Thanks again to the guest who reviewed. I wonder if you're the same guest who left the previous reviews or if it's three different people. Anyway, thanks to those of you who continue to read.

Chapter 22: Pictures

Later that night, Lizzy and Matt sat down and he knew he was in for it. He wasn't sure exactly what she'd say but knew that she wouldn't let him off easy for forgetting to get her something. "I don't want to sound ungrateful or like a toddler throwing a fit; I'm 17 and need to start acting like it but I feel like I need an explanation. I know that playing in the cup finals, training takes over everything. My relationship with Dwayne suffered because of high school baseball playoffs so I understand that. I also understand that you've spent more than four grand on me since you came back into my life and I appreciate that. Everything you've done means a lot. Then again I think about what Fulton and Charlie got for their birthdays and it makes me wonder if a simple card was just too much for you to swing by and pick up. I think I might have, at this point, even accepted an e-card," Lizzy said.

"Hold that thought, will you?" Matt asked. He stood up from the couch and walked through the game room probably to his office. He returned moments later with a square package wrapped in bright blue paper. He sat down next to her and tried to comfort her. "I was about an hour from Dad's place when I realized that I had forgotten this. I'm not blowing smoke either. I got back here and meant to send it so I left it on my desk. Then I got so wrapped up in making sure that I could give the Camaro to Fulton and that his parents were okay with that, and I ended up forgetting that I hadn't given this to you yet. I cannot convey how sorry I am, how much I apologize for not giving this to you on your birthday. When Chris told me that I hadn't gotten you anything, I didn't believe him. Not until Ben said it too."

"So? What's in the box?" Lizzy asked.

"If you open it, you'll find out," Matt answered. He smirked and Lizzy rolled her eyes. She tore the paper off then opened the box. Matt couldn't help but smile as her face lit up.

"Hockey gloves?" Lizzy asked, pulling them out and then on. They were a bit big but they were warm and they'd be better for her than the pair she had since hers were falling apart.

"Fulton told me your current pair is falling apart but that's not it," Matt said, nodding to the box.

Lizzy sighed and pulled off the gloves then looked back in the box. There she spotted a framed photo she had never seen before. She gently lifted it out and saw it was her mother. Then she looked at the girl in the photo. "How did you do this? That's my school photo from ninth grade, and that's Mom. She died when I was a baby," Lizzy said, staring at the photo. Her mom was standing next to her, they were both smiling at the camera, and it looked real.

"I know a guy, he scanned both pictures into his computer and then with some very new, very good software, he combined them. Photo looks real, doesn't it?" Matt asked.

"But it's not. It'll never be real." Lizzy looked up at Matt and he instantly felt bad. She looked heartbroken.

"I know it's not and I wish beyond everything, I'd give everything I have to bring her back but I can't. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I just ... I thought—I wanted you to have a photo of you and Mom where she wasn't looking dead tired from a four-hour labor in the middle of the night."

Lizzy stood and went up to her old room. It still looked like it had when she was little minus all the personal stuff. She sat down on the bed and stared across the room. It was a thoughtful gift and to be honest she really would have appreciated more photos and stories of her mother but to know that the photo could never happen in real life, kinda overrode every other feeling. She pulled her phone from her pocket and called Ben. Though he had wanted to be there for Fulton's birthday, he was the closest to Fulton of all of Lizzy's brothers; he was working a part time job at a local store and couldn't get the time off to come up. When he picked up she explained what Matt had done and how she was feeling about it.

"He did the same thing to me," Ben said.

"What do you mean?" Lizzy asked.

"You remember how he was home when you came home from school this year?" Ben asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, he brought two photos with him. One for me and one for Seth. Both photos were taken the day we graduated from high school. Seth from Eden Hall and me in Texas, both of us with Dad. Matt just added Mom to the picture. Seth loved it. He was four when she died so he kinda remembers her more than I do. It's touching that he did it for me, I know that Mom will never be there in person like that, not when I graduate college, not when I get married, not when I play pros, but she is watching over me, and this just reminds me of that. I didn't get that at first, I think I was as angry as you are but I appreciated the thought after I thought about it. Mom would have loved to see you as you are now. I think she'd be real proud of you too. He wants you to know about Mom and show you how beautiful she was inside and out; at least, that's how Chris explained it. Don't be mad at him."

