Summer, Year 4, Month 7

Noah couldn't stand just waiting around at the bottom of Reeve's front steps. Of course Lucas was running late. He had graduated with the Naval Academy top of his class and been serving in the Navy ever since, yet, somehow, he was still horrible with time.

Noah searched every face that passed. The street was busier than usual, an extra flood of tourists having rushed to the city to celebrate the birth of the nation from where it had all started. Lucas stood out in his brilliant white uniform and Noah caught sight of him long enough before Lucas spotted him to witness, first hand, Lucas's never-ending charisma. The uniform helped but Lucas still smiled and nodded at everyone he made eye contact with. The women stopped and watched him move on, hampering the flow of pedestrian traffic along the sidewalk.

"You're late."

"Well, hello to you too!"

Lucas was already laughing and Noah fought a smile as his oldest friend pulled him in for a violent burly hug. They had been the same height since they were twelve but Lucas had bulked up in the last few years whereas Noah as stayed as skinny as ever.

"It's good to see you, man!"

Noah was now the sole focus of Lucas's enthusiasm and found himself blinded by his sparkling white teeth that gleamed against his dark skin.

"You too, dude."

"I'm even more excited to finally meet this girl of yours! It's only been a whole year."

Noah's nerves were back. Lucas's natural excitement was only so infectious.

"About that, listen, dude-"

"Don't cancel on my now, Noah! I can't wait a second longer. All you talk about is Olivia this and Olivia that. I want to meet her. So ready or not-"

Lucas started up the stairs but Noah was quick to grab him by the arm and keep him from approaching the door. His gut was twisting with guilt as well as apprehension.

"Lucas, listen. I'm serious."

Finally his friend seemed to notice Noah's drawn in eyebrows and wringing hands.

"Do you remember when you used to come visit me at school in New York?"

Lucas crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes, inspecting Noah from head to toe, trying to deduce exactly where this trip down memory was taking them.

"Yeah. Why?"

"And you would try to get me to go out to the bar with you to hit on girls because you said I worked too hard?"

"And you were hella lonely and still hung up on that psycho trip from high school. Yeah, I remember. Noah, was is this about?"

"Do you remember what you told me? What you told me to tell girls so they would talk to me?"

"I don't know, man. No. It was a long time ago and look! You've finally stopped working long enough to have a girlfriend. What does this have to do with anything?"

"You told me the only thing I had going for me was the fact that we grew up in the same city as Reeve Keller and could pretend to be old friends of hers."

Lucas let out a loud laugh, even bending over and clutching his stomach.

"Man, that is harsh! But kind of true. I remember it worked!"

"Yeah. Once. Just, remember that okay? And don't get too mad at me."

"Why would I get mad at you?"

Lucas followed Noah's lead as they finally headed up to Reeve's front door. Lucas was the extrovert of the two, the darker, cuter one. Even with his mom's Portuguese blood that helped him tan in the summer, Noah was still the pale one who trailed along. But at this moment, it was his hand that reached out and knocked on the old wood of Reeve's front door, something he hadn't had to do in a long time.

Reeve pulled the door open almost as soon as Noah pulled his hand away. A warm gust of wind whisked past her as she did and the few strands of hair not in a loose bun on the top of her head fluttered in the wind.

"Hi! You must be Lucas! I'm Reeve Keller. It's so nice to finally meet you!"

She wasn't wearing any makeup. She was wearing an old Faded Relics band tee-shirt that looked older than she did. And yet Noah knew she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Lucas froze for only a second before his training kicked in. He stood up straight and saluted her.

"Sergeant Lucas Waller, at your service."

"At ease, Sergeant," Reeve said, half-laughing at his seriousness. "I like the uniform. You're on leave and yet you still got dressed up. I recognize the honor. I've got a family of cousins in the military. I can understand."

Lucas bowed and Noah had to nudge him to get him to quit the act.

"I was unaware of exactly who my best friend was dating. I apologize if I seem a little stunned."

Lucas turned a glare on Noah but smiled when he looked back to Reeve. She stood aside to let them in. Lucas had a second to whisper so only Noah would hear, "Olivia, my foot."

Noah whispered back, "It's her first name. Technically I didn't lie."

"You have a lovely home."

