The waiter greeted the young couple with a professional smile. "Good evening, sir, miss. How can I help you?"
"Um, Knight/Taylor, a table for two. We have reservations."
It took the waiter a while to find the names on his list. "Of course. Please follow me."
Kendall and Jo were shown to their table and their evening began. They were halfway through their meal when Jo caught Kendall thoughtfully looking at those around him without actually seeing them. She placed a hand on his. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Huh?" Kendall mumbled, blinking in surprise. "Oh, nothing. Everything's fine. I was just thinking about something."
"Well, I hope this something affects me," she joked and Kendall smiled. "Hey, don't you know that I think about you all the time?" he said with a grin, kissing the back of her hand.
"I know you're not telling the truth, but I won't make a scene out of it," Jo replied with a wink. She followed Kendall's gaze around the interior of the restaurant. "Looks like a lot of people have the same idea about eating out on New Year's Eve."
"Yeah...Hey, did I ever tell you the story about when I had a big fight with James and Logan and that I didn't feel like celebrating New Year's with them at all?"
Jo shook her head. "No, this is the first time I've heard this story from you. What happened?"
"We were twelve, and I was really pissed at them because..."
New Year's Eve, seven years ago:
While the Knight house opened its doors invitingly to neighbors and friends to celebrate the New Year, Kendall Knight sat alone in his upstairs room, not wanting to see or talk to anyone. Not with Carlos, and especially not with his two - former - so-called best friends Logan and James. Just now his mother had tried again to get him to come downstairs, but Kendall was stubborn and didn't open his door. Not even the pleading of his six-year-old sister Katie, for whom Kendall was an absolute role model, could soften him. He just sat there, not even bothering to turn on the light. A new knock on the door, much more decisive and urgent.
"Kendall, open the door!"
"Go away, Carlos!"
"Kendall, I swear to God, if you don't open the door right now, I'm going to tear that door down."
Kendall remained silent.
"You know I will do it."
Kendall heard Carlos tapping his helmet twice, ready to attack.
"I'm counting to three! One! Two! Thr-"
Thinking that it would probably be better to open the door before Carlos seriously injured himself - Carlos never gave a thought to possible injuries - Kendall stood up and let Carlos in.
"I knew you'd open it," Carlos said with a grin and went inside his friend's room, turning on the light.
"Yeah, don't make me regret this," Kendall muttered, quickly closing the door again and sitting down on his bed. Carlos looked at him seriously. "James and Logan are downstairs."
"So?"
"They're really sorry."
"I don't care."
Carlos rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, Kendall...Yes, they broke your hockey stick, so what?"
"So what?" Kendall hissed, jumping up from the bed. "They not only broke my hockey stick, but also my lucky charm. I won every game with this stick, and now they have destroyed it."
"But they didn't do it on purpose. It just happened."
The day after Christmas they had all been at Logan's house to play hockey. When Kendall went home that night, he left his stick at Logan's. The next day, Kendall was too busy to pick up the stick. And the day after that, James visited Logan at home. Logan asked him to practice goal-shooting and goal-keeping, but since James didn't have any equipment with him, and Logan didn't currently have a spare stick, they came up with the idea of using Kendall's stick, almost 100 percent sure that Kendall wouldn't object. And then it happened. During their practice, Kendall's lucky hockey stick broke.
"They've already apologized to you at least a billion times, Logan even almost cried because he can't stand it when you fight. And they want to make it up to you."
"Oh yeah? And how exactly are they going to do that?"
"If you come downstairs, we'll show you."
Kendall didn't really want to, but something in Carlo's steadfast demeanor made him change his mind. So he just nodded and followed Carlos down the stairs. The parents sat together in the living room, listened to music, talked, laughed. Carlos led Kendall past the living room and into the kitchen, where Logan and James were with Katie. As Kendall entered, his friends looked at him uncertainly and apologetically. However, Kendall didn't know what to say to them, so he turned to Carlos. "Well, what do you want to show me?"
Carlos grinned and turned to Katie. "Hey Katie, remember that secret we were just talking about? Do you want to show your brother?"
"Okay," Katie nodded and left the kitchen, Logan followed. Kendall rolled his eyes. "Great. Now you're dragging my little sister into this as well?"
But they didn't answer him and instead waited for Katie - and Logan - to come back. Katie was carrying an object in her hands that was actually far too big for her. Logan walked slowly behind her so that he could catch the gift if Katie dropped it. Katie handed the wrapped gift to her big brother. Kendall glanced at the object and shook his head angrily. "Guys, do you seriously think that's enough? You just give me a new hockey stick and the whole thing is forgotten?!"
"Why don't you open it first before you complain to us," James said grumpily. With a frustrated sigh, Kendall tore the paper off - and his mouth fell open in surprise.
"We know we can never replace your lucky charm, but maybe this will make it a little better," Logan said quietly. Kendall still couldn't take his eyes off the stick. In his hands he held the most expensive, valuable and best hockey stick that was currently on the market. He had always dreamed of owning a professional stick like this, but his mom didn't have much money and couldn't afford it. Kendall understood this, and he had never blamed his mother for it, but secretly he had always continued to dream about this very one hockey stick. And now he actually held it in his hands.
"Guys..." he whispered, finally able to look his friends in the eye. "That...that must have cost you a fortune."
James and Logan looked at each other and simply shrugged, as if to say that the price didn't matter to them as long as they were all friends again.
"That's not all," Carlos said, smiling. "Look at the bottom."
Perplexed, Kendall turned the stick over.
"We signed it," James said, looking a little embarrassed. And sure enough, at the bottom of the stick were the names of his three friends.
"But one thing is still missing," Carlos said, holding out a Sharpie pen to Kendall. "You have to write your name down too, after all we're a team, right?"
Kendall stared at Carlos, then James, and finally Logan. Then a grin crossed his face. He took the pen from Carlos and wrote his name under those of his friends.
"Does that mean you forgive us?" Logan asked hesitantly after a moment of silence. Kendall looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then he let out a howl of joy, ran to the smaller boy, tackled him to the floor, and began tickling him - which Logan hated more than anything - while James and Carlos stood by, laughing. Mrs. Knight emerged from the living room, her hands on her hips. "What's going on here? Are you boys still fighting?"
"We're not fighting, Mom," Kendall said, jumping up from the floor. At the same moment, Carlos's dad called out, "One more minute 'til midnight, everyone."
Kendall gave Logan a hand and helped him stand up.
"I hate you," Logan muttered, trying to straighten his clothes. Kendall just grinned and turned to James, who held out a fist. "Best buds, right?"
"Totally," Kendall agreed, and they fist-bumped.
"Thanks for coming to talk to me, Carlos," Kendall said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Sure thing," Carlos replied casually. They heard the adults cheering and knew that a new year had begun. Kendall put an arm around Carlos's shoulders, James put an arm around Logan. Kendall grinned. "Happy New Year, guys."
"Happy New Year, Kendall."
Back in present:
"That's certainly the sweetest story I've ever heard," Jo said with a smile.
"Yeah, right? And if it wasn't for Carlos, we probably wouldn't have celebrated the New Year together."
"You know, instead of sitting here, we could..."
Before Jo could finish her sentence, the waiter who had greeted them earlier came to their table. "Um, please pardon me, Mr. Knight, Miss Taylor, but I'm afraid a little complication has coming up..."