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** BRIAN **

“I think this is quite possibly the smallest town that I’ve ever seen.” Nick announced as we stepped out of the car.

I smirked, shielding my eyes from the late afternoon sun as I began feeding quarters into the parking meter. I was acutely aware of the fact that Tony was lurking across the street in a black Hyundai Sonata. “How long do you think we’re going to be?”

Nick shrugged. “An hour?”

I stuffed enough change into the meter to cover two hours, just to be safe, and stepped up beside Nick on the sidewalk. He was staring at the small grocery store in dismay.

“What were you expecting?” I teased. “A Kroger?”

“Yes.” Nick admitted. “I was not expecting ...” He paused to read the name on the awning. “Pat’s Food Market.”

I manoeuvred around Nick’s tall frame and pulled open the door to the independent supermarket. A tiny bell announced our arrival as we stepped inside. “You’re the one who just said that this is the smallest town that you’ve ever seen.”

Nick sighed. “This place better have everything on our list. If they don’t, Kev is gonna shit a brick.”

I suppressed a peel of laughter as I retrieved a cart from the small supply next to the front door. “Did you see Kev’s face when you pulled out that burned match?”

Nick grinned. “He looked like he wanted to shoot himself. I don’t know why he was so pissed. It’s not like the two of us are too stupid to buy groceries.”

My smile wavered ever so slightly as I pulled Kevin’s handwritten grocery list from my back pocket. He would never admit it, but I knew that my cousin was more than a little bit wary about the return of Frick and Frack. He had all but despised my intense friendship with Nick when the group had been first starting out. I think he had automatically assumed that, as cousins, the two of us would always back each other up; that our bond would be the closest, the hardest to break. I had often wondered if Kevin would have even asked me to be in the group in the first place if he had been able to see into the future.

“He’s probably worried that we’re going to draw attention to ourselves.” I supplied, giving Nick a sideways glance. “Let’s try not to do that.”

Nick’s grin intensified. “What’s first on the list?”

I looked at the piece of paper in my hands. “Lettuce.”

“Here.” Nick plucked a head of iceberg lettuce off of a display and tossed it to me; his right arm arching upwards in the form of a perfect a three-point shot.

The lettuce dropped easily into my waiting hands and I looked at Nick expectantly. “We’re gonna need more than one.”

Nick grabbed two more heads of lettuce from the display and tossed them both in my direction. “Think fast!”

I caught the first with ease, pulling the leafy greens to my chest as I fumbled to maintain control of the second. After a few intense moments, I managed to secure my grip around the second head of lettuce, and I quickly deposited them both in the cart with a victorious smile. “Now we need carrots.”

“Here.” Nick reached for a bag of carrots and a middle aged woman noticeably ducked down behind a heaping display of tomatoes.

“Don’t worry.” I flashed a reassuring smile in the woman’s direction. “He’s not going to throw the carrots.”

Nick followed my line of sight and gave the woman a sheepish grin. He placed the bag of carrots securely in my hand and fell into step beside me. “Sorry.”

“Maybe Kevin was right to be worried.” I elbowed Nick gently in the ribs as the two of us continued to wind our way through the produce. I could see the harried shopper keeping her eye on us as she selected a bag full of turnips.

Nick made a production out of rolling his eyes. “Kev is always worried about us.” He dropped a five pound bag of potatoes into the cart and made a beeline for the bakery section. “Let’s get some muffins.”

“I dunno … muffins aren’t on the list.” I attempted to keep my face looking serious, but I knew that I was failing miserably.

“They have banana chocolate chiiiip.” Nick raised his voice; drawing out the final word and enticing me to take the bait.

I caved in record speed, eagerly accepting the giant muffin that Nick passed me as he tore into the package. Nick selected the largest muffin for himself and dropped the opened package into the top of the cart. He quickly removed the paper wrapping and crammed half of the muffin in his mouth.

“So good!”

I raised my eyebrows; taking a more civilized bite of my own muffin as I watched Nick spew crumbs across the bread display. “We need three loaves of whole wheat bread.”

Nick nodded in understanding. He pushed the remainder of the muffin into his mouth and added the bread to the cart. He swallowed noisily. “Do you think we’re going to die?”

I balked at Nick’s question, almost choking on the final bite of my own muffin. “What?”

“Do you think we’re going to die?” Nick repeated his question as he reached for another muffin.

“Everyone dies eventually.” I purposefully dodged the question as I pushed the cart down the first grocery aisle.

“You know what I mean.” Nick pressed. “Do you think that the crazy guy is gonna get us?”

