Julian “Jules” Miller was just your average 17 year old boy. He was outgoing, charming, and confident. Being an extrovert made it so he ran in many circles. His charisma made it easy to go in and out of those circles. Lastly, having trust in who he was made it so easy to have three girls, Mia San Giacomo, Nina Sisto, and Torry Minot, as his best friends. The mature boy was so well versed in the song which was who he was that he was able to stay close friends with one of those girls, Mia San Giacomo, when she turned him down 2 years ago. The rejected boy even laughed when she used the group’s joke of Jules being an honorary girl as the reason she would not date him. Mia told the joke as a way to diffuse the tension she was feeling. Jules' laugh was to reaffirm no hard feelings about being turned down. The boy of the group quit finding that joke funny a long time ago.

One year after Mia saying no, Jules did ask the girls to quit making the joke. He did not like ruining their fun only because he did not like the joke. He knew the teasing was harmless fun for them. Now this was different, the joke caused serious damage. Them calling him an honorary girl was starting to hurt him so the teasing was having a negative effect on Jules. His ego or sense of self which was not hurt. He knew who he was so them making a bad joke could not lessen his confidence. The joke was hurting his dating life.

Jules asked Karen Kirkwood out and she turned him down. Being rejected was not bad, the reason she gave was. Karen said that she could not date an honorary girl. Even with the joke saving him from dating someone who was as shallow as Karen, Jules wanted to put a stop to it. The boy wanted to end people from seeing the joke as real.

Mia, Nina and Torry did stop with the joke, around him and in public. Those three did continue with the joke in private and with their boyfriends. Jules’ friends saw nothing wrong with getting a laugh from the joke when no one else was around. Calling Jules an honorary girl also prevented them from getting unnecessary grief from their boyfriends. Their highschool squeezes were not confident enough in who they were to be able to have their girls be friends with a guy. All single guys were competition to them and those three meatheads would be jealous of friendship if they thought the girls saw him as a single guy.

There was an unforeseen benefit from the girls joking about Jules to their boyfriends. All three of them were supportive of Jules being in the circle of friends and got along well with him. They were as nice as a cold drink on a hot humid day to him. They might have been meatheads but they were smart enough to know the best way to have few issues in their relationship was to get along with the girlfriend’s girlfriends.

The bonus advantage of still joking about Jules being an honorary girl was also the reason why those wrong words got to the right person. Mia broke up with her boyfriend, Dennis Malick. The heartbroken boy wanted to get back together. He thought the best way to do so was by getting all of Mia’s girlfriends on his side. Denis buttering up Jules was when the joke was innocently exposed. Dennis saying that he needed all of Mia’s girlfriend’s help to get back with her was not enough. At that moment Jules was more concerned about getting the reason those two broke up for the word girl before the word friend to register with him.

The moment of truth came when Dennis mentioned, in his thanks to Jules for listening to him, about how he saw why Jules was an honorary girl. Jules did not say anything to correct Dennis. There was no way the boy was going to let on he knew how his friends were treating him behind his back. Them not respecting his simple request made Jules want to get back at them. If they did not request for the joke to stop, then there must be some truth in it with Mia and the other two. The plan came quickly because he was going to use their words against him. If they figuratively saw him as a girl then the next time they came over his house they will literally see him as one.

*************

Mia, Nina, and Torry were so happy to change their plans for Friday night. Jules wanting their help with how to get to know a girl better was great. He always wanted to approach women his way. His way was the wrong way to them. Jules wanted to get to know the girl to see if she was worth having a date with before asking her out. The girls thought that was the best way to get in the friend zone.

Even without Jules wanting relationship advice from the feminine point of view the girls would have still loved changing their plans. Mia was happy that the four of them were going to hang out. She needed support. The girl wanted to make sure she did not make the mistake of going back to Dennis. He never learned from his mistakes. Her ex would always cancel plans with her at the last moment. Nina and Torry were happy because helping Jules gave them an excuse to also be there for Mia. They knew that Mia would feel bad if they called off their plans to be with their boyfriends just to console her.

