"Yeah, but not as much fun as this," Tommy Mason said around a mouthful of pancakes.

Noah smiled. Sure enough, when they'd arrived at the Book Cafe, his old friends had been seated in their usual corner booth. Since their early days of adolescence, they'd inhabited the same spot whenever they'd needed something to eat or just a place to hang out and plan good times.

He'd been amazed at how much his friends had both stayed the same and changed over the years since thier last summer together. Tommy Mason had been one of the smartest guys he'd known. Always wanting to keep his nose in a book rather than participate in whatever debauchery they usually planned, Tommy had also been the shyest of the bunch.

It absolutely blew Noah's mind to learn his once quiet, even mousy, friend was now a lawyer, a profession in which he would have to talk more than mull things over like he had back in the day. To find out Tommy had married and had a little boy to boot only made Noah smile.

"I'm surprised you even call this fun, Mason. You always suggested we stay home and ready ourselves for Anderson's Calculus tests. As if we cared. Come test day, we'd all be falling out of our seats trying to read your paper." The whole group laughed at Paul's words.

Pauly Sullivan. Still a jokester if Noah had ever known one. The guy was more so talking about himself than anyone else when referring to Anderson's tests. He'd never been one to waste precious time studying when he could be doing more interesting things, like running a havoc on Harmony's unsuspecting citizens.

Always one to come up with the plans and always the first to be caught, Paul had never shown restraint, even as they'd matured. The truth was, Noah knew he only acted that way to recieve attention. Paul had always felt overshadowed by his younger brother, Jack, who now sat beside him.

Jack was probably the exact opposite of his brother. Where Pauly was adventurous, Jack always showed restraint. Paul would want to go tp a teacher's house for giving him a bad grade, which he probably deserved, while Jack would calmly talk him out of it.

Well, most of the time anyway.

Jack's calm nature had probably been inherent in him since birth. It had amazed everyone when Jack had skipped both the 7th and 8th grades after passing some standardized test. Paul had absolutely hated having his younger brother of two years in the same grade as him and had clearly showed it throughout their Freshman year in high school. And as daunting as the transition had been for Jack, he'd settled in nicely as the the more serious half of what came to be known to Harmony High as the Sully boys.

Noah shook his head at the memories. They were all from such a long time ago, but he could remember them as if they had just transpired minutes ago. It amazed him how much he'd missed his friends after all their years apart. But now, with him home for some time, he'd be able to catch up on what each had been up to since the summer before they all left for college. In fact, he was already catching up, he thought with a small smile.

"What's wrong Bennett? Can't believe you're here," Jack asked, pushing away his half eaten plate.

"Actually, I can't. Or maybe I can, but I'm having a hard time dealing with the four of us together like this. I figured after graduation..." He let the sentence hang with a shrug, watching the others nod in agreement.

"Yeah, well I guess our big mouths couldn't keep the fact that we're hometown boys at heart hidden, you know," Pauly said. He took his brother's plate and began on finishing the leftover omlet.

Same old Pauly, Noah thought with a smile.

"Maybe. I never figured the two of you would end up going into business together. And computers," he asked incredulous, looking between the two brothers.

"Hey, computers are the future," Paul said around a mouthful.

"Shut up and eat Pauly," his younger brother grimaced. Looking back to Noah, he also gave a shrug. "It surprised me to. But when Paul here came up with the idea and I figured how to make it work, it only made sense that we start SCS together."

SCS refering to thier business, Sullivan Computer Software, which manufactured anything from computer games to home reference items. Noah had seen the building when he'd drove through town to reminisce over his earlier years, but the initials hadn't meant anything to him them. Now... Well, now he knew.

He glanced over to Tommy, then back to Paul and Jack. "You've all done great for yourselves. It makes me look like the loser of the group."

"I wouldn't exactly call government work a nothing career, Noah."

He would have kicked Pauly under the table and actually thought to when his attention was caught by her walking through the door.

"Cat got your tongue," Tommy asked, moving his gaze to where his buddy was looking. A low whistle followed, directing the other two's attention to the counter where Gwen Hotchkiss stood.

"I thought you were married Tommy," Noah asked, never taking his eyes off of Gwen.

"Just 'cause I'm married doesn't mean I can't look. Anyway, she's still the Ice Queen she was years ago."

Though not expected, the words immediately caught Noah's attention. But before he could ask for more info, Gwen looked over, her eyes catching the four pairs staring at her. She said a few words to the guy behind the counter, Chad as he'd been introduced by her sisters, and started to walk over towards thier table.

Four eyes immediately looked for something else to stare at.

"Why the hell is she coming over here," Paul whispered after turning around in his seat.

"Don't know," Jack said, throwing one last glance over his shoulder before Gwen stopped at their table.

"Um, hi," she greeted, a little taken back by the four pairs of eyes that were now collectively staring at her.

"Hey Gweny," Pauly said, laughing at the name they all used to call her back when they were younger.

"Don't call her that," Noah muttered. Paul gave Noah a look, but said nothing in response.

"So, how are ya? Still reeling over your breakup with Ethan Crane," Tommy asked.

While Paul dropped his spoon in disbelievment, Jack covered his face with one hand. Noah could only look at Gwen, amazed by the words his buddy had just uttered. The only woman present in their company had considerably paled with the question, but she stood fast, with her nose in the air as always.

