"Who Would've Thought Getting Knocked Down Would End So Well?"

MOVING DAY!

For the first part of the morning, Drew and I threw the last of my belongings into the remaining boxes. If I never saw a cardboard box again, it would be too soon. Actually, it was more of a double move because Sara, Drew's girlfriend, would be moving into my room later in the day - into my old room, that is. She and Drew announced that they were still taking their relationship slowly, but she'd wanted to get away from her crazy roommate, so the circumstances had worked in their favour.

I could not help but feel sadness as I stood in the hallway and looked into my now empty bedroom. It was the first and only place I'd ever lived without my parents, and the first home I'd had since moving to California. I remember when Drew and I first moved in, we had no idea how to live on our own, let alone with each other. Eventually we learned that we could not stay up every night eating junk food and watching movies. We'd learned to take care of a home and share responsibilities; we were best friends for life.

The plumber still had not come. The leak in the kitchen was getting worse; the floor was covered in a thin layer of water.

"Amy, let's just tackle this ourselves."

I stared at Drew in disbelief. I knew nothing about plumbing and he knew even less than I did. He folded his arms over his chest and stared back at me. We held each other's glare for about a minute when we burst out laughing.

"Fine Drew. But first I'm going to change."

"Me too."

I was the first to return to the kitchen. About a minute later, I heard Drew's bedroom door open and heard his footsteps as he walked back to the kitchen. When we saw each other we knew that we spent too much time together - we were a sight to see. Without discussing with one another, we had both changed into our swimsuits. I think, on some level, we both knew that we were in for. I left the kitchen for a moment to get our measly, nearly empty toolbox and brought it into the kitchen. I opened the cupboard under the sink and cleared it of its contents, mostly cleansers and sponges. Drew grabbed a garbage bag and smoothed it on the now empty 'floor' of the cupboard. He took the toolbox with him as he partially climbed into the cupboard and lay on his back under the pipes. Once he was settled, I climbed in after him. We laid there for a few minutes, not speaking, not moving.

"Now what?"

"Dunno."

I grabbed a wrench and started tinkering with the pipes. The dripping became less frequent and Drew and I enjoyed a high five. A decrease in dripping was good enough; at least we wouldn't be swimming in our house by the time the plumber arrived. I got out of the cupboard first and waited for Drew. With a screwdriver in hand, he struggled to get out. Somehow, he managed to whack the pipe on his way out and it did not just leak, it sprayed us. And the water was COLD!

"Aaahhhhh," I shrieked, stunned by the force and coldness of the water. Drew and I ran to a part of the kitchen where the water could not hit us. We had no idea what to do, the kitchen was becoming flooded. Then the doorbell rang. I ran to answer the door, still dripping wet from the pipes. It was the plumber. He lowered his glasses and looked at me condescendingly.

"You the ones who called for the leak?"

I sighed, by now I was exasperated by the situation. "Yeah, but it's worse now." I let him in and lead him to the kitchen.

"What the fuck did you kids do? This isn't a game you know. This will be hard to fix."

Drew glared at the man. "Look, first of all, shut the hell up! You have no right to speak to us like that, WE are paying YOU to fix this. And if you hadn't been five hours late then maybe we wouldn't have tried to take matters into our own hands. We're young, but that doesn't make us irresponsible and certainly does not give you the right to speak to us in any way other than professionally."

The plumber and I looked at Drew in shock; I did not think he had that in him. The plumber got out his tools and said nothing more. Drew and I left the kitchen where we shared another high five.

"You're awesome, you know that?" I was still impressed by Drew's composure in the kitchen.

"All in a day's work, Amelia. All in a day's work." I shoved him slightly and we laughed.

A solitary tear rolled down my cheek though I smiled at the memory. I knew I would not be far away and that I would still be coming over, but I realized that this part of my life was over and I was starting a new chapter, which excited me and scared the shit out of me at the same time. I heard footsteps on the stairs. I wiped my eyes and turned to see who was approaching. It was Drew.

"I'm going to miss you. You know what I mean, right?" Drew shoved his hands deep into his pants pockets and looked at me.

I smiled sadly. "I know exactly what you mean. I'll miss you too, especially our pranks!" He chuckled and pulled me into a hug, a Drew hug that made me feel safe no matter what - he'd been giving them for years. We stood in the hallway, holding each other.

"Tell Billie Joe that if he ever hurts my best friend he'll hear from me." I hugged him tighter. We heard the moving truck pull up to the house. "This is it."

A horn honked and I ran to the window to look outside. Tre was sitting behind the wheel of a large moving truck, a huge smile plastered on his face. "Let's get this show on the road, cock knockers!" We could always count on Tre to scream obscenities at 9:34 in the morning. I was not sure why Tre was behind the wheel but I was determined to find out.

"Tre, you told me you could find a reliable mover to take care of my stuff!" By now I'd run downstairs and outside to confront Tre, who had just climbed out of the truck.

"I did." I did not look convinced so he continued. "I'm the mover, I can drive a truck. AND I can move things - lift with your knees, not your back." He bent over to demonstrate and I kicked him in the butt. He jumped up and smiled at me. "How did you know I liked that kind of thing?"

I rolled my eyes and walked away, grinning a little. It was going to be a long day. Mike arrived shortly after Tre and they immediately started lugging my boxes into the truck. Billie Joe arrived last, looking tired but happy. I was surprised any of them had made it on time; not long after meeting the guys I'd learned how late they actually slept when not on tour.

"Hey babe," Billie Joe gave me a long, sweet kiss.

"My poor virgin eyes!" Tre fell to the ground yelling; he rolled back and forth on the lawn with his hands over his eyes.

"Oh please, Tre. I don't think you've ever had virgin eyes," Mike shook his head, "or virgin anything else for that matter, at least not for very long." We all laughed except for Tre, who pretended to pout and folded his arms across his chest.

Hours passed and the truck was finally loaded.

"This calls for a celebration!" Tre pulled out two joints. Tre, Mike, Drew, Billie Joe and I filed into the living room and sat down; I sat between Mike and Billie Joe on the couch. The first joint was lit and passed around; we were silent at first but as soon as the THC started to take effect, some of us became giggly, others just spaced out. Tre and I were giggly.

"This stuff's way stronger than what we had last time." It had taken so much effort for me to piece that sentence together, I was not sure the guys would even understand what I was trying to say. No one answered so I closed my eyes and rested my head on Billie Joe's shoulder. The second joint was lit and we continued to smoke. I looked over at Drew. He was fascinated with his fingers and the way they moved to the music of Queen. I laughed quietly. Mike peered at me through the corner of his eye and started laughing too.

"What are you laughing at, Mike?" He stopped, eyebrows furrowed.

"I can't remember." With that we all started laughing. We did not make much sense.

"They should make ... like, a cookie, man ..." Billie Joe was struggling to get his point across, so he tried gesturing with his hands, also. I tried my hardest to pay attention to what he was trying to say.

"A cookie?" I was speaking slowly to him as though he were a small child.

"Yeah. A cookie that never ends, you know?" We all started nodding in agreement. I could go for one of those right now.

"That would be awesome. Hey, I know where we could get cookies!" Billie Joe looked at me, excited. "But, it's all the way down the street." From the reaction of the group, no one wanted to go that far, let alone lift themselves off their seat.

"Fine, I'll go," Tre and I answered at the exact same time.