"I don't know, Benji. Like you said, I appreciate the thought and it is nice to have a photo where she doesn't look worn out but it's not real and having it, just feels wrong," Lizzy said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. What do I say to him?" Lizzy asked.

"The same thing you said to me," Ben suggested. "Matt'll understand. He loves you and I bet right now, he's on the phone with Chris wondering what he did wrong."

"Ben!" Lizzy could hear their dad call in the background. "Phone's for you."

"Who is it?" Ben called back.

"It's Matt," Rob answered.

"Why is he calling you?" Lizzy asked.

"I don't know. Should I talk to him?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, just pretend we didn't have this conversation. At least, not until he tells you what's wrong and how he plans on handling it."

"Got it. Talk to you later." Ben and Lizzy hung up and Ben took the phone from his dad.

"You were on the phone with Lizzy?" Rob asked as Ben covered the mouthpiece of the phone. Ben nodded. "You going to tell Matt?" Ben shook his head. "Well, I'll let you get to it." Ben turned to the phone as Lizzy leaned back against her pillow. Twenty minutes later Matt climbed the stairs but didn't enter the room.

Lizzy sighed and booted up her laptop, plugging it in to talk to Adam. He wasn't on but she spotted Kenny and talked to him for a while. He could relate stating that when he had come back from the Olympics it had been awkward between him and his brother until they had sat down and talked. When they had everything mostly cleared up and though they still had misunderstandings, it wasn't that bad. Lizzy agreed to think about it but decided not to push it unless Matt approached it. By Monday he still hadn't so she called Adam. He welcomed her to come over and watch the Twins game with him and some friends. They weren't Ducks though he did admit they were friends from the neighborhood. Knowing that the game didn't start for over an hour, and that it only took about 25 minutes to drive there, Lizzy planned on stopping by the deli before going over there. She headed to the door only for the doorbell to ring. When she pulled it open she saw her brother's girlfriend. "Hey, Star," Lizzy said.

"Hey, where's your brother?" The redhead looked at her curiously as she grabbed a light jacket.

"Somewhere around here," Lizzy answered. She turned back into the house moving out of Star's way. "Matt! It's for you and I'm going to Adam's!" Lizzy called to her brother.

"Hold it," Matt called back, coming into the foyer from the living room. "What?"

"It's for you, and I'm going to Adam's," Lizzy said. She grabbed her keys and left. Matt sighed and looked at his girlfriend.

"She still not talking to you?" Star asked as they walked to the living room.

"I don't know. It's like she doesn't want to talk at all," Matt said.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Star asked.

"I guess not. I should, shouldn't I?"

"Only if you want to fix things, genius," Star laughed. Matt smirked and pulled her to him as they flopped down on the couch.

Meanwhile Lizzy was headed to the deli thinking about Matt and every conversation and all the advice she had gotten about her situation. She decided that after the game, she would sit down with Matt and have it out once and for all; whether he liked it or not. She pulled up out front of the deli and climbed out walking over to the big bay window where she saw Goldberg cleaning tables. She stood and watched for a few moments before walking over to the door. She pulled it open and walked inside then over to the counter and looked up at the menu board but still kept an eye on Goldberg. He turned toward the counter, picked up the last plate and took them to the kitchen. "Can I help you, honey?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Um," Lizzy paused for a minute then stopped Goldberg on his way back past. "What's the best thing you sell here?" she asked in a stage whisper.

"I'd try the—Lizzy," Goldberg answered. He smiled. "What brings you here?"

"Wanted to see my friend."

"You never drive out here to see me. I'm okay with that. I appreciate it when you're here but you're on your way to see Adam or Charlie and decided to stop by and see me. I'm grateful for that. You could have just kept driving but you stopped," he told her.

Lizzy felt terrible. "Yeah, I'm going to see Adam," Lizzy said. "We're going to watch the Twins game with some of his non-Duck friends."

"Try the ham and Mom, could you put it in a non-descript bag. These preppies aren't grateful for home cooked meals."

"Gregory," his mom scolded.

"It's alright, what they don't know won't hurt them. Can I get 10 ham sandwiches, two turkey and one tuna salad sandwich? It's Adam's favorite."

"Of course, sweetie, coming right up." Mrs. Goldberg went to the back and Lizzy turned to Goldberg.

"So just a random game?" he asked.

