“I’m renting out a snow lodge for us to stay in.”

“Are you fucking kidding me Rok? For how long?”

“I think that sounds like such a nice and great idea!”

“Dude, this is totally something that would come from Kevin. Must run in the family. Damn Kentuckians and their need to connect with the wilderness.”

That’s how the conversation basically went, or at least as much as Brian could recall. He had first contacted Howie, who sounded pretty stoked about the idea. He then made the second call to Nick, who INSISTED on making it a four-way call with them, Howie and AJ. Howie was still pretty stoked, Nick was making fun of him, and AJ… well, AJ was being a drama queen.

They hadn’t done something like this in so long, so he was convinced that they’d be down for it, since they were all older and mature. He should have known that some things will NEVER change, like Nick’s persistent teasing or AJ being a total spaz. But surprisingly, two grueling hours and a migraine later, he was able to get them all aboard.

When he had thought about how they hadn’t done a trip like this in so long, he really wanted to make it straight up like the good ole days. It would just be them spending time together; no wives or girlfriends, not even their own children would be there. Just simply them.

With a sigh, Brian placed the last finishing touch upon the mantelpiece. Taking a step back, he stared at the group picture he had just set down, and had glanced over the lodge, making sure everything was in place. Talk about nostalgia. The fire was burning, the kettle was whistling, letting him know the hot cocoa on the stove was ready, the holiday delectable’s were showcased in a beautiful and artistic way. Now, all that was needed to complete everything was…

*Ding DONG*

“My guests.” Brian stated, matter-of-factly, to himself.

He trudged over towards the large wooden door, his heavy Timberland boots scraping painfully against the stone tile flooring. Standing a bit on the tip of his toes, he rose himself a few inches higher to look out the peephole, slowly smiling at seeing who was on the other side.

He unlocked the heavy brass latch and opened the door, revealing the second oldest. “Howie D.” Brian greeted with a large smile as he moved slightly to the side to allow his friend in.

“Hey Rok.” Howie replied as he shook off the snow before pulling Brian in for a hug. “Am I the first one here?” he asked as he glanced the lodge over, taken aback by how amazing it was.

“When are you never the first to show up to something?” Brian joked as he closed the door, following Howie in towards the parlor.

“True.” Howie replied with a smile, as he continued looking around, “Damn Bri, this place is really nice.”

“It’s probably one of the nicest lodges I’ve ever came across.” Brian noted, “It’s fully equipped with everything to make your stay an enjoyable and warm one. The stone flooring throughout this lodge is actually hooked up to this unit that’ll keep the flooring heated.”

Howie’s eyes widened, “Wow, if there’s something I absolutely cannot stand, it’s walking around on ice cold flooring.”

“You and me both.”

Howie walked up towards the fireplace and had looked over the pictures that scattered the mantelpiece, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were fitting to move in.” He picked up an older group picture of them, “Sentimental much?”

Brian chuckled, “Nah man, I was dead serious when I called ya’ll to stay up here, and have it be like how it used to. Just thought I could… recapture the essence of the good ole days, you know what they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words.”

“Yeah, and this picture just told me I’m freaking old, in less than a thousand words.” Howie joked as he placed the picture back down. “Man, you weren’t kidding when you said this lodge will keep you warm huh?” he mentioned as he shrugged his coat off.

“Which is one of the many reasons I looked into getting this lodge.” Brian replied as he grabbed Howie’s coat and hung it up on the coat rack near the door. “I rented this place out for two months, and had decided that I wanted to spend my time with just you guys for the beginning part of my stay here, and then spend the rest with my family, spend Christmas and New Years up here. Baylee’s pretty excited, as you can imagine, and kept going ‘make sure you call me when your guys slumber party is done, okay dad?’”

Howie laughed as he sat down on the large black leather couch, “A slumber party huh? Had I known that, I would have brought my favorite PJ’s.”

Brian rolled his eyes, “Hey, can I offer you something to drink man? Water, pop, I have some hot chocolate that just got done warming up on the stove.”

“I’ll take a cup of hot chocolate.”

Brian nodded as he turned and made his way into the kitchen to make Howie a cup of hot cocoa. Meanwhile, Howie continued to look over the photos that decorated the place. Brian sure had went all out in planning this trip. “So, you never really did give me an answer when I said that it looked like you were fitting to move in here.” he stated a little loudly, so that Brian could hear him from the parlor.

“I don’t know what makes you think that.”

“The pictures man… this living room is set up exactly how your living room is set up, filled with pictures.”

Brian walked back into the parlor from the kitchen, a saucer and cup in one hand and a large platter in the other. “I figured I’ll be here for a while, first with ya’ll then with my family, so I wanted to make this place as homely as possible.”

“Makes sense.” Howie said as he grabbed the cup and saucer from Brian, muttering a soft thanks and doing a double take of looking at Brian holding a platter. “And that would be…”

“Cookies.” Brian responded as he placed the large platter down on the coffee table, revealing to Howie an assortment of holiday cookies. “Don’t ask man, Leighanne made it for us. Just say thank you dude.”

