John, Elizabeth and Drew had been the best of friends since preschool. They would sit together at snack time, with no crying over stolen pudding, nicely play on the playground and always share with each other. Those were the good old days, the naps, the cookies and the naps. Time passed and they stayed close and stood by each other. Once, in middle school, John stood up for Drew when a bully was making fun of him for his mother being a prostitute and his father have to do several jobs just to make rent . The fight ended with John getting jumped by the bully’s friend and drew having to step in and both Drew and John getting suspended from school for a few days.
Now, senior year John, Elizabeth and Drew were closer than ever. John and Elizabeth were dating and had been for almost a year. Elizabeth had never felt awkward with her two best friends being guys. She had never really gotten along with girls in the first place since she grew up with 3 older brothers. Besides, the other girls were dramatic and jealous of Elizabeth for many reasons. First of all, she was beautiful, long blond hair, pouty lips and all; her voice was so sweet like that of an angel which went along with how she smelled it seemed so delightful. Secondly, John was the school hunk and one of the nicest guys around. John had great grades, was average in height caramel colored eyes his hair was brown and soft. His voice was so distinct that anyone who heard it would know right away who it was. Was and was told by everyone that he had so much potential. He just wanted to get out of the little town and make something of himself.
Drew on the other hand, was thought to be an incompetent clown who was going nowhere. He had always had John and Elizabeth to help him squeak by and they were the reason he was graduating high school with them. He had never had taken school seriously, thinking of English as a language he had mastered and didn’t need to write stupid essays for. He was always a joker and could make anyone laugh.
It was the last month of senior year and everything was going by so fast. Exams were quickly approaching and open houses needed planning.

“John, do you think I should have my open house at my house or my grandma’s house? I mean my house is nice but the yard is too small and my grandma’s yard is huge.” Elizabeth asked. John and Drew were sitting on either side of her at the little dining room table of John’s house. It’s a Friday evening, just after school.
“I think your grandma’s house. Even if it is a little bit out of town it will be worth it to have the space for all the people your inviting. How many do you have now, 600?”
“Oh be quiet. You know my family is huge.” Elizabeth giggles and kisses John on the cheek.
“Why doesn’t one of you do something useful and help me with this crap.” Drew makes a face and scribbles down another answer on his history homework. John looks over at his assignment and laughs.
“We learned that in like fifth grade dude,”
“Well whatever, I could care less about dead old farts who started this country.” Drew writes down what John tells him to and sets his homework aside, “God, I can’t believe we are almost out of school. It seems like just last week we were playing tag at the elementary school playground.”
“Well, we did do that last week but I get your point,” Elizabeth laughed. “It all went by so fast. Next thing you know we will have our own houses and children to take care of. Then we will have grandchildren and then we will be on our deathbeds asking where all the time went. It’s just crazy to think about.” She sighs and John and Drew nod in agreement. They all sit silent for a few moments then John looks up at the clock.
“I need to be to work in 15 minutes. You guys better head off,” He gets up and escorts Drew and Elizabