I can definitely see Brian as a homebody.  I think that's part of why he settled in Georgia as opposed to LA or Florida.  As an aside, I wonder how often he actually gets back to Kentucky (Kevin, too).  I can remember going to Lexington or driving through Irvine as a teenager and having that tiny sliver of hope that I'd see one of them.  Never happened of course!  I'm interested to see where this Nick/Brian storyline goes.

"I am saddened by all of the things I have missed just because I never bothered to look."-- Me too, Nick.  Me too. 

Love the "Will you hand me a soda?" bit, and I like how you threw in the pop vs. cola vs. soda thing. I can tell you that kev probably calls it pop? Because he grew up less than a hundred miles away from where I live. I liked AJ paralleling this situation with rehab. Though, I have to admit, I'm missing the metaphors. Still some use of literary devices, though! Not sure if that's intentional or not, but I like it. I'm more of a narrative writer, and I think throwing in more literary techniques would definitely make me a stronger writer.

Author's Response:

We just call everything Coke here lol l As much as I would love to say it's all intentional, when I wrote this I had no idea what I was doing and just kind of went with the flow. Apparently I was being very metaphorical. I should really go back and read this just to see how much, if at all, I've grown and you my dear, are already a pretty strong writer. :O) in fact, off to go read another chapter right now while I have some free time!

Nice scene here with the sunset at the picnic table and the memory of when Howie and AJ first met.  "The waiting place" is a pretty hard place to be sometimes.

Yay for the metaphorical ending!  My favorite is that of Howie as the sponge.  Very appropriate.  I kind of wish there were a little more to the ending.  More discussion among the guys about how and why they're going to stay together, but this ending works, too.

Hi there! I'm finally getting stated with your story on the reading challenge. After one chapter, I can say that I like how you're able to characterize the guys as the "Office Space-ified" versions of themselves. For example, of course Kevin's the boss and Brian's married and whipped. Also, I love the banner for the story. Fits well. Somewhere Mare is cringing :)

Author's Response:

Hi, I'm glad you like the banner and I agree that Mare is probably cringing lol.  Hope you enjoy the rest of it, I can't remember what I wrote so I might have to read it too :)

Doesn't matter what field you work in, there's always that "unhappy customer," so to speak, that you just can't make happy.  Great dialogue here.  It really made me feel like I was on the call with difficult dude.  On a personal note, I had a cousin who passed away a couple years ago who was a supervisor at a call center just like this.  Everyone he worked with loved him (and yes, he played Call of Duty right with them!).  This story makes me think of him (the good memories, for the most part:)

Sometimes I have to do that at work (ask Dr. Google!).  This was the first chapter I noticed any regional dialect (you're British, right?).  i.e.- paracetamol instead of Tylenol/acetaminophen, and a queue at the petrol station.  Loved the cartoon character conversation!  If Nich had a thing for Daphne, then I had a thing for Fred lol! Cute chapter.