“Thank you Leighanne.” Howie said with laughter, blowing over his cup of hot cocoa, watching as the concoction of chocolate and cream swirled together. He blew his steaming drink a few more times before he finally placed the cup to his lips and took a small sip. “Wow Bri, this is really good man.”

“Milk and packets of Nestle hot cocoa mix.” Brian stated matter-of-factly, with a large grin.

Before any of them could say anything, the large wooden door of the lodge flew open, causing the both of them to jump, Howie managing to spill some of his hot cocoa on himself.

“Shit.” Howie seethed as he quickly placed his saucer and cup down on the coffee table and began to tug at his shirt and pants, so the drenched heated material wouldn’t burn his flesh. Biting his bottom lip to contain his anger, he looked up towards the door to find AJ standing there with a camcorder in his hands.

“You guys gotta see this shit!” AJ exclaimed as he quickly closed the door behind him and locked it.

“Uh… hi to you too AJ?” Brian said as he continued to stare at his younger friend in bewilderment. “I will not ask you why you just busted into my lodge and closed and locked the door and go straight to asking you what do we gotta see.”

“Oh.” AJ muttered, as he looked between a confused Brian and a peeved Howie, and the locked door. “You see, both Nick and I rode up here together and we had this bet going on with each other and… long story short, he lost the bet, had to frolic naked in the snow and I caught it all on camera!”

Brian leaned slightly to glance over AJ to look at the closed door, “Uh huh. And let me guess, he doesn’t want you to show us, right?”

“Yups, which is why I just kinda busted through and locked the door behind me because my ass is so grass once Carter gets in here.”

Brian continued to look between AJ and the closed door, “I’ll get the hookup cords.” Brian said as he turned on his heel and began walking towards his room.

“Uh… hold on.” Howie finally stuttered out, finally able to let everything register and snap himself out of his frozen state. “Does no one care that I burnt myself? Thanks to you AJ!”

“Um… I am in NO way, shape or form in control of what you do, so really, there’s no need to thank me.”

Howie rolled his eyes as he sauntered away in search for the bathroom to clean himself up, “Smartass.”

“AJ, open this damn door!” a voice had shouted from the outside, followed by loud knocks.

“Oh shit, here Rok, hide this.” AJ whispered as he tossed the camcorder to Brian.

Brian caught the camcorder and quickly found a place to hide it. Meanwhile, Howie had walked out from the bathroom, continuing to towel his shirt and pants down.

“D., could you open the door, please?” AJ asked as he jogged away from the door and found solace behind the large leather couch in the parlor.

“Oh no, I am not apart of this.”

“You’re not apart of this dude, I’m just asking you to open the door while I chill right over here.”

Sighing heavily, Howie walked over towards the door, unlocking and opening it to reveal an eerily calm Nick, who slowly stalked into the lodge. He was only wearing long jeans and a simple shirt, which looked to be rumpled.

“Where’s the tape?” was all Nick asked as he immediately trained his eyes on his target, which was AJ.

AJ held his hands up, as if to surrender. “Dude, Brian took it away from me as soon as I walked in and told them what was going on. He didn’t like the fact that I held something that would expose his best friend in such a manner.”

“You fucking prick, you’re lying!” Nick shouted in a light matter as he darted off into AJ’s direction.

Eyes widened, AJ quickly maneuvered himself out of Nick’s path, and tried his best to hide himself behind Brian, “Okay, look Nick, we’re in Brian’s lodge now, we can’t roughhouse in here, ain’t that right Brian?”

“Yeah, which is why we’re gonna take this back outside.” Nick said as he started off towards AJ again.

“Okay, TRUCE TRUCE TRUCE TRUCE!!” AJ shouted, hoping to cease the banter.

After a moment of silence, Howie folded his arms across his chest and finally spoke out, “Okay, now that we’ve got this out the way, anyone care to explain what the hell is going on?”

Nick finally cracked a smile and pointed at AJ, “I’ll get you back man.” he looked over towards Howie, “And to answer your question, AJ and I had this bet going, and if he lost the bet, he had to not only wear eyeliner, but full on makeup to one of our interviews and if I lost the bet, I had to do what I said in that one interview and frolic naked in the snow.”

“And he lost the bet.” AJ pointed out.

“Whatever dude, you went above and beyond by filming the shit dude.”

“So uh, glad to know that we’re all here safe and sound.” Brian intervened, “Before we get settled in, why don’t ya’ll grab your stuff from the cars and bring it in here, and I hope ya’ll brought your Secret Santa gifts.”

“Who the hell does Secret Santa with just four people?” AJ asked no one in particular as he walked towards the door, opening it and holding it open for them to walk out.

“The Backstreet Boys, that’s who!” Nick stated in a joking matter as he walked out towards AJ’s car.

Howie glanced over at Brian, who smirked at him in return, “This… is gonna be an interesting stay.” he cracked as he walked out.

Brian shook his head, smiling all the while, “You can say that again.”