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It's a Small World, After All

"Memory Lane"

*     *     *

Less than twenty-four hours earlier, he'd been sitting in a hot, humid classroom taking a math exam. Now he's tying his shoe, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the two people sitting on his couch, waiting expectantly.

"Gimme a break, guys! You know I'm not a morning person!"

"Sure ya are, Carl m'friend…just not a mid-to-late morning person. 12, 1, and 2am all count as morning!" suggested Brian (known to his friends as "Brain.")

Offering a grunt in response, Carl finishes his shoe, and ushers his friends out the door. They leave-Brain in the lead. Summer follows, with Carl at the rear, pulling the door shut behind him. He hears the familiar sound of the neighbor's dog-rather inappropriately named-as it bounds up to Brain and sits expectantly.

"Hey-hey! SPIKE, m'boy! How's it goin'?" As Spike remains silent, Brain continues. "Sorry, bud…this walk's for me," he then points to Summer "And her…" then pointing to Carl "And your pal right there. Maybe next time."

"Aw, Brain, let 'im come…" begins Summer as a cheerful voice booms from behind the trio.

"Smart dog, eh? Knows five minutes before I do when it's time to go to the vet!"

Leaving Summer to talk about animal smarts, Carl and Brain begin walking-though Carl lags slightly behind.

"We should wait for her," he says, ready to stop.

"Nah, she'll catch up-HEY!" Brain's hat flies off his head to land on the sidewalk several feet away.

"You deserve that!" Summer stands triumphantly over the hat, playfully daring Brain to retaliate.

Though he joins in on conversation here and there, Carl walks quietly, almost cheerfully a couple steps behind Summer and Brain. While they talk animatedly about something that interrupted a class last semester, he listens, while part of his mind wanders, considering how it is he came to this point.

He's known Summer since the fifth week of classes. Though he met her the first day, they never started talking regularly until they realized they had both been active in their high school SADD programs. As conversations often do, one topic led to the next, and they found each other to be kindred spirits. They met Brain at the campus restaurant, where he worked their first two semesters.

Summer, a cheerful, outgoing redhead had been the one to get Carl involved with several campus groups-Habitat for Humanity, Circle K, and the Student Government. Though they shared many similar interests, there were plenty of differences. Carl hated long-distance traveling, while Summer would gladly jump in a car for a country-spanning roadtrip on a moment's notice. Carl loved to read-especially Science Fiction. His favorite book was Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Summer would read for class, nothing more and nothing less. However, along with Brain, the three enjoyed the outdoors, and often went for walks together around campus and "the town". When Summer heard that a local band-Rubber Duckies From Heck-would be giving a free concert at the city's park, she had little trouble getting Brain and Carl to join her. None of them having cars, they'd have to walk-much to Summer's delight.

"…think of Gabe Macaulay?" Carl nearly plowed into Brain, not realizing they'd stopped. Summer repeated herself.

"What do you think of Gabe?"

"Hm? That guy that was in the coffee shoppe last week?" he asks.

"Yeah…him."

"I dunno…he seemed nice..."

"When he's not spilling drinks on the customers!" Brain interjects, glancing at Summer.

"He didn't mean to-he tripped…"

Carl blushes slightly at this. It was his backpack that had tripped the worker, treating Summer and another customer to a midday tea-and-coffee shower. Coming to a stand-alone building labeled with a simple red-on-white sign: The Sit-Down Fast-Food Place, SDFFP, Brain lets the topic slide, pulling a door open and holding it for Summer and Carl.

"Let's get a bite to eat before the concert…"

*     *     *

The concert over, a friend's offer for a ride turned down, the trio walk quietly back the way they'd come. Picking up an earlier topic, Brain turns to Summer teasingly.

"So…is GABE gonna come with us next time? You really should introduce us…"

Summer blushes slightly before responding.

"Probably not. I forgot about him. I was going to be in the dorm all day, so he's probably been calling, and won't want to do anything now."

Feeling guilty over not having offered a reminder, Carl walks on silently.

"Aw, don'tcha worry!" Brain nudges her. "If he's interested, he's not going to give up on ya THAT easily!" Seeing her blush, he pushes harder. "In fact, he might even be the guy you wind up marrying…"

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SEVERAL MONTHS LATER:

The phone rings, interrupting Carl from his thoughts. "'You should be working.' Got that right!" he mutters, looking away from the You Should Be Working sign on the ceiling above him. Yeah, Hello?"

"Hey Carl, it's Summer…got a few?"

"Sure…this paper's going nowhere fast. You comin' down, or…?"

"I'll be down in a couple minutes! Byebye!"

