We spent the morning packing. Liron was in a good mood and humming to himself softly. I was just finishing up when he said, "And he steps up to the pitch, he pulls back, and there it goes!"

As I turned to see what he was on about, a bundle of socks hit me in the face. I froze, shocked. Liron collapsed onto he bed with laughter, but slid off, giggling like a madman. When he pulled himself back onto the bed, there were tears streaming down his face and he was struggling to breathe.

"You - you should have - the look on your face!" He descended into another fit of laughter and I huffed, tossed his socks back to him, and zipped my bag up. 

Liron had already set the mood for the weekend.

We went over to Jess' parents' place for lunch with them, to celebrate Jess' 23rd birthday and get the ceremonious lecture about the lakeview manor. "Move the expensive things to the garage," Alenna, confirmed when her father took a breath and nodded solemnly. "Don't kill Jess. Don't break the windows. Don't drown. Gotcha."

Halfway through, Jess' father brought up one of his larger concerns. "Why did we get a two thousand dollar bill for bras on your credit card, Jess?"

Alenna and Liron  burst out with laughter, and explained their shenanigans while Jess was trying to hide a blush. Jess' mother rolled her eyes, as if she expected her daughter might have been involved. The conversation quickly moved on, but I didn't miss the wink Liron gave me. I didn't have any context for it.

Nearing the end, Liron was animatedly chatting with them about their new sound system - something they installed at the lakeview on Jess' request in case the band ever stayed the weekend - and he was buzzing with excitement at the prospect of getting to DJ.

Soon, lunch was over and we loaded the Land Rover, and the four of us set out to the lake. Jess' parents were rich, a lawyer and a surgeon, but they never forced that on their children. Jess was in the band with me, and Alenna was studying to be a painter like Liron. 

The two painters only really ever spent time together when our band was performing, so they used the opportunity to discuss Liron's mural-in-progress from the accidental spill. Jess and I talked about music, which spurred Liron on to begin his duty as faithful DJ.

He tugged a couple of CD's out of his bag, and handed them to me. One was titled Maddock's Mix, and had some of my favourite songs on there. Liron must have been paying attention.

The lakeview was a large, modern building. The patio was on the lake side, with comfort chairs, a fire pit, and a built-in bar and barbecue. The balcony wrapped around the second floor lounge - a room with large windows all around it. Towards the back were the rooms, and Liron and I went to pick one. 

We chose one of the smaller ones. It had a single queen size bed, and a walk in bathroom. We weren't moving in, so we didn't mind. Besides, it was the closest to the kitchens.

I spent the afternoon helping Alenna set up the drinks, the games and the fire, while Jess was on the phone helping our other lost band-members and friends find the place. Liron was struggling with the new sound system, but eventually exclaimed and 'Aha!' and music flooded the area.

He started off with Alenna's Mix - a collection of songs which was designed to annoy her.

We started pre-drinks around the waiting fire pit to Alenna's mix, as the sun was setting on the lake and the rest of the party arrived. The rest of our band initially congregated around Liron, who happily demonstrated the new sound system - the incredible bass which rocked our bones, the clarity and quality with the surround sound, and the sheer volume of the speakers. I had to fight them to turn the sound back down.

There were eighteen of us in total - the few high school friends that survived the odd years, a bunch more college friends and some tag-along boyfriends and girlfriends. Liron spent the entire evening eagerly catering to all their song requests.

I grabbed an extra beer, and made my way over to him. He was staring intently at the computer and spoke as soon as I stopped next to him. "Do you think I should play this to  make Alenna less mad at me, or this to annoy her even further?"

I chuckled. "The one that makes her less annoyed, please. We're about to start cooking and I don't want her to stab me." Liron nodded thoughtfully, and selected the appropriate song, then turned to me, grinning.

"This party is so much fun! And we get to do it again tomorrow!"

It was a difficult to tell whether Liron was drunk or being himself - he had always had so much energy. I handed him the beer and and sat down on the table.

