"Julie this thing weighs a tonne!" Amy heaved Julie's suitcase from the trunk of their rental car.
"So does yours" Julie reminded her that she had the same problem when loading Amy's bags into the trunk back in Chicago.
Amy placed the suitcase on the driveway and took in the enormous house before her.
"This house is huge" she exclaimed still not believing that she was going to be staying in the Adam Bank's house for two days.
"I know we don't call him 'cake-eater' for nothing" Julie laughed at Adam's old nickname.
"But isn't Charlie's house just as big?" Amy asked then mentally slapped herself for brining it up.
"Yeah" Julie said absently wishing that she could call Charlie and Connie and have it like old times.
Why did everything have to get so screwed up? She wondered.
"Oh my god" she heard Amy gasp softly.
She looked up and grinned when she saw a smiling Adam coming towards them.
"Catlady!" he exclaimed holding his arms out for a hug.
Julie gladly accepted feeling grateful that at least one of the Ducks was still speaking to her.
"Hey Banks" she ruffled his hair.
"Ugh don't do that!" he scolded frantically smoothing his hair down.
"Ooh touchy!" Julie laughed.
"Adam this is my friend Amy, Amy this is Adam" Julie introduced the pair.
"You're not a tall blond muscle man" Adam blurted out.
"What?" Amy was confused, as was Julie.
"Sorry, Fulton said you were brining a tall, blond muscle man" Adam said to Julie.
"Huh?" Julie was confused. She never said anything of the sort.
"Ooookay" Amy said feeling like an idiot. That didn't go so well she thought.
"Why would Fulton say something like that?" Julie asked.
"Portman" Adam could have died the minute the words escaped his lips.
"That frigging idiot" Julie exploded. Of course it was Portman.
"Wait a sec is he talking about Bruce?" Amy suddenly realised where it could have come from. Julie had mentioned that Bruce had visited her at work and Portman could have easily seen him and Julie leaving together for lunch.
"Oh of course!" Julie realised.
"Oooh the Catlady has a boyfriend" Adam teased.
"Adam sweetie, you're more Bruce's type than I am" Julie informed him politely.
"Wha…what?" Adam was wide-eyed.
Amy and Julie both laughed.
"So are we gonna stand out here all day or are you going to let us in?" Julie changed the subject knowing Adam would think about her last comment for hours now.
"Uh, yeah" Adam helped Amy with the bags she was struggling with and showed them to his guesthouse.
…………………………………………………………
"She's in town Charlie" Connie looked across to the hockey star who was teaching Connie's 8 year old nephew to side-step an opponent.
"Huh? Who?" Charlie finally looked up.
"Julie you idiot, she's in town" Connie sighed.
"Oh" Charlie didn't know how to respond. They hadn't spoken to Julie since the last time she was in Minnesota.
"I think we should go see her, we can't be fighting on Fulton's wedding day, its just not fair" Connie was missing her old friend and wanted her back.
"Lets go to Banksie's then" Charlie agreed. He had been missing his weekly phone chats with Julie.
…………………………………………………………
"Jules you have some visitors" Adam gently knocked on the door to Julie's room.
"Okay" she called back wondering who would be visiting her. Probably Goldberg and Averman she decided.
She threw a cardigan over her t-shirt and jeans and ran downstairs to the main room.
She stopped dead when she saw Charlie and Connie sitting there.
"Hi" she mumbled suddenly becoming extremely uncomfortable.
"Hi" they replied equally uncomfortable.
"I'm just gonna see how Amy's getting along" Adam was the smart one with enough sense to get out of there before World War III erupted in his living room.
The trio stood there looking anywhere but at each other.
Man making up is harder than I thought Connie thought.
"I'm sorry" Connie, Charlie and Julie all blurted out at the same time.
They all started laughing.
"Seriously, its my fault, I'm so sorry for what I said, I didn't even mean it" Julie said. She felt like crying.
"I know, we shouldn't have forced you and Portman together like that, you would have made it on your own eventually" Connie apologised with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry too Jules" Charlie said before he turned serious "You're not really into me are you?" he asked fearfully.
"Spazzway you idiot!" Julie laughed swatting him on the arm.
"Why not? I'm handsome and charming!" Charlie pretended to be hurt by the comment.
"Yeah in your dreams maybe" Julie shot back.
"Ouch, BURN!" Connie laughed.
"Don't you start with me!" Charlie turned to Connie with an evil glint in his eye.
"Oh no, Charlie, NO!" Connie knew what was coming.
"No use running Cons, I'll get you" Charlie had his hands outstretched, fingers spread.
"Julie HELP!" Connie shrieked running to hide behind Julie.
"No use hiding either" Charlie inched his way towards the girls.
"GERONIMO!" Charlie yelled launching himself at the girls who both screamed.
He managed to use his size advantage to hold one girl in each arm as he tickled them mercilessly.
"Guys don't get blood on my new rug!" Adam came rushing in followed by Amy.
They stopped when they saw Julie and Connie trying to squirm away from Charlie who was laughing like a madman and maintaining a firm grip on each girl.
Adam grinned and joined in on the fun, helping Charlie get the girls.
"BANKS YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Julie screeched.
Amy stood back and watched the foursome at play. She was glad to see Julie had a smile back on her face.
Julie had managed to break free from Adam's grip and had run over to Amy.
"Oh no don't think you're getting out of this" she grinned evilly.
"Julie, no!" Amy turned to run but was caught by Adam.
"JULIE!" she screamed as the foursome now became a fivesome.
And they'd never had so much fun in their life.