Wrapped Up In You

Road Trip

Lucy answered the door the next morning to find Brian carrying Elise in a front facing baby holder. He had his aviator sunglasses on and she couldn't help but be reminded of Zach Galifianakis' character Alan in "The Hangover." All Elise needed was a little white hat.

She laughed at the thought "I would have just come out to the car Bri. Come in, let me get my purse and my jacket."

"I didn't want Matt to think I was sneaking off with his wife," he said taking off his glasses as he walked through the door.

"Matt took off with Dan to the gym after he dropped Charlie off at school,"Lucy pulled her jacket on and then pulled her hair out from underneath it.

Brian rolled his eyes "Muscle heads."

"You're just jealous cause they went without you," she teased picking up her messenger bag and grabbing her keys. She walked toward Brian and Elise bounced her legs up and down. She grabbed the baby's hand and kissed her on the cheek.

"Me?" Brian asked "Jealous...psh....they are working out with each other...two sweaty men...I'm driving two hot chicks around. Who's the real winner?"

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "Ready?"

They made their way out of the door and after a more than a few minutes and a few choice curse words strapping the baby in her carseat.

As they pulled on to the highway, Lucy decided to ask the question she'd been dying to know the answer for. "So what is this urgent need to go to Big Bear to check on Zacky?"

Brian gave her a sideways glance. "Zoey wanted me to go."

"She knows you're going then?" Lucy asked.

"Sure she does," he said with a smirk "She's the one who sent me. She's the one who told me to bring you too."

Lucy nodded relief apparent in her features that Zoey knew she was riding along with her husband. "How come she didn't come herself?"

"She has a new band, Against the Current, that has some press dates and she left for New York this morning," he replied.

"So she sent me? In her place? For what?"

Brian gave her a lifted eyebrow with his sideways glance "To check the chick Zacky is shacked up with."

"Oh...a scouting mission," she said in understanding.

"Yeah, and we're supposed to try to talk some sense into Zacky if it's a bad deal."

"And how exactly will we know if it's a bad deal?" Lucy asked "I mean...he may just be letting off some steam."

Brian shook his head "You know Zacky."

She  tried to play devil's advocate but couldn't come up with a case. Zacky had been wild in their early years and he admitted it but since marrying, he'd changed his ways when it came to relationships. He didn't sleep with anyone he didn't genuinely see a relationship with. "Yeah...I know Zacky. But...maybe...this is an exception. You know let some chick turn him into a sexual pretzel to forget about Meaghan for just a little while."

"A sexual pretzel?" he laugh"Is that what you would do?"

She shrugged "Sure why not? Men do it all the time. Women shouldn't be any different. We feel heartbreak the same way. And on the other hand, maybe he just wanted a friend to hang out with." 

"A friend?" He scoffed "That's why he has us. And he didn't call any of us to join him."

"Maybe he wanted a female company...just friends though," she continued to try to reason. 

"Men and women can't be just friends," he pressed.

"What? Are you serious?" she asked "Of course they can."

He shook his head adamantly "Nope. Can't be done."

"You and I are friends," she replied.

"Yeah, but we're both married to each other's best friends...so we're friends but we'll never be that kind of friends...ya know?"

Her eyes widened in anger "What? No, I don't know. That's ridiculous."

"So you'd be my friend even if you weren't marrying Matt?"

"Of course. Wouldn't you be my friend if I wasn't Zoey's friend?"

He considered "I guess we'll never know now."

"That's a jerk thing to say," she said angrily.

"But it's true," he nodded.

She wanted to reach over and hit him so she crossed her arms to prevent that. They rode in silence for a few minutes. 

"Look," he said sounded apologetic "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to say if Zacky's getting it on with this chick, it'll be a mess of feelings. He's on the rebound and she'll fall in love."

"Or maybe he'll really like her and HE'LL fall in love...or maybe they're both just having a good time and it'll just work out fine," she retorted.

He seemed to find her anger humorous. "You think women can really think like men? Have a good time and that's enough?"

"Yes" she said..At least in theory. "Don't you?"

"I'm just not so sure," he admitted.

"Why not?" she asked but she already knew the answer.

"Sex can make a woman psycho. Especially fans."

She narrowed her eyes."That's stupid. Sex doesn't make people psycho. They're psycho before the sex."

"Yeah but you can't tell a psycho woman by looking."

"Psycho men look perfectly normal too sometimes."

"Yeah but a man is less likely to freak if he doesn't get hearts and flowers and a marriage proposal. Give a woman good sex and she's more likely to go postal."

Ok now he's just being absurd, she thought "Are you saying if the sex is bad, a woman won't go postal?"

He glanced at her as if she'd asked the obvious "Who'd stalk a lousy lay?"

His face was so serious that she couldn't help but start laughing. 

She changed the subject by examining the complicated dash riddled with digital displays that Zoey always complained about.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" she asked pointing to the GPS.

"Sure" he said and after pressing a few buttons a screen with a hybrid map of their route appeared. As if a person could get lost in on the way from Huntington to Big Bear.

"Do you need it to find your way home?"

He laughed and glanced at her "Home is wherever Zoey is. And if she's in the car, I'm home...therefore, I'm never lost."

"How can you be a complete dickhead about relationship views and a total sweetheart when it comes to Zoey?" she asked seriously.

"Its part of my charm," he said proudly "The wonder that is Brian Haner Jr." 

She laughed again. No wonder Zoey could never stay mad at him