I pulled a few boxes of pasta off of the shelf and stared into Nick’s face. Sometimes, I found it hard to remember that he was a grown man. Sure he had matured, we all had. But, at times, the things he said, the way he looked, and the way he behaved still reminded me of the twelve year old kid who had attached himself to me all those years ago. Despite everything that he had been through and all that he had accomplished, Nick still projected this sense of innocence and helplessness that made me want to throw my arms around him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

Of course, and I had learned this the hard way, I knew that I couldn’t always sugar coat the truth and tell Nick that everything was going to come up roses and sunshine. “He might.” I conceded. “The crazy guy might get us.”

Nick appeared startled by my response. He grabbed a random jar of pasta sauce off of the shelf and pretended to be extremely interested in reading the label. “Are you scared?”

“Yeah.” I admitted; the butterflies taking flight in my stomach. “Are you?”

“Yeah.” Nick parroted my response. He returned the random jar of pasta sauce to the shelf and added two jars of his tried and true favourite, Classico Roasted Garlic, to the cart.

The two of us navigated our way down the next aisle in silence; both of us methodically adding items to the cart. To any casual observer, we likely appeared to be perfectly calm and in sync with each other. And, I suppose, in a sense we were; in sync with each other that is. Over the years, Nick and I had somehow developed the ability to work both with and around each other at the same time. We did it without even trying, and when we were on, we were on. When we were off, the results were disastrous. Despite how we may have appeared, I knew that I wasn’t feeling anywhere close to clam, and I had a pretty good idea that Nick was feeling even more anxious than I was.

“What are you scared of the most?” Nick suddenly turned around and placed his hands on the end of the cart. He lifted his eyes to mine; his gaze holding steady. “I’m scared that it’s going to hurt. I’m terrified about leaving Lauren behind.”

I twisted my hands around the handle of the cart and stared at Nick across the mess of items in the metal basket. “I’m scared for Baylee, for what his future will be like without me. I’m worried about how Leighanne will cope; if she will be able to pick up the pieces and continue being a mom.”

“I hope he, they, whoever it is, gets me first.” Nick dropped his voice to a whisper as an elderly man shuffled by us in the aisle. “I don’t want to be last.”

“Me either.” I agreed. As morbid as it was, the thought of being killed first was strangely comforting. At least it would spare me the heartache of losing the ones I loved. “What do you think it will be like?”

“What do I think what will be like?” Nick removed his hands from the end of the cart and we slowly began to make our way into the final grocery aisle.

“The place where we’ll end up…” I struggled to get the words out. “Heaven.”

Nick gave me a look of borderline pity. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?”

I grinned in spite of myself. “I want to know what you think.”

“I dunno …” Nick hesitated. “If we all end up making it to the same place, I assume that it will be this totally serene environment where we will all have the opportunity to watch over everyone that we’ve left behind.”

I nodded; satisfied with the majority of Nick’s answer. “What do you mean if we all make it to the same place?”

The look of pity had returned to Nick’s face. “You and I both know that you have a better chance of reaching the pearly gates than I do.”

“That’s not true.” I shook my head vehemently. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”

“I’m not saying it to be self-depreciating.” Nick muttered. “I’m saying it because I think that it’s true. I’ve done some pretty shitty stuff. It’s possible that God may not be so quick to forgive me.”

“I think you mean self-deprecating.” I corrected him with a small smile. “Not self-depreciating.”

“Whatever.” Nicks face flushed slightly. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m pretty sure that God has forgiven you.” I hesitated; not wanting to come across as sounding overly preachy. I knew that my ‘preaching’ was a source of contention as far as Nick and the rest of the guys were concerned, despite the fact that none of them had ever had the guts to say it to my face. “Not that you necessarily need to be forgiven, but if you think that you’ve done something that warrants forgiving then I’m sure that He’s forgiven you.”

Nick raised his eyebrows as he tossed several bags of potato chips into the already overflowing cart. “What? I have no idea what you just said.”

“All I’m saying is that I don’t think that you have anything to worry about.” I laughed softly as Nick added three packages of cookies on top of the potato chips. “Although, you may want to be worried about your arteries getting clogged.”

“They’re for all of us.” Nick insisted. He added another package of Oreos to the cart for good measure and flashed me a legitimately boyish smile. “Do you want me to put them back?”

“Absolutely not!” I widened my eyes in mock horror and picked up a container of heavily frosted cupcakes on our way to the checkout. “Given the circumstances, I feel like we’re entitled to eat like shit.”

“And that, right there, is why I love you!” Nick announced as we stepped up to one of the three checkout lanes.

The older woman behind the counter gave Nick a cursory glance as he shuffled to the end of the conveyer belt. I began unloading the cart as quickly as I could; the woman’s eyes burned into the back of my head as I started to stack the abundance of food onto the belt.