Nina and Torry also had another good side effect from canceling their dates. Their two boys, Joe Falkinburg and Steve Thesz, were more than understanding about the change of plans. The sympathetic boys also told Nina and Torry to call them if the night at Jules ended early so they could spend some time together. The easiness of getting the yes and how accommodating Steve and Joe were, made the two girls think their boyfriends were mature. That Joe and Steve understood that two of their friends needed help.

The truth was the meatheads were understanding for self-serving reasons. There was a kick-ass party going that Friday and they so wanted to be there to just hang out with the boys. Joe and Steve loved their main squeezes, but the girls were buzzkills at parties. Nina and Torry disapproved of their boys doing anything harder than some drinking. Also being cool about the change of plans would help in Nina and Torry siding with Dennis. Those two could not agree with Mia about Dennis being in the wrong about changing plans when they just did it.

*****************

Wendy Miller never thought she would be so proud of her brother, Julian, for wearing one of her outfits. Yes, she would have been the supportive older sister if her brother was a crossdresser or transgender. This was different. Julian was standing up for himself. She disagreed with how laid back Julian could be when people wronged him. She knew how much the girls calling him an honorary girl bothered him, yet he never really said anything until it messed up his chance with a girl. Wendy was a firm believer that just not liking something was a good enough reason to tell people to stop.

After putting the finishing touch on her brother's makeup and making his hair perfect Julian took a step back to see how great her work was. The older sister was impressed at what she did. Yes, the canvas of her masterpiece was a good starting point, but she felt she outdid herself.

The outfit she picked not only went great with her brother's physical appearance, it also fit his personality. Jules’ sandy brown hair, honey hazel eyes, and light caramel skin tone made him an autumn for the color seasoning. So him wearing his orange-brown canvas hightops, black legging, leopard print mini flare shirt, and a black t-shirt with leopard print swoop collar and sleeves cuff was a great call. The look was one of a laid back skater girl and if Julian was a girl that would so be his style.

The only thing missing from Wendy’s work of art was a smile. Not thinking she joked “Jules, I can’t wear that outfit anymore. You look better in it than me.”

Jules was not in the mood for any joking around. Then the joke being seen as saying he was an honorary girl made Jule’s anger rise faster than the pressure in a blast furnace. To let off some steam he shouted “Shut Up!”

Wendy knew her way to try to lighten the moment went over as good as a family finding out their surprise vacation was to North Dakota in January. She immediately worked to cool her brother down “Jules sorry. I should not have joked about that. I wanted to let you know, you look great. I don’t want you to be nervous seeing those girls dressed like that.”

Those words acted like a release valve and released some of the pent up anger from Jules. The escaped anger gave room for Jule’s hurt to come to the forefront. The boy who was going to show others how they hurt him opened up to his sister. “Sis, I should not have bit off your head. I am just pissed about how my friends did not respect my wishes. It makes me think the joke is more than just a joke. They think I am less of a man because I like spending time with them. I don’t need people like that in my life.”

************
The girls arrived at Jules’ home and were told by Wendy to wait in the den for their friend. The girls did not think anything was out of the normal going there instead of Jules’ room. The den was set up for serious conversation. It had no media devices so people could only engage with themselves there.

Wendy was going to leave the guests alone but change her mind when Nina and Torry brought up the secondary topic of the night. Hearing those two equate canceling plans to be there for a friend as the same doing so to play video games with the boys made her better understand why Nina and Torry would keep up with inconsiderate joking about Jules behind his back. They were not mature enough to understand how talking about someone even when the other person is not around affects how you see them. Meaning no harm does not change the fact that there is harm in joking in a negative manner about a person. That saying that her brother was not 100% a man, even in a light-hearted manner from a place of love, was putting him down.

Wendy saw that Mia was being swayed by the bad talking points which her friends were giving her. She joined in “Torry, Nina, being there for a friend is so different than hanging out and having fun. Dennis thought something better came along and wanted to do that. That is not how someone treats who they are dating. I hope you two would not do that. I also hope you do not think that my brother needing to talk with you is as trivial of a reason as wanting a last moment night out with the boys. “

Nina tried to defend her inexcusable stance by stating “Wendy, Dennis needed that time. Plus, it will be hard for us three to hang out as much if those two are not together. When we are with Joe and Steve it will be awkward if Mia and Dennis are there.