He springs up from the chair, scooping up some not-so-clean clothes and tossing them into the closet, shoving several bags deeper into the closet and pulling it shut. Turning, he quickly stacks the books that fell when he added Friday's load to the stack, and shoves the whole stack against the wall by the TV stand. Surveying the room, he decides she's used to his room being a mess-and he can't very well hide all the little trinkets and toys he collects.

Suddenly, a loud knock at the door startles him-he didn't realize how tense he was-and he leaps for the door.

"C'mon in, Suh-"

Brain stands in the doorway, grinning at Carl.

"Hey, bud, spare a minute?"

"Well, Summer's coming down, I think she wants to talk to me about something…"

"Cool…she said she had something to tell us about. Maybe she's just telling you first?"

Brain casually walks across the room toward the window and Tom's phone. "Roomie mind if I use his phone?"

"Nah, go ahead…"

Shaking his head, amused as always at Brain's casual way of getting through life, Carl sits at his computer, and saves several open files, closes his web browser, and puts the computer to sleep. No sense wasting power.

"Gene? Bobby! Hey…Brain. No, Pinky is not here, you know who this is! Gene there? Ok…"

Turning to Carl, Brain mutters "Why can't I be the only jokester in the group? Unless I can start calling you 'Pinky'…" Carl smiles, shaking his head 'no'. "I'm supposed to meet a couple guys for a group project, but they never…Gene? Hey…"

Carl leaves Brain to his phone conversation, and steps over to the door, looking out to see if Summer's coming yet. He hears Brain put the phone down.

"Sorry to just drop in and run, but I gotta run, man. I'll catch ya tonight. Tell Summer I said-"

As Brain rushes out the door, he stops short, all but running into the a figure rushing in. They somehow maneuver to avoid crashing as they both fly through the doorway.

"-hi! Summer, hey…see ya tonight!"

Giggling, Summer smiles, and calls out the door "'Bye, Brain! Don't run too fast-"

Shaking her head at the sound of someone dodging Brain, Summer turns to Carl, pulling his roommate's chair over and sitting on it backwards, leaning against the back.

"You OK?" she asks, noticing Carl's silence and lack of usual smile.

"Yeah, sure. Thought I was going to finish my paper last night, and I'm still fighting writer's block. Nothing to worry about, I always get these things done last-minute anyway…"

Smiling, Summer reaches into her pocket, and pulls out two movie passes.

"Ya wanna go to that sneak-preview of Spider-Man with me?"

"Wow…um…sure! You know I'd…that's great, how'd you…?"

"A…friend gave 'em to me. Works at the theatre and had a couple tickets that need to be used…" She shrugs, then stands up, unable or unwilling to keep sitting. "Sorry I haven't been around much the last couple days. Things have kept me busy, and I haven't really spent much time around the building lately…"

"It's ok…" Carl responds quietly, trying to maintain the simple enthusiasm of seeing a sneak-peek of a movie he's wanted to see, and of spending time with Summer.

"I've been…dealing with some stuff, and working on papers. Not sure I've really been around lately myself…"

They look at each other, Summer still smiling, though Carl notices a bit of worry on her face, as she looks at him, noticing that he seems tense.

"Is something wrong? I can help, and listen, if you wanna talk…" she begins, sitting down on the floor.

"Nah, nothing's wrong…I'm just…these papers are bothering me, and I've had a lot going through my mind. Nothing to worry about." He tries to smile, barely succeeding.

Summer sees through his mask, and murmurs matter-of-factly "You're like Simba."

"Hm?" Carl starts to ask.

"Nothing…you're hiding something. You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We'll figure a time for the movie this weekend?"

"Yup. Well, I'm gonna go find my roomie, we're supposed to do dinner tonight. We'll be at the 'Rock-hard café' if you wanna join us…"

With that, Summer leaves quietly, and Carl sits, wondering how he's going to get his paper done with so much on his mind.

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A COUPLE MONTHS LATER:

"You sure you want to do this? We could always just go rent a DVD and stay in…" Carl begins, almost pleading with Summer.

"Nope. You said it yourself, this should be fun. And I told you I was gonna take you to a dance sometime. You're not backing out on me now!" She smiles, as she pulls gloves on, and looks in Carl's mirror at her trenchcoat-and-tophat costume. "Could you hand me that scrunchie? My hair'll look better like this than down, don't you think?" she asks as Carl hands her a red scrunchie she'd left in his room the previous week.

"Yeah…you could leave it down, though. Whatever you're happier with…"

"Aw, c'mon, Carl…what's up? Something's been bothering ya for a few weeks now…"

She steps out of her shoes, sits down cross-legged on the floor, and looks up at Carl. Recognizing her we-need-to-talk-and-you're-not-getting-out-of-it-that-easy look, Carl pulls a chair out from his desk, turns it backwards, and sits, looking down at Summer. After a moment's silence, Summer gives in.

"I don't know what to say…I thought you wanted to go to this dance? We got tickets for your birthday, since you didn't want me getting you any 'stuff'….would you rather not go?" Carl looks back, silent, and then speaks.

"I'm just not feeling myself lately. All these papers are getting to me, I have a project due next week, and there just doesn't seem like there's enough time to do everything! I'm never in this room anymore except to do homework…"

Sighing, Summer glances around the room, then back to Carl.

"Besides, how does Gabe feel about this? I'm not exactly thrilled to be taking someone's girlfriend-"

"-He knows we're going to this dance, he's fine with it. And even if he was worried…well, I wanted to do something with you again, just the two of us. Other than homework or campus food…"

Trying to change the subject, Carl asks "You sure you wanna be seen with a Batman wanna-be?"

Smiling, Summer stands up. "Of course I do…"

The phone rings, startling both. Carl moves for it, but Summer reaches it first.

"Hello? Oh, hey, Brain…yeah, we're getting ready to leave…nah, we can make it…See you there? Byebye!" She hangs up, and giggles when she sees Carl posed as if still reaching for the phone.

"Brain and Gina meeting us there?"

"Yup…"

"Ok. Cool. Well, we'd better get going…"

As they prepare to leave, Carl hesitates. "Can't believe tomorrow is November already," he mutters. Summer grabs his arm and drags him out into the hall.

"Got keys? Oops…" The door clicks shut, but before Summer can feel bad, she hears the familiar jangle of Carl's keys as he clips them to his "utility belt."

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ONE MONTH LATER:

"Hey, fart-face! Watch it with those snowbah-" Brain catches a snowball on his forehead.

"Hey! You didn't duck that time! You OK, Brain?" Carl's momentary concern for his friend leaves him open, and he feels the powdery cold as a snowball bursts on his back.

"Summer! That's not nice!" He scolds, trying not to smile, as he scoops up more snow for a ball of his own. Brain beats him to it, launching a snowball at Summer, who blocks it with a gloved hand, just before Carl's snowball bursts on her shoulder, spraying her face with fresh snow.

"Guys! Two on one…two men against a lone, unarmed woman….that's hardly fair…!" Summer rushes at Carl and Brain before they can make more snowballs, and tackles Carl, pulling him onto the snow next to her. Brain laughs.

"You two…what're we gonna do with-"

Carl gives Brain's boot a yank, but Brain keeps his balance.

"Keep that up and you'll eat fresh snow, pal!"

"Now, boys, you be good…" Summer called over.

While Carl tried to trip Brain, Summer had moved off to the side to some fresh, undisturbed snow, where she was making a snow-angel.

"Whaddaya say we call a truce, 'old chum'?" Brain asks, walking from Carl toward Summer.

"Sure. For now, anyway."

"C'mon, guys, make angels with me!" Summer smiles up from the ground, and Brain drops and attempts an angel of his own. Carl reluctantly lays into the snow to make his.

A breeze whips some snow up, lightly dusting the trio. Before they can get up, Summer speaks quietly.

"This is nice, isn't it?" She looks side to side from Carl to Brain, and back again.

"Just the three of us, still doing stuff together, having fun? We need to keep this up, and try not to drift…"

"Hey, girl, only drifting going on here is the snow…" Brain begins.

Summer closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them, sitting up abruptly. As she crawls carefully out of her snow-angel, Carl and Brain stand up.

"Let's go talk." Glancing at each other and shrugging-what guy understands women?-Carl and Brain follow Summer to a picnic table sitting under a tree in the field. She sits on the table itself, ignoring the snow; Brain and Carl stop in front of her.

"What do you guys think of Gabe?" she asks suddenly. Carl gazes at the ground, and Brain thinks a moment before responding.

"He seems like a good guy. Treats you well, anyway. Haven't heard anything bad about the man. Haven't hung out with him myself, but he seems…eh, cool."

Nodding silently, Summer turns to Carl.

"Carl?"

Inhaling sharply, closing his eyes before speaking, Carl responds hesitantly.

"He's a good guy. He seems to make you happy. I'm glad for that."

Summer shifts on the table slightly.

"We're talking about getting married. No-" she shushes them both "-he hasn't asked me yet, or anything. We've only talked about it. But you guys are my best friends. And I wanted to know what you thought about it all…"

*     *     *

In later months, Carl wouldn't remember the rest of their conversation, or the walk back to his room; nor the paper he didn't turn in, or much else. What he would remember, chiefly, was essentially endorsing Gabe, and all but giving his blessing.

"Afterthoughts"