Lucas was talking like he would to Noah's mom or the mother of a girl he was dating, polite and cordial. He was still in shock.

"Thanks. I like it. Let me introduce you to everyone."

Kelly and Dani stared opened mouthed as they were introduced. Anton didn't seem to notice and immediately started asking Lucas a million questions about the military. It took a nudge in the stomach from Gage to get Dani's mouth to shut. To apologize, she stood on tiptoe and planted a quick kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.

Noah noticed the missing luggage and equipment boxes that had littered the family room floor only the night before. He would have guessed they had been hauled upstairs to what used to be Kelly's office. The more he looked around the room, the cleaner things appeared. He looked to Reeve and found a nervous smile plastered to her face, laughing at all Lucas's jokes as if forced to.

Noah closed the space between them and grabbed one of her hands before they could tear each other to shreds. She looked up at him and seemed to soften, unlock, just a little.

"You guys are just in time. Burgers are ready and everything's set outside."

Reeve led the way, still holding on to Noah's hand. The long dining room table had been moved outside to the patio and set with candles all down the length. The patio furniture was stored somewhere else for the night as everyone took a seat underneath the canopy of twinkle lights.

Dani took one end of the table and Reeve the other as people started passing along food. Noah took his seat to her left and Lucas took the spot opposite.

Reeve let go of Noah's hand after talking with Lucas for five minutes. She was leaning to her right, engaged in conversation, admitting that her cousins were Marines and not Navy Seals. Noah sat back and watched his best friend and his girlfriend get to know each other. Most of the evening, he forgot to eat.

He had known Lucas as long as he could remember. There wasn't a time in his life when they weren't friends. Their moms had met in a birthing class and Lucas and Noah were signed up for the small Little League team as soon as they were old enough to hold a bat.

Their only separation came when Lucas followed his father into the military, accepting a spot at the Naval Academy, and Noah entered Columbia's Architecture school.

Ever since Noah had met Reeve, there was barely a moment when he didn't think about her. And over the last year, there was rarely a day when they didn't see each other. Now two of the most important people in his life were laughing together over some joke Noah had missed.

It was like she was meeting his family all over again.

It had taken work to finally get the two of them together. It wasn't Noah's intention to go a whole year being in a relationship without introducing Reeve and Lucas. But Lucas had been overseas for most of the last year and when he was finally home on break, Reeve was in California.

That evening, the Saturday night before the Fourth of July was the only night that worked. Reeve and the crew had a few days off before they were expected down in New York for another show. And Lucas had the weekend off to visit family for the holiday before heading back to his stationed position in San Diego.

"Are you in town for the fireworks tomorrow night?" Reeve asked.

Lucas nodded a yes while trying to swallow the last of his burger.

"If you don't have any plans, we'll be watching the fireworks from my rooftop."

Reeve nodded across the highway, where the esplanade ran along the river, where the fireworks were set off.

"She means we'll be watching while she sings the National Anthem at the pavilion with the Boston Orchestra."

Reeve winked over at Noah, just as surprised as he was to hear him brag about her.

Lucas looked from Reeve to Noah, who nodded to indicate that what he had just said was true.

"Is your dad gonna be there?" Lucas asked Noah.

"Walt wouldn't miss it for the world," Reeve answered.

"Then I'm in!"

Reeve offered to show Lucas the house while everyone stood to clear the dishes. She led him down to the basement studio first to stay out of the way of everyone cleaning up dinner. Lucas whistled as he entered and the sound bounced off the soundproofed walls. He immediately crossed the room to inspect the baby grand that was sitting in the furthest corner. He took a seat on the bench and started playing a song Noah hadn't heard in years.

"You know, Noah and I were in a band once."

"Really?"

Reeve's eyes flew from Lucas to Noah but Noah was intently inspecting the Les Paul electric guitar hanging on her wall, feeling the tips of his ears turn bright red.

"We figured since I could play 'Mad World' and Noah had figured out the bass riff from 'The Chain', we had enough of a foundation to go on."

"Why did you guys split up?" Reeve asked.

"We didn't think anyone would take two guys who barely know how to play instruments seriously."

"You were an early version of 7 Ships."

"Exactly!"

Noah could hear Lucas's enthusiasm at the mention of his favorite band.

"They've got a great band name, way better than ours. Although I have no idea what it means."