Plus Dennis would have been like our men and understood if Mia called off being with him tonight. Mia can’t expect to be treated better than she treated Dennis.”

Wendy was happy hearing the next voice, Mia as she said. “Hanging out and playing Call of Duty is different than being there for a friend. If one of his friends needed him I would have been happy that he stopped to help them.”

As Mia was asserting the correctness of her decision Jules walked into the room. Torry was the only one who saw the boy in drag. Jules had a huge grin on his face. The one reserved for someone who was too pleased with their cheeky actions. Torry saw the joke and how proud Jules was, got her mad. For a little laugh, Torry was missing out on a night out with her man and maybe being with her man, if they were lucky enough to find a private place to get lucky, over a prank made her unhappy with her friend.

Before she could share her unhappiness with the happy boy Jules greeted his friends to their unexpected calling out of how they were talking about him behind his back

In a camp voice “Hey there girlfriends, here is the girl I need to get to know better. Call me Julie. I can’t wait to get to know myself better.”

Torry had an uneasy feeling about the greeting. It did sound like a joke, but the undertone to the tone was aggressive. This felt more serious. Not knowing their secret of still calling Jules an honorary girl made Torry think the bad vibes were from this being so unexpected. To show her displeasure Torry scolded her friend. “You are a fucking bastard Jules.”

Jules fired back at her. This time his voice was not as camp. The high degree of displeasure about how his friends were treating him came out in Jules' voice when he said “Get it right. I am a bitch. You see me as a girl so call me what you will call a girl. You are able to show your true feelings about me behind my back, do it to my face.”

Torry did not want to admit that her word was as good as a carton of milk past it used by date. “We don't see you as a girl. We quit calling you an honorary girl when you asked us.”

“Bullshit Torry. Dennis mentioned how you see me as an honorary girl.”

Nina felt that two against one would make Jules think he was mistaken. “Yeah come on you are our friend. Dennis must have remembered that joke and thought it was serious.”

Nina and Torry looked at Mia. They wanted her to join them in trying to convince Jules he was mistaken about them continuing that harmless little joke. Mia knew her friends well enough that they would stop the joke, but still did not join them. “Nina, that is not true.”

Jules said, “Come on Nina I might have been stupid enough to think you respected me, but I am not stupid enough to forget that Mia and Dennis did not get together until after I asked you not to make that stupid childish joke anymore.”

Torry went from being a warmonger towards Jules to a peacemaker. Her friend was rightfully mad at them. “Jules, we did not think it was a big deal so we kept it up when you were not around. Plus Steve, Joe, and Dennis were more comfortable with us hanging out with you if they thought that is how we saw you.”

Nina “Yeah sorry, we meant no harm. Come on get out of that outfit and we can talk about it. We promise to never do it again.

“In a way, it is good that you found out. It gave us four a chance to hang out, just like old times. Plus Mia needs to talk about getting back together with Dennis. They are having a little fight about something small. Right, Mia?”

“No, how about this. You three get out of my house. I really don’t want anything to do with any of you right now. It hurts that you see me as a girl.”

Torry was mature enough to know that Jules felt his grievances were serious, but she was immature enough to think her good friend was making a couple of snow flurries into a blizzard. “Jules, calm down. We can talk this out right now. We always talk things out.”

Nina said “Yeah Jules. Come on, we will have fun tonight and reconnect. We are sorry and will never do it again.”

Jules felt right about telling them his honest feeling about what they did, but did not like the childish execution. He thought he would be getting a laugh at throwing the girls’ wrongdoing in their faces. He did not. It felt like he was behaving like them. Not wanting to be angry with himself made right now not an opportune time to have this serious discussion. The anger at himself for wanting to get back at the girls actually worsening the issue made Jules’ voice raise when he said “Leave.”