"Yeah, just called. To be honest, I'm avoiding my brother."

"I'd love to have a brother or four of them."

"Until one of them gets on your nerves." Goldberg smiled and led her to a table, ushering her into a chair. "Anyway, how you feeling about hockey this year?"

"I don't mind being defense but I kinda miss being a goalie."

"You think about trying out for varsity?"

"That's not how it works."

"How what works?"

"Open try out, like they did last year, everyone tries out together. Usually the jv coach runs tryouts and then they pick their teams. Last year the only one Wilson wanted was Adam but Adam refused to play against us, despite what his dad wanted."

"Sounds like Adam." When Adam opened the door for her she held up her bag. "I brought lunch," Lizzy said.

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"Sandwiches from Goldbergs', let's not tell your friends that though."

"Sure, bring them in. I'll take them to the kitchen; you can join the guys in the living room."

"Please tell me I know some of them."

"Larson's in there and so is Kyle," Adam said, taking the bag.

"Oh, there's tuna salad in there too." Adam grinned but didn't say anything as he went into the kitchen. Lizzy shook her head and went into the living room. Every single boy in there looked up at her. "Uh, hi," Lizzy said nervously.

"Hey, Liz, have a seat," Larson said. The only two seats open were both on the couch. Lizzy sat down, leaving a spot between herself and Larson for Adam. "Everyone this is Lizzy Jacobs, Lizzy, you know Parker Preston and Kyle Riley, that's Orson Brown, and Noah Herek."

"Could you," Lizzy swallowed as she stood back up, "excuse me for a moment?" She slipped out of the room and came across Adam in the foyer. "You could have told me they were all Hawks."

"Former Hawks." Adam answered not looking the least bit ashamed.

"Still, you talk to these guys? I mean I get Larson and Riley, they're not bad but Brown, Herek? Come on, Adam."

"It's about combination. On his own Herek is like matches, occasionally there's a burst of flame but without something to burn, he fizzles out. You add Brown and maybe there could be something but Brown is more like wet wood. Potential to be dangerous but it takes a while to get going unless you add something to it. Which is where McGill comes in. He's like gasoline. Takes something to get him going, but once he's going it's hard to put him out. Without Todd around the other two aren't so bad. If I had told you they were coming, would you have come?"

"No, probably not," Lizzy admitted.

"See my point. Come on, you're my best friend, you and me against the world, I'm not going to let these guys hurt you or say anything stupid," Adam answered.

"Okay." Lizzy and Adam walked back into the living room and sat on the couch next to Larson. They talked about the game then enjoyed it for a while. About halfway through the fifth inning Adam brought the tray of sandwiches into the living room with a handful of sodas and a couple of bags of chips. Lizzy watched as they tore into the sandwiches and smirked to herself as she enjoyed one of the turkey sandwiches. Adam smirked at her but turned his attention back to the game as it came back from commercial. It was nearly two innings later when Lizzy started to regret the second can of soda. "Ads, bathroom," she whispered to him as it went to commercial.

"Down the hall, on the right," he answered. Lizzy nodded and left the room.

A few moments later, Herek grabbed the remote and hit the mute button. Everyone turned to him. "Tell me you're tapping that," he said.

Adam went bright red. The thought of sleeping with Lizzy wasn't something he had ever considered. Then he realized what the boy had said so he glared at his friend. "Say that again you can leave," Adam said.

"Come on, look at her. She's really cute and I bet all that passion would be amazing—"

"Dude, not cool," Kyle answered.

"Really?" Herek asked.

"She plays baseball. On the varsity team. She could probably kick your butt," Larson said.

"She will if she hears you talking like this," Adam said.

"I didn't hear a denial in all of that," Herek said.

"No, I'm not sleeping with her. She's my best friend, that's it. Besides, she's not my type, and I'm not hers," Adam finally told him. He rolled his eyes unable to believe his friends were talking about a girl like this. They were all better than this, had been raised better even if they were teenage boys.

"Girl rolls up in a classic '69 Mustang and she's not your type?" Brown asked.

"She's not. And she's not into rich preppy boys anyway," Adam answered.

"Who's not into rich, preppy boys?" Lizzy asked, walking back into the living room and plopping down on the couch.

"Would you ever date a guy not on the hockey team or one that doesn't go to Eden Hall?" Larson asked.