"Actually, I'm doing fine," Gwen responded, not really making eye contact with any of the men before her, but rather paying apt attention to the salt and pepper shakers that stood center on the table. It had only been a few days, yet the whole town seemed to know of her and Ethan's broken engagement.

For the past three days, she'd had to walk around with her head held high as well as her emotions kept under tap. She saw the pity in everyone's eyes. Gwen was positive that is she wasn't such a prominent member of this small town's society, that if Ethan was an average guy like the four seated before her, that no one would care one way or the other that they had broken up. Sometimes, like right now, she wished for that kind of aninimity that didn't come with being the daughter of one of the East coast's largest business powers.

Resigning herself to thier stares as well as the unasked questions in thier probing eyes, Gwen went on with the business she had wanted to complete. "I only came over to repay you for the gas the other night," she directed these words towards Noah while digging through her purse for her moeny billfold.

She expected to hear another comment, but to her luck, none came. Finally grabbing her wallet, she pulled it out of her wallet and looked up only to find Noah standing, looking down at her. Surprised and a little shaken by his towering presence over her, Gwen took a shaky step back. Wrong move.

"Hey," Noah said, instantly shooting a hand out to catch her before she fell down. "You should really watch the steps you take," he added with a wry smile.

Gwen would not let herself be taken in by his scent, though it was the first thing she noticed, nor his smile, as much as it lit up his eyes, or his touch. She wouldn't even venture to name the thoughts his touch elicited, and just thinking in that way made her more nervous than she could ever remember being in her life.

"T-thank you," she managed on a whisper. Though she would have rather called him on touching her again, the presence of his friends didn't warrant the comment. "Is a fifty enough," she asked, pulling the bill out of her money purse.

"What, is that the smallest you carry," Noah asked with a raised eyebrow. He quickly glanced at his friends, only to find them all staring open-mouthed at the exchange happening before them.

"That is not of your concern," Gwen told him, though he was right. It would just figure that he would know yet more about her when she had spent the last three days trying to remember him, only to fail miserably. "Here," the curt command escaped her lips, her hand shoving the bill towards him. She watched as he looked at her, then down at the money, only to break out into another smile.

"That's alright, sweetheart. The gas was on the house." Giving a small salute with his fingers, Noah took his seat and proceeded to finish his breakfast, though really he had already done a good job at that.

"I have the money to pay," Gwen said. For some reason, his refusal to take it had only sparked her anger further. She was already mad at him for knowing so much about her, and now he was acting as if he was better than her, with her money not being good enough. "I needed the gas, your father paid for it, and now I'm paying him back. It's really that simple."

Noah rolled his eyes. The woman was infuriating. She'd probably been that way her whole life, he thought to himself. It had been days since that night and he'd practically forgotten about it. Well, almost. The point remained that she didn't need to come in here and flaunt her money in his face, acting as if a few gallons of gas could put his family in debt.

"And, like I said, it was no problem. Just neighbors helping out neighbors. So, if you'll excuse us, Gwen, we'd like to get back to our breakfast," Noah ended.

"We're finished with breakfast," the three others present all but yelled. Noah shot them all dirty looks.

"No, we're not," he said, quickly looking down at their basically empty plates seated on the table. "And even if we are, we were catching up."

"You know Noah, Paul and I have to get going. We have a huge shipment due out on Monday and we're so behind." Jack slid out of his seat to stand, signaling his brother with his hand. "Righ, Pauly?"

Noah swung his gaze over to the other Sullivan, only to find him grumbling as he too slid out of the booth.

"Yeah, I guess," Paul said, not too convincingly either."We'll see you around, Bennett," Paul more stated than asked as he threw down a few bills for the breakfast.

"Hey, wait up guys. I actually had a question for you...both," this coming from Tommy beside him. Noah got up, again and watched as his friends quite plainly abandoned him with excuses he knew were false. After they left, Noah gave Gwen the dirties look he could muster before pulling his own wallet out.

"I hope you're happy," he muttered, retrieving the black leather wallet from the back pocket of his khaki dockers.

"Excuse me," Gwen asked, still holding the money she wished to repay him in her hand, though now it was crumpled into a little ball.

"You scared my friends away," Noah said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "We were fine until you waltzed in here," he went on, his anger only mounting. "Then, you have the gall to insult me right in front of them," this he said to her face, having left the remainder of the bill on the table.

"Insult you," Gwen parroted. "I only came over to repay you for the other night, not insult you. How dare you make that kind of accusation!"

"Oh, don't go sounding all  'I'm smarter-than-you, richer-than-you, all-around-better-than-you' on me. Like the five dollars my dad used to buy your stupid gas is going to make us poor. Please. I know what game you're playing, Gwen. You've played it time and time again, but this is the last time you ever make me, or anyone I care about for that matter, look bad compared to you."

He saw her tense immediately, but didn't care. Someone needed to tell her where to shove her money right along with her snobby attitude. So what if he was making a scene of it? He stepped closer to her paralyzed form, his eyes looking coldly down into her own.

"We both know you're just a sheep in wolf's clothing yourself, anyway. Maybe now everyone else will find out too," he whispered the words, then stepped away to give her one last cursory glance before turning to find his sisters.

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