Mia, being the one who drove over, was once again in the driver seat. Having control of if Jules’ request was honored made her speak up right then. The remorseful girl knew anymore talking would just lead to more damage to their friendship. She also wanted to respect Jules’ simple request. The last time they did not was the cause of this fight. “We will leave Jules.”

Torry wanted to resolve this small issue right away “No, we need to talk to Jules. He needs to listen to us. We are telling him that it will not happen again. He also should not have gone to this extreme.”

Mia said “Torry, I am leaving and if you want a ride you will be right behind me. We should have never continued with the joking. We did not see any harm, but clearly we were wrong.”

As the girls left they turned around to give Jules their going away hug. Their friend was not to be seen. Standing without one of the four good friends felt strange. The hug was their group thing, how they showed each other how much their care for each other. Missing the intimate Auf Wiedersehen made the parting seem cold and a little more finite. They could feel the emotional distance between them and Jules grow as the physical distance did.

*************

Joe Falkinburg was so high about how epic tonight was going to be. Not only was he going to be able to party and get high without the judgmental watching eyes of his girlfriend Nina. His relationship with her was going to become stronger. The best part about his relationship becoming stronger was Joe had to put no work into it at all. The work would be done by Nina thinking he was so understanding about her breaking their plans and him writing that check wanting to be with her if her night at Jules got done early. The only bad thing was Joe’s rubber check was just about to bounce.

Hearing the doorbell, thinking it was his ride to the party, Steve, Joe yelled in a celebratory voice yelled “Come on in, so we can let the good times roll.” Nina came walking in. Joe was like a bad electrician, shocked to see his girlfriend. Having this unexpected visitor made it so the stunned boy could not conceal the look of disappointment on his face. If he could not get rid of Nina his night was going to be ruined. Somehow he was going to have to talk his way out of being around his girl tonight without getting Nina mad at him.

Nina was already in a horrible mood about the fight Jules started. Her friend should have simply told them to quit, instead of putting on that drag show. That would have saved her time and let her and Joe have some real plans for tonight. Nina showed how much she liked the bad greeting from her boyfriend by sarcastically saying “Wow you are happy to see me.”

“Hun, I am, I am happy to see you. Come on, you know that I am always happy to see you. I am just worried about Jules and Mia. It can’t be good news for them. I know how you girls like to talk about things and there is no way you solved both of their issues.”

“We only had to deal with Jules, Mia did not want to talk.”

“Still dear that was not enough time to deal.”

“What do you mean?”

Joe so wanted to get rid of the tension in the room. To try to lighten up the mood he was laughing when he said “Jules is one of the girls.”

Laughing as stating the stupid joke which ruined Nina’s night was like pushing a big red button. “That is not funny, Jules is a man.”

“Calm down, you make that joke all the time.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. You just put down a good friend of mine.”

“No, I didn’t. He is cool, and I like him. That does not change that joke is funny because it is true.”

“No, it is not true. Jules is so comfortable being around us girls. That is why we joke about it. ”

“He is one of the girls. He would be hitting on all of you all the time if he was not. If he was a man like me then I would not be cool with you hanging out with him.”

“You don’t tell me who I can be friends with.”

Joe tried to graciously get rid of his girlfriend. “Hun, I would never dream of telling you who you could be friends with. You are in a bad mood. When Steve gets here I will get him to drive you home. You can get a good night’s rest, then tomorrow we can hang out with Steve and Torry. We need to get Mia to see she was wrong for breaking up with Dennis. He misses her.”

“If you would never dream of telling me who to hang out with, then what did you mean when you said about not being cool about me hanging out with him.”

“Hun, I meant nothing.”

“No, you did meant something.”

“Just drop it.”

“No, I want to know what you meant.”

Joe just wanted the conversation to end. “Hun, it is simple. If Jules was like me or my friends I would not want him around. That would be like being cool about a fox being in a henhouse.”

“So you don’t trust me?”

“No, it is Jules I don’t trust. I do not trust him but know he is not man enough to take what he wants. Like I am. I wanted you and got you.”