"I have," Lizzy answered. "In fact only my two most recent boyfriends went to Eden Hall. You interested?"

"Didn't say that, and that wasn't what I meant," Larson answered.

"Yes, I've dated guys who aren't on a hockey team ... uh, once, and if you mean one that doesn't go to Eden Hall as in a guy who's not rich and had everything handed to them, then yes I've dated that kind of guy too. Now, shut up the game is back." Herek unmuted the TV and the subject was momentarily dropped.

"So," Brown started when the game went back to commercial, "You and Adam, you're not a thing?"

"No, he's just my best friend, and last time I checked he was okay with that. You are okay with that, aren't you? I mean, if you had expressed some kind of interest—"

"I'm not—uh, into you, that is. I'm very okay with just being your friend. I told you guys to leave it alone." He directed the last part to the guys in the room. Adam shifted uncomfortably as Lizzy turned toward him to better judge the truthfulness of his statements. "Besides you're not my type and I'm not yours."

"I don't know, you're sweet and very kind. I could do worse than you. I have done worse than you." Lizzy looked away from him not wanting to talk about it. She didn't mean Portman either.

"Kiss him," Herek told her. "You want to prove there's no chemistry, then kiss him. You can always tell from a kiss if there's nothing there."

"I'm not going to kiss him. I'd rather kiss Kyle than Adam," she said stunned. Then she realized exactly how that sounded. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken. Now, if you said McGill on the other hand, I'd take offense to that." Adam smirked.

"Are you scared?" Herek taunted.

"I'm not scared of that," Lizzy said.

"It's no big deal, Liz," Adam said.

She sighed and leaned towards him, cupping his cheek. "Please, tell me this isn't your first kiss."

"It's not," he whispered right back.

She looked deep into his eyes and considered it but couldn't bring herself to so she kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, there's nothing there and it just feels wrong. I've known Adam since I was 12 years old, it's weird."

"What about Kyle then?" Brown asked.

"I'm not going to let you guys dictate who I kiss or don't kiss. That's up to them. Don't make it awkward," Lizzy answered. The boys backed down until the game finished. Adam saw Herek gearing up for round three and went to cut him off, but was beaten to it.

"Enough, Noah," Parker said softly. His voice was deadly calm and soft but Lizzy could see in his eyes that Herek was on thin ice with the only true blonde in the room. "Lizzy's personal life is just that, personal. If you want to ask her out then ask her out, otherwise leave it be."

Herek looked at the boy wondering where he got nerves but didn't press it. "You do remember they call her The Puppet Master for a reason, right?" Larson asked.

"Wait, you're that Lizzy?" Parker asked.

"Weren't you—" Lizzy stopped and thought back to when McGill had tried to insult her. Parker had walked away before that happened. "You weren't standing there when McGill said that. Yes, that's me, but I've kinda given up on that title."

"I see," Parker said.

"I'm sorry," Herek said. Lizzy shared a look with Adam, both knowing she hated it when people said they were sorry instead of saying that they were apologizing. "We're just teenage boys and curious. You deserve better than that though."

"Thank you." Talk dulled to the game, which the Twins lost then the boys started leaving. Once they were gone Lizzy turned to Adam. "What's with all the questions?" she asked as she helped him clean up.

"Don't know. Noah brought it up when you were in the bathroom. Talking about it though, you wouldn't date any of those boys, would you?"

"I'd have to get to know them first. Larson's pretty cool, so maybe and Riley was kinda a big help when I couldn't decide what to do about McGill, but I can tell you flat out no to Herek. He seems like a big jerk. The rest of them I don't know well enough. Could you see me dating any of them?" Lizzy asked.

"Come on, you're great at judging a book by its cover," Adam prodded.

"Okay, maybe Riley and Larson if he showed some interest. Could you see me with either?"

"Maybe Kyle, he can be really nice when the moment strikes him but I don't think so to any of the rest of them."

"I had fun, for the most part."

"Thanks for coming and staying to help clean up," Adam said. Lizzy nodded. They hugged and Lizzy went home. She went into the kitchen for some dinner and Matt hopped up onto the kitchen island.

"We need to talk," he said. She looked at him but nodded and put the frozen miniature pizza in the microwave.

Sorry no Luis in this one. Maybe 33 for Goldberg, but we'll see as long as you continue to read and maybe review.