Noah turned and saw Reeve had moved to lean against the piano as Lucas kept repeating 'Mad World' over and over again.

"Don't worry. No one knows what it means. Tommy tried to explain to me once and I still have no idea. It's something to do with Columbus discovering America but then it gets kind of convoluted after that."

Lucas again looked to Noah for confirmation as Reeve casually mentioned her close friendship with the 7 Ships lead singer.

"Did you guys have a band name?"

Just as Noah almost yelled, "Don't!" Lucas replied, with a smirk that could light up Times Square, "Stud Gun."

Noah covered his face, his cheeks hot to the touch.

"Stud. Gun."

Reeve repeated the name slowly.

"Yeah. Stud Gun. Like stun gun but studlier."

Noah's stomach hurt at the old explanation of their band name. It had been well over fifteen years since he had heard it.

"Stud Gun. Interesting."

"It's no 7 Ships."

"No. No, it's not."

Reeve was biting back laughter when she met Noah's eyes, her face aglow with amusement. Luckily someone from upstairs called them back up for games and the conversation ended. Or so Noah thought.

Reeve got the chance, following Lucas as they climbed the stairs back up to the family room to whisper so only Noah could hear, "Stud Gun. Really?"

Noah shook his head and Reeve let out a light laugh.

Charades was the decided game of the night, with the stipulation that Dani and Reeve couldn't be on the same team (as was the rule every time they played charades) as well as Lucas and Noah. Reeve and Lucas ended up on the same team and bonded quickly, finding their brains moved in similar ways at the same blinding speed.

Dani yelled at Noah multiple times to focus as he paid more attention to Reeve and Lucas interacting than he did to his teammates. It was only because Kelly and Dani thought so similar and Reeve and Lucas spent most of the time swapping stories back and forth instead of paying attention to the game that Dani screamed out in victory at the end of the night.

Coffee and cookies appeared among them and people chatted for a while as the night grew late. One by one, a pair in Kelly and Anton's exit, people slowly said good night and goodbye. Dani had already kissed Gage goodnight and was doing dishes in the kitchen when Lucas stood up, yawned, stretched, and caught sight of the time.

Reeve and Noah showed him out and he was waving goodbye from the bottom of the stairs, whistling one of her songs as he wandered down the now empty sidewalk to his car parked down the road.

"So..."

They stood in the door frame watching him disappear, letting the warm evening air dance around them.

"What did you think?" Noah asked.

He turned from his best friend's retreating figure to the shadowed silhouette of his girlfriend.

"Did you use to tell girls we were friends to try and get them to talk to you?"

"I'm gonna kill him."

Reeve had to grab Noah's arm to keep him from running after Lucas and tackling him to the ground. It took her a long second to control her laughter and her cheeks were round as she joked.

"Did it work?"

Noah let out a long sigh.

"No. The one time I actually used it to try and talk to this one girl at a bar, it failed. Completely."

"What? Why? It seems like such a foolproof plan!"

She was fighting laughter so she could talk.

"You weren't as big a deal in New York back then as you were in Boston. The girl didn't know who you were."

Reeve burst out laughing again, leaning her head against Noah's shoulder so she didn't fall over, her body shaking against his.

"There. Are you happy?"

"No! I'm kind of offended!"

She was wiping tears from her eyes.

"It would work now! Everyone knows who you are now. You're a big deal now."

"Well, yeah, obviously. Would you use the same tactic now?"

"If I was in a bar?"

"Yeah. Hypothetically."

"Totally! And it would help that I actually know you now. I wouldn't be lying."

"Okay, Romeo. How would you play it?"

Reeve leaned against the opposite side of the door frame, her arms crossed. Noah looked through the low light to try and spot any sign of insult or injury.

"Well, I'd probably walk up to them first..."

"That would help."

"Start a casual conversation..."

"As one does."

As Noah talked, he slowly closed the space between them so he ended up leaned his arm against the door frame, over Reeve's head so she had to look up at him.

"And I'd casually work in the fact that not only did I know Reeve Keller but that I happened to be in love with her."

"Ooh! Interesting twist! And then what would happen?"

"I would realize where I was, regret my decision to listen to Lucas in the first place, and drive immediately here."

"Smart plan."

A/N:

Lucas is a babe.

Sorry, Noah.