"Yeah, we can listen to some Beach Boys when we go swimming tomorrow." Liron's eyes practically lit up at the suggestion. He wasn't an awkward child like he used to be. His mother had told us when we were fifteen that Liron had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, but by then the symptoms had been receding significantly. His hair was still a blonde mess, but he'd started wearing contacts in high school.

He wasn't socially self-conscious, and I sometimes envied him for that, but around him, I wasn't either. I didn't need to worry about people liking or disapproving of my behaviour when all that really mattered was my best friend's opinion. And around him, I could always be myself. I liked to think that he felt the same.

Another large part of it was that we had a good crowd. Our friends were kind and fun people, and it was a healthy group. I wondered if we would all still be friends like this when we were in our thirties.

I knew, at least, Liron and I would be. We were blood-on-blood brothers, a childhood handshake that bonded us for life.

The alcohol buzz was making me melancholy, an I scoffed. Liron raised an eyebrow at me, an unspoken question.

"Just thinking about stuff," I sighed. "I wonder how Stacy is doing."

Liron started giggling. "Get outta here and make me some dinner. I'm starving, ya fool!" He tugged me off the table and started guiding me towards the fireplace and Alenna, then patted me on the head and returned to his station.

I watched him happily bounce back - okay, he was drunk - when Alenna shoved a tong into my hand and tugged me towards the fire. I set into it, and started cooking the meat for eighteen drunk-and-hungry young adults.

Alenna was dancing next to me, singing along to some songs and chatting idly. She went silent halfway through a sentence, and frowned at the fire.

"Everything okay?" I asked. She nodded, then shook her head.

"Do you think Liron's okay?" She turned to me with a worried frown. "I didn't want to bring it up today, because I wasn't sure, but he seems... different."

I looked over at the boy in question. "Different how?" Alenna moved to stand next to me, and we observed the boy. He noticed and waved at us, grinning widely. We waved back. 

"He seems too happy. Like he's putting it on." 

Between the two of us, Liron was the one who understood people better than I did - a trait he shared with Alenna. Must have been something about painters. To me, Liron seemed perfectly natural, and I liked to think that I knew my best friend well enough to notice when something was bothering him. I told Alenna as much, and she nodded.

"That does sound reasonable, but I can't shake the feeling."

"I'll ask him about it later," I said to put her at ease. "I'm sure it's something small, otherwise he'd have told me about it."

"Yeah," she breathed, and then turned back to the fire. "I hope so."

I watched Liron for another second, and he was staring at us. He looked away towards the computer, pushed a button, and started jogging towards me, with a big smile on his face.

"Maddy," he sang loudly, turning a few heads. He took the tongs out of my hand and handed them to Alenna. "This song is for you," he smiled and tugged my hand, dragging me to the center of the porch. He put his arms around me and started swaying me violently from side to side as the music started. 

I laughed and put my hands around him, hugging him back, and giving into his sway. He was resting his head on my shoulder, singing loudly along to the song. It was a familiar song. Ben King's 'Stand by Me'. 

A few couples were prompted by our shenanigans into joining the dance, but nobody thought ours was romantic. Ours was 'Liron an Maddock being Liron and Maddock'.

Liron went quiet halfway through, and he sang very softly. "I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear. Just as long as you stand, stand by me." 

I was scared that he was about to start crying, and Alenna's musings were beginning to build a sort of superstitious fear up in me. "Are you okay, Liron?"

He nodded. "Just tired and drunk, I suppose. I love you. You're my best friend and I don't ever want you to leave me."

I scoffed, but hugged him tighter. "Why would I do that?"

"I dunno," he muttered, "but if you find a reason, I'll kick your ass to hell and back."

At this point, Liron had a black belt in karate. I wasn't about to go searching for a reason to leave him anytime soon.

The song ended, and Liron pulled away, grinning at me. He pecked me on the lips, then skipped off back to the music booth, where he played a much more upbeat song.

"I think it's cocaine," I told Alenna when I rejoined her. "No way he can have that much energy." He grabbed Jess' girlfriend, and started wildly dancing with her on the lake shore. 

I returned my focus to the food. I wasn't exactly sure if Liron was okay at that moment.