"Fucking lunatic," Daniel mutters as a car cuts him off.

He's on his way home from work and can't wait to get home and start on the six-pack he just bought.

Daniel sighs and thinks about his wife. He misses her. If she knew how drunk he plans on getting tonight, she'd be pretty pissed. He doesn't care, though. He doesn't have many friends to drink with him nowadays, and it's not like Jackie's here to bitch about it.

He frowns, thinking about how annoying she's been lately, talking about their problems. The last big fight they had had to be a month ago, at least. He thinks about it all, everything she said… well, it was nothing she hadn't ever said before.

"I hate you," Jackie spat, seething. "Don't you ever touch me again, you asshole."

"I lightly pushed you," Daniel said in annoyance.

"That still is no way to treat your wife," Jackie insisted.

"Yeah, and you think the way you treat me is ideal?" Daniel bellowed. "You, fuckin', you hound me all the time. You won't let me forget about the one time, Jackie, the one fuckin' time that I did something worthy of being pissed over."

"You cheated on me!" Jackie screamed. "You betrayed me! You're lucky I ever forgave you."

"Yeah, I'm lucky," Daniel sarcastically says. "I am just so lucky that I have you, what with all the shit you accomplish, all the money you bring home."

"Oh my God." Jackie seethed and turned around, hiding the tears in her eyes. "You're such a jerk." She wiped her eyes. "I can't believe I have to deal with this for the rest of my life."

"Oh, great, Jackie. Crying because you have to be married to me, that's just great," Daniel retorted.

"I should have just stayed in Wisconsin!" Jackie yelled. "Should have stayed with Andy; you know, he treated me better than you ever have."

"Yeah, and I guess I should've just stayed with Kim!" Daniel screamed. "She never bitched at me this much!"

Jackie went silent and disappeared; Daniel didn't know where she went. Five minutes later, she emerged from their room with a packed bag.

"I'm leaving," Jackie said. "I'm going somewhere else where I don't have listen to a stupid, drunk asshole!"

Before Daniel could say anything more, Jackie walked out the front door. He didn't bother going after her. There was no place for her to go, anyway.

Daniel scowls at the memory. Sure, it was pretty bad but it's not like he meant any of the things he said. He was mad. She knows that he loves her, and he's made it very clear as of late.

He pulls into the driveway and sees Lindsay walking away from his front porch. She stops and walks over to him as he gets out of the car.

"What're you doing here, Linds?" Daniel asks.

"Well, my dad told me he ran into Nick the other day," she tells him. "He's going over there for dinner tonight and apparently so am I." She pauses. "I don't know, I just figured I should tell you."

Daniel makes a confused face. "Why?"

"Because Nick was your best friend," Lindsay says. "I didn't know if you'd want to come, too, or if you'd be happy he's alive, or what."

"You'll have to tell me how it goes," Daniel remarks. "What he's like. That's what I'll be interested to hear about."

"Okay," Lindsay says. "I'm just saying, my dad said he seemed normal."

"What your dad considers normal and what I consider normal are two different things," Daniel reminds her.

Lindsay shrugs. "I guess you're right. I'll let you know how it goes. See you later."

Daniel watches her walk off and quickly grabs the six-pack from his truck, keeping it by his side just in case Lindsay happens to turn around. He and Lindsay were friends first but that wouldn't stop her from telling his wife.

He enters the house, puts the beer on the counter, and tries to scope out whether or not his son is home.

"Mom would be mad," Justin's voice says from behind him.

Daniel jumps. "Jesus, kid, you scared the shit out of me." He pauses. "Yeah, I know she'd be mad. That's why we're not gonna tell her, okay?"

"I guess so," Justin says and begins walking to his room.

"Hey, now, come on," Daniel says. "I know that tone, okay? You're judging me."

"There's just a lot of things you don't want Mom to know that you're doing," Justin points out. "And, like, the only proves my point of what I said the other day."

"What, about divorce?" Daniel shakes his head. "I told you; don't worry. These are harmless little white lies, you know? Happens all the time in marriages."

"All I'm saying is I can't think of any white lies Mom's ever told," Justin says, shrugging.

"Yeah, well, you're a kid," Daniel says, defensive. "You don't know everything about us."

Justin shrugs again and walks away.

…

Lindsay enters her parents' house, no kids in tow.

"Lindsay." Jean smiles warmly from where she stands in the kitchen. "Where are the boys?"

"Oh, Matthew's with Barry," Lindsay explains. "And, uh, Ollie begged me to take him to the movies with one of his little girl friends. Her mom is giving them a ride home."

