"So whatever happened to Evelia?" Neil asked Adam at lunch. It was reminiscing time.

"I"m not sure." Adam put a hand on his chin. "Right now, I think she's Boris's whore."

"That's nice. It's good to see that the members of our little group became such respectable members of society."

"You fancied her, didn't you?" Adam teased. "It's a good thing that I stole her away from you. You wouldn't want to be dating someone like her, would you?"

Neil didn't answer right away. I took it for a tacit "yes."

"What about your father?" Adam asked. "Is he still insane?"

"More than ever. We went to China last summer to train. Let me tell you, the Buddhist temples might me cool, until your father starts shouting forms for you to do, 'Leopard! Dragon! Praying Mantis!' I wish Grandfather's insanity hadn't been genetic."

"Speaking of insane, how's Catie?"

"You mean Ishtar?" Neil groaned. "Every since we got back from visiting Ur a few years ago, she's been impossible."

"Impossible?" I asked.

"You try having a little sister who thinks she's an reincarnated goddess." Neil sighed. "When I visited over break, she asked if I had brought her back any sacrifices. Not presents. Sacrifices."

"Did you have any?"

"Of course." Neil laughed. "I had to buy a set of gold chalices from some ancient artifact dealer. Being a good brother is hard." He sighed again.

"Excuse me." I interjected. "I'm a little lost here. How do you two know each other?"

"Our fathers went to school together." Neil said.

"And we have villas in the south of France only a mile apart." Adam added.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Neil said. "Is that butler still working at your place?"

"The one who called you 'that darling young master'?"

"And you 'the arrogant crybaby'?"

"If you want to bring that up," Adam began with an all-too-familiar glint in his blue eyes. "I do remember when one of the maids called you chubby."

"Hey." Neil pointed his fork at Adam threateningly. "That was puppy fat."

"Yeah, right. I bet you still have a little belly. And a double chin!"

"I don't have a double chin!" Neil stood up. "Look." He pointed to the area in question. "It's well defined. And as for belly fat..." He proceeded to strip off his shirt. "Feast your eyes upon this."

Why were guys always taking their clothes off around me? Was I just a magnet for weird situations?

"I think I see some chub." Adam said, critically examining Neil abs.

"Liar."

"Really. I think I see some chub." He pinched Neil's side, taking some skin between his fingers. "Yep. Definitely some poundage. Are you cheating on your diet, Mr. Fatty?"

"Shut up, crybaby pervert."

"Fatty."

"Neil, you're not fat." I told him. "Really, your as touchy as a girl about your weight."

"He just used to be fat." Adam explained to me in a whisper behind his hand. "See look."

Adam took a picture out of his wallet, and I got a glimpse of a stout Neil, probably at age six. "So cute." I said. "I just want to pinch his cheeks off."

Neil grabbed the photo and ripped it up. "There. Evidence is gone."

Adam and I were laughing so hard when the bell rang that we were late to class, trying to recover from the after effects of Neil as a six-year-old.