At that moment Nina had a couple of revelations. One Jules was right about being mad about the honorary woman joke. Her saying that around Steve changed that boy’s opinion about her friend. Second, her boyfriend was a meathead. He believed that women and men could not be friends. She wanted to confirm these newfound truths “What?”

“Hun, Jules is nice. He is just different. He is fine with not getting what he wants. I am not. Look, he is friends with Mia after she told him no. Then he helps her when she and Dennis fight. Come on no real man would do that. I would not be there for you if you turned me down.”

Those words broke Nina’s heart. The confirmation of what the facts she just discovered were, made her know she was in the wrong about the situation with Jules and also who her man was. She was mature enough to let this time Joe showing her who he was to believe it. “Joe, no. A man is there for their friends.

I am out of here. We are done.”

Joe was under the bad assumption this was just a little fight. Not seeing the issue was normal to him. Couple fight over stupid things all the time. Couples broke up and got back together all the time. Plus, he might have to watch some chick flick tomorrow but he got rid of Nina for the night. He will be able to party hard. Putting up as much of a fight as a pacifist Joe said “Hold up, Steve is not here yet.”

As Nina was walking out the door and also her pathetic relationship with Joe, she said “I don’t want a ride from him.”

***************

Mark and Jenny Minot were settling down in their living room, getting ready to enjoy Valley Girl, an underrated classic from their youth. Tonight was date night and they were having it at home. One of the underrated perks with having your youngest child being 17 was Friday night the house was all yours. Instead of having to always get dressed and go out in public to have some private time, now the two soon to be empty nesters can have that private time dressed comfy in the comfort of their own home.

Jenny was snuggling next to Mark to be closer to her man and the bowl of popcorn on his lap when they heard the front door. Their teenage daughter was home way too early for her night with her friends to end on a high note. The parents knew before the start of the movie there will be a trailer for the upcoming drama in Torry’s life. This unexpected delay to tonight's feature was going to be easy to deal with. Torry’s dilemma had to be just a remake of one from their youth.

Jenny did turn off the television and turn on the lights as she called her daughter into the living room. What she knew was a minor plot twist was seen as an epic conflict to Torry and Jenny was going to treat it as such. Mark was happy Jenny was going to handle this. His forte was comedies.

Jenny said, “Torry, so how was helping Jules with that girl he likes?”

Torry’s reply was “There was never a girl he wanted to know. He had us change our plans to come over just to tell us he is mad at us.”

Mark going to his strength in a joking manner said, “What has his panties in a bunch?”

Jenny did not like how her husband added humor to this serious situation. First, it was not the right time to go for a laugh. The joke was putting down a teenage boy, a middle-aged man should know better than to do that. Also, Jules was mature so if he had an issue with Torry and the girls it had to actually be significant. “Quit that, Mark. Jules is a nice guy.”

Mark got defensive about being called out. That was what most people did when they did not want to take responsibility for a minor mess up. “Jenny dear, I was just joking. I am just making light that he is one of the girls.”

One of the girls. Those words affirmed Jule’s assertion that the girls were wrong about continuing with using the harmless joke when he asked them not to. It also affirmed her friend was right about the joke not being harmless. “Dad, Jules is not one of the girls.”

“Torry, you say all the time he is an honorary girl.”

Jenny liked watching the next part of the coming attractions in her daughter’s life. Torry defended her friend and admitted she was wrong. Some people might think too much of the drama was given away to make Jenny want to see it. That was not true, seeing her daughter come closer to becoming a woman would be a draw and make her look forward to watching the drama. “Dad, yes we were joking. I can see now it was a bad one. Jules is one of the good guys and more men should be like him.”

Defensive middle-aged men up their shielding when being called out on their bad behavior comes from their children. There was no way a thin-skinned man could admit that someone who had way less life experience than them could be right. “Torry, my sweet child, he is. Look at how he is always so helpful and defers to his elders. Jules is more than ready to help.

“He is nothing like Steve. Your man said he is not like Jules and just listens. I respect that, your man needs to be told why he should help. He makes his own decisions. I can’t just boss him around to get help like I can with Jules.”