Jean shakes her head with a small smile. "I can't believe how big he's getting."

"Yeah, same here." Lindsay peers over in the other room. "Is Nick here?"

"Yeah, he's talking to your father in his office," Jean says.

Lindsay gives her mother a look. "Why are they in there?"

"Nick's trying to show him how to use that computer we got," Jean says. "I told him it would be a waste of money, but here it is, still sitting in your old bedroom collecting dust as neither of us can figure out what on Earth it's supposed to do."

"Hmm." Lindsay strolls down the hall and enters her father's office, a.k.a. her old bedroom. She sees Nick right away leaning on the computer desk; he's hard to miss given his height. He looks pretty much the same, albeit with a little bit more weight on him then before.

"Nick," Lindsay says, and he looks over at her.

"Lindsay!" Nick walks over to her and gives her a quick hug. "Wow, you look incredible. Exactly the same after all of these years."

"Yeah, well, thank you," Lindsay says politely. "You look pretty much the same, too!"

"Yeah, sure, plus twenty pounds," Nick jokes. "I'm just, uh, helping out your dad here with this computer."

"I'm never going to understand it," Harold states, standing up from the computer chair. "I'll let you get reacquainted. I'm going to go see if your mother needs any help in the kitchen."

Lindsay watches her father exit the room, then looks at her ex-boyfriend. "So, what's new with you? I've heard… things from Ken and Daniel."

"You still talk to them?" Nick asks, surprised.

"Yeah, Daniel's actually my neighbor," Lindsay says. "His daughter is dating my son, weirdly enough."

"No way," Nick says. "How old are they now, anyway?"

"Alex and Matthew are fifteen," Lindsay says. "I have another son, too, Oliver. He's twelve and happens to be best friends with Daniel's son as well."

"Wow, who'd have thought you two would stay in contact all these years?" Nick wonders aloud. "You're married, I'm guessing?"

Lindsay winces but tries to keep an upbeat look on her face. "Hey, I asked you what's new with you first," she reminds him. "You never answered."

"Okay, fine," Nick agrees. "I'm… well, I'm a giant mess, I guess, which shouldn't come as that big of a surprise. I joined the military, got married, and we never had kids, which I guess is a good thing. She left me six months ago because I was too boring and apparently had a stick up my ass."

"Ooh." Lindsay gives him an apologetic look. "I can't picture you being remotely like that, if it's any consolation."

"Oh, no, I was," Nick admits. "I think it was the Army getting to me. I figured I should be like my dad and I was pretty much just walking around all pissed off all the time. So, after she left me, I quit my job and now I'm the basketball coach at McKinley and I literally wash dishes on the weekends at a bar. Glamorous, right?"

"Well, you certainly don't seem like you have a stick up your ass anymore," Lindsay points out. "Maybe all of that was a good thing."

"Nah." Nick shoves his hands in his pockets. "None of it was. It's all just a big… regret, I guess." He looks down on the ground for a moment, then back up at Lindsay. "What about you, huh? I bet you're, like, some big shot lawyer or something now, huh?"

"Nick, you're forgetting I had a kid when I was basically a teenager," Lindsay points out, slightly laughing. "No, I… I screwed it up for myself, too. But I was happy about it, for a while. Things really worked out. You know, I had my job as a professor, my wonderful family… I couldn't regret any of that."

"I'm sensing a 'but'," Nick says.

"But," Lindsay says, hesitant. "My husband died a month and a half ago. Car accident. Now I'm just a single mom of two boys who teaches and can barely afford the bills. My life is lame, too. Same boat, Nick."

Nick gives her a sympathetic look, unsure of what to say. "I'm really sorry to hear that, Lindsay," he finally says.

"It's life," Lindsay says. "I'll be fine eventually."

"Well, if you ever need someone to bitch to or mutually complain with, I'm here for you," Nick says, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks," Lindsay responds, forcing a smile. "You really should reach out to Daniel, you know? He doesn't really hang out with anyone anymore. He could use a friend and it seems like you could, too."

"What about Ken?" Nick asks. "I thought he still hung out with him."

"Oh, barely," Lindsay says. "Ken had a daughter two years ago and now he hardly ever comes out."

"Huh, weird," Nick says. "Well, it'd be nice to see Daniel again. Never really understood why we stopped talking. He probably thought I was a giant dick."

"I don't know," Lindsay lies, and they walk out of the office and into the kitchen to have dinner.