all our time together as best buds?"

Twitty scratched his head and said, "Stayed out of trouble?"

"Besides that."

"Well, I dunno."

"A trip! That's what we need. A senior trip!"

Twitty grinned and brushed his blonde hair out of his face. "Dude, that's a sweet idea, but . . ."

"But what, Twitty?"

"How are your parents gonna let you do that? You don't have a job, you barely have a car that works, so how are your parents gonna just let you go on a trip somewhere in the country?"

Louis shifted his eyes back and forth and grinned . . .

Two days later:

"Stevens!"

Louis looked up and saw his angry boss literally snorting steam out his nose. "Yes, sir, Mr. Dingo, sir!" he reported and saluted.

"The name's Drango, Stevens. Now take these documents up to the fifth floor."

So, as Louis was about to talk to his dad about the whole senior trip idea, he told Louis that there was a job in the mail room at his law firm and encouraged Louis to give it a try. Louis had nothing to lose. Besides, if Louis didn't get a job, his dad would never let him go on a trip. "Yes, SIR!!" Louis said loudly and saluted yet again.

"Relax, Stevens. You're not in the army. Just do it!" the manager said. "Now go!!!"

Louis was off and running. He clutched a stack of law documents under his arm and ran up some stairs furiously. He swung open a door and was about to rush through the hallway to his destination. But, when he opened the door he knocked over someone, of course. "Sorry about that, sir," he said. The lawyer brushed himself off and sent a scowl in Louis' direction. Louis kept on moving until he reached the office he needed to be in. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey there, son. Do you have something for me?"

"Sure do."

"So, how's your first day in the working world going?"

"Oh, it's OK, Dad. I got the boss downstairs a little steamed 'cause I kinda put some vinegar in his coffee. But I think we got it all worked out."

Steve kind of turned an eyebrow up and then he said, "Well, don't worry about it, Lou. You'll do just fine with him. Just do what he tells you and you'll be fine in your job down there in the mailroom. Tell you what, lunch is coming up in another hour. What do you say we go get some burgers? My treat."

Louis grinned, "Sure."

Steve proudly patted his son on the back and said, "Well, I'll come on down in an hour or so to get you. See you."

"Bye, Dad."