Jenny was not going to let her husband lie about Jules just to be right. Her man needed to swallow some pride. “Mark, quit that. You don’t boss Jules around. He helps because he wants to. He offers on his own.

“I can’t believe you put down the boy who helped you hook up this entertainment system for us. You did not ask him, you brought up having to install it and Jules offered. He saved you so much time and made sure you got the right wires. You would have been bitching and complaining so much when doing that without Jules. Funny thing, after Jules did help you, you did bitch and complain about Steve not even offering.”

Steve knew he was as wrong “Torry you are right, Jules is a man. He is a good one also and I am happy he is your friend. I just was trying to make you feel better about the fight you two are having. ”

Torry perked up hearing the words of wisdom from her mom and her dad’s mea culpa. Getting guidance from both of her parents, her mom showed her what was right and her dad showed her how to handle being wrong, gave her the inspiration to do both. “Thanks so much, mom and dad. I am going to go back over to Jules and clear this up with him.”

Mark said, “Give me a minute and I will drive you over.”

Torry was going to take all the responsibility she can to clear up the mess she made. Plus she wanted her mom and dad to enjoy their night alone. “Thanks dad, but I can get my own ride. You two enjoy date night.”

***************

Mia was in her room trying to sort out her complex social life. She knew that two of her best friends will not be hanging out with her as much, they will be spending time with their men. If she tagged along she would just be a spare wheel. The other one of her best friends, Jules, she did not know if and when they would hang out again. Keeping up that stupid joke behind his back was so wrong. Not keeping her word about quitting made her good friend think the joke was her true opinion of him. She knew that Jules had to think that was the reason she did not give him a chance. She knew he was right in making that assumption, Mia just said no without giving a real reason. Then to make it worse to get rid of feeling strange around Jules she said the joke of him being an honorary girl was why.

Jules never pressed to know why, just respected her decision. She was happy that Jules never put undue pressure because she never had a good reason. Fear was the main reason. There was the well-founded fear it would not work out between them. Not wanting to lose something good was great motivation for not taking a chance to try for something great.

Jules’ opinion about her had to be much lower than how she felt about herself. Being alone in one's room facing up with the fact about how badly one treated a good friend made that person not feel good about themselves. She laughed at something which Jules wanted them to quit joking about. She used that joke to ease the insecurity of her immature boyfriend. Her appeasement of someone who was treating her as his backup plan was just trying to make life easy, instead of doing the right thing.

Continuing beating oneself up about mistakes was nothing more than pain shopping. Just sitting there feeling bad was a self-inflicted penance that accomplished nothing. To get her mind off of how bad she should feel about herself Mia went to her bookshelf. The trip to get a book to read to take a mental vacation from feeling bad became a delay. The first book she noticed was a reminder of both Joe and Jules.

The hardback single-volume edition of the Lord of The Rings which caught her eye made her think of both Jules and Joe. The book was Jules’ and he let her borrow the tome because of Joe’s love of the book. Mia wanted to better understand the book so she could be more involved when her then-boyfriend would start to talk about it. She asked Joe to borrow his copy and he never put the time and effort into honoring that request. Jules on the other hand, took her comment about wanting to read the Lord of the Rings seriously. The next time she saw her friend he had his copy for her to borrow.

Mia started to read the book. She found the fantasy world so fascinating. The mythical races of people and the epic journey were only a minor part of what captivated her. The fellowship of the ring themself did so. Their honor and putting the good of the group ahead of their own gain gave her an irresistible urge to keep on turning the page. She felt compelled to continue her journey with Fredo to Mount Doom.

Then Joe and the other meatheads started to talk about Tolkien’s classic. Mia was as ready as a Hobbit was for Second Breakfast to join in. When she went to give her opinion, the three guys looked sternly at her. That look was telling her she shall not pass and be allowed in the conversation. Joe explained later that talking about Middle Earth was a guy thing. That she did not understand the books, she was more worried about the Fellowship than what was important: the battles, skirmishes, and sieges.