“You boys having a party?” The woman asked. “You sure are getting a lot of food.”

“No, no party.” I smiled widely. “This is all for us. We’re big eaters.”

The woman nodded slowly. She cast another quick glance at Nick who was busy cramming the items into plastic bags at the bottom of the checkout counter. “Have you two known each other very long?”

I fumbled with the cans that were stacked in my arms, wincing as they toppled out of my hands and onto the belt. “Oh! We’re not – I mean, the two of us aren’t …”

“Twenty-one years.” Nick interrupted. “We’ve known each other for twenty-one years. Isn’t that right?”

I pulled my attention away from the scattered cans. Nick was smirking at me; his eyes glinting in amusement. “Yes.” My cheeks felt like they were on fire as I struggled to recover from jumping to the wrong conclusion. “We’ve known each other a long time.”

“That’s nice.” The woman smiled; the glint in her eyes mirroring Nick’s. “You two are close then, I take it?”

“Yes ma’am.” I dumped an armload of produce onto the belt. “We’re real good friends.”

The woman began keying in the vegetables, but she kept her eyes locked on my still flushed face. “We don’t hear your kinda accent around here very often. Pardon me if I sound presumptuous, but I know a Kentucky boy when I see one.”

‘You’re correct.” I finished unloading the cart and pushed it down the aisle towards Nick. “I’m from Kentucky.”

“But your friend isn’t.” The woman gestured at Nick who was busy placing the bags in the cart. “How’d ya’ll meet?”

“I knew his cousin.” Nick interjected. “He introduced us.”

“Well ain’t that sweet.” The woman smiled warmly. “It’s nice that your family is willing to support you.”

Once again, the heat rushed to my face. “We’re really not …”

“It’s really nice.” Nick affirmed; the glint in his eyes had turned mischievous. “We have a ton of support.”

I turned my reddened face to Nick, but he was purposefully avoiding my gaze. I was going to murder him the second that we stepped outside.

“That will be $404.65.” The woman’s eyes widened ever so slightly as she read the total. She did a quick double take to ensure that she had read it correctly. “How would you like to pay?”

“Cash.” I mumbled as I withdrew my wallet. I didn’t think it was possible, but my face became even hotter as I counted out the total in tens and twenties. The poor woman probably didn’t know what to make of us.

“Thank you.” The woman accepted the wad of cash; albeit a bit uneasily and counted back the change. “Ya’ll have a lovely afternoon.”

“We will.” Nick gave her a wide smile in assurance as the two of us headed out of the store.

I waited until the door had fully closed behind us and the bell had stopped jingling before I closed in on Nick. “Are you serious? What is the poor lady going to think if she sees either one of us in town with someone else?”

Nick shrugged. He pushed the button to open the trunk and manoeuvred the cart as close to the car as possible without blocking off the entire sidewalk. “I guess we’ll always have to go shopping together. We wouldn’t want the locals to start gossiping.”

My mouth fell open in disbelief. “You pretended that we were a couple just to ensure that we would always be the ones to go shopping?”

“I sure did!” Nick picked up three bags in each hand and deposited them into the trunk. “Aren’t I smart?”

I continued to stare at him in amazement. He really did look proud of himself. “I don’t think that I would use the word ‘smart’ to describe you at this particular moment.”

“What would you prefer?” Nick transferred another load of bags to the trunk. “Intelligent, brilliant, clever, bright, brainy, sharp ...”

I paused; somewhat thrown off by the fact that Nick knew so many synonyms for the word ‘smart.’ “I was thinking something more along the lines of: absurd, ridiculous, mindless, inane ...” I rhymed the words off on my fingers as Nick finished loading the groceries into the trunk and returned the cart to the front of the store.

Nick ignored my suggestions and made a grand show of opening the passenger side door on my behalf. He stepped back and motioned for me to get in the car. “After you, honey.”

I scowled as I pushed past him and folded myself into the seat. “I’m going with ‘idiot.’ You’re officially an idiot.”

“Whatever you say, honey.” Nick mocked as he shut the door in my face.

My scowl remained strong as I watched Nick hurry around the car to the driver’s side. Sometimes, I just didn’t know what to make of him. It wasn’t until I moved to face forward that I realized that we had an audience. The cashier who had checked us out was watching not so subtly through the store’s massive front window; a soft, amazed smile on her face.

“You finally noticed, huh?” Nick laughed as he slid into the car. He nodded in the direction of the store and put the key in the ignition. “We’ve probably given her the most excitement that she’s had in months.”

“Just drive.” I slumped as low as possible in my seat; so much for remaining inconspicuous. As usual, Nick and I had managed to do exactly what we had been instructed not to do.