Jules had the opposite response. He asked Mia how she liked the book and they ended up having the first of many long detailed discussions. These talks have the effect between Jules and Mia which she wanted with herself and Joe, making them closer. Being emotionally closer to Jules was the norm. He opened and shared with her and wanted Mia to do the same.

Mia picked up the book not to read, but to return to Jules. The book needed to be with the rightful owner. Mia also needed to admit something to Jules. That even with her having a boyfriend with Joe, in truth, she was in a close intimate relationship with him. Joe only wanted the physical relationship so he was not bothered by the close friendship between Jules and her. In fact, Joe liked it, Jules did all the stuff which Joe did not want to put the time and effort in. The best part reaping the physical rewards of Mia having a meaningful emotional relationship.

Mia hated that she just realized she used that harmless joke to feel better about being so close with Jules. The sad part was Jules had no issue with being close. That he only wanted to be close and nothing else out of the relationship. Unknowingly she used her friend and had to make the wrong right. She was going to fix it tonight by not only returning the book, but also by returning the old interest Jules had about pursuing a relationship. Mia hoped that the timing was not too late and he still wanted to make a fellowship of two with her.

*************

Wendy did not mind her stay at home Friday night has become her moonlighting as an unofficial Uber driver. The job was only very short term, two runs at the most and the pay was great, helping the friendship between her brother and two of his best friends, Nina and Torry, mend. Wendy was touched when Nina called. That girl reached out to figure out how to make things better between herself and Wendy’s brother. How Nina admitted she was wrong took courage and Wendy wanted to repay that showing with support.

On the way to get Nina and talk to her Torry called. Torry needed help in the form of a ride to set things right. She did not have her license yet, parallel parking was what was holding her back, so she could not get over to Jules on her own. Torry also swallowed her pride by admitting she was wrong and also pleading for the ride. The girl who needed to right a wrong right away offered to give more than enough gas money, some extra money on top and buy Wendy some snacks at the local corner shop. Wendy did not take Torry up on any of those offers. That girl was not only one of Wendy’s brother’s best friends, she was also Wendy’s friend. A friend helped a friend when they could.

The ride back to Wendy and Jules’ was filled with energy. The lively mood came from the driver and the two passengers looking forward to reuniting the close bond between the best friends. The upbeat attitude was easy to keep for Nina and Torry because of Wendy’s faith in how the rest of the night was going to work out. If there was one person in the world who knew Jules better than those two other than Mia, it was Wendy. The optimistic outlook was heightened when Wendy suggested that maybe they should stop at the 7-Eleven to pick up some snacks. Having something to munch on would not be a priority to someone who was thinking the talk would be serious.

The bullish attitude became stronger as Wendy pulled up into the driveway. Mia’s Escort was parked on the street. If Jules opened the door to let Mia in then he was open enough to talk about the issue at hand. This was a hopeful sign the fracture was going to heal tonight. The giddy girls went rushing into the house. They knew at first the talk was going to be serious, but were so happy that by the end of the night they would be just hanging out with their best friends and his sister.

************

Some people gravitate towards comfort food when feeling down and irritable. Jules was not one of them. His stomach was always too upset to want to eat anything which was rich. To calm down the boy had some comfort movies. The only things these movies had in common were he loved all of them and could watch them at any time. Tonight’s feature was going to be Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Before settling down for the night in the comfort of being surrounded by the fellowship of hobbits, dwarfs. elves and humans there was an unexpected visitor knocking on his front door. He answered the door and saw Mia there clutching a book.

Before Jules could show his displeasure of being interrupted Mia said “Jules, here is your book.”

Right away Jules laughed. Mia only had one of his books so he knew it was the novel of the movie he was about to watch. Even with being under the spell anger, Jules could not help but laugh a little. Serendipitous moments always made him laugh. That laughter was the break in his wall which Mia could use to ease into talking with.

“What is so funny?”

Jules might have still been mad at Mia, but he was mature enough to answer the question. “Oh, I just started to watch Lord of the Rings.”

Hearing Jules’ selection for his entertainment for the evening was yet another reason Mia knew she was right with being done with Dennis for good. She wanted to share those books and movies with her ex-boyfriend and he never made the effort to do so. She still has not seen the movie because she wanted the first time seeing it to be a shared moment with someone she was making a fellowship of two with. “I still have not seen that movie.”

Remembering the deep conversations those two had about the books was dispelling the anger Jules had. “You loved the books and you would love the movies.”

“I know I would but Dennis never made the time.”

Wanting Mia to experience watching a movie Jules knew his friend would enjoy, made the incantation his anger had on Jules loosen its grip even more. “Then come on in and watch it with me.”

“I would love to but I want the first time I watch the movie to be with someone special to me and for me to be special to them.”

“Mia, yeah I am mad at you, but that does not mean you are not special to me. This little fight between us will be over soon. We all just need to calm down some. Watching this movie together would help in soothing over the hurt feelings on all sides.”

One of the important life lessons Mia got from reading Tolkien’s classic was about courage. True courage is not about looking to do something dangerous. True courage was about doing the right thing when called upon. This moment she was called upon to face the fear of getting rejected by Jules, to face the fear of taking the chance of losing his friendship to form a fellowship of two with him.

Facing the fear of rejection and loss Mia leaned towards Jules and kissed him. That simple act of affection explained exactly what she was talking about when Jules’ friend said she wanted to watch that movie with someone she found special.

Jules was confused by the kiss. He enjoyed Mia’s tender lips touching his, but thought she would never see him in a romantic manner. To make sure that his friend was not trying to save their friendship by giving in what Jules wanted their relationship to be a long time ago he said “I thought I was an honorary girl.”

With true courage came true strength. True strength gave one time to act. In that time Mia was able to be sympathetic to Jules not understanding what was going on. “Jules, I was wrong in saying that was a reason I did not want to go out with you. I was just scared of taking a chance with you. I did not want to lose our friendship if it did not work out. I did not want the compilation of it not working out.“

“I know it was a joke. I know you meant you did not see me that way. I don’t want you to think you have to give me a chance because you feel bad about that joke.”

Mia grabbed Jules by his hands. “Jules, I want to be with you. I want you to give us a chance because now I am going for what I want. I want to be with a man who is as special as you. I want to be with a man who wants to share everything with me.”

Jules took the lead as Mia’s new boyfriend, kept hold of Mia’s right hand, and said, “Come on in and let’s share you watching Lord of the Rings for the first time, together.”

The formation of the fellowship of two was off to a strong start. Jules knew the beats of the movie so he spent as much time watching Mia’s reaction as the screen. He wanted to see the amazement in her eyes when she saw the firework dragon chase Pippen and Merry. That chase was not important, the joy in her eyes was. Tonight for him was about experiencing the movie through Mia. The more Mia got engaged in watching the movie, the more Jules’s focus went on her. Jules could watch that movie anytime, seeing Mia experience it for the first time could only happen once.

Mia had an enhanced experience as she was watching the movie. The loving presence of someone being happy for her just watching the movie made her feel good. She knew that Jules would be like an extra and stay in the background unless she talked with him. Tonight was about her seeing the movie how she wanted to, not to have someone else explain what was going on. Her opinion and what she took out of the movie was just as important as Jules’.

Wendy along with Nina and Torry came into the living room, Once they saw that they unexpectedly crashed the start of what was hopefully an epic romance they all started to sputter out words. The three girls wanted to give privacy to those at the delicate time, but at the same time acknowledge what they were blessed to be witnessing. The blossoming of new love was something onlookers always cherish seeing.

Mia paused the movie. She had the remote. Jules offered it to her so she could control the movie. Jules said “Hey there girls. Nina and Torry sorry about earlier. I was just so mad and did not know how to convey it. Can we talk about it later, I want to get back to watching the movie with my girlfriend.”

Nina was more than happy to fulfill the sweet request from Jules. She also wanted to make clear that Torry and her knew they were in the wrong. “You two get back to the movie. After that, we can all hang out if you like. Torry and I want to make sure you know we were wrong.”

Wendy took the other two to her room so they could play some Mario Kart. Those three left to allow the fellowship of two to continue the beginning of the wonderful journey of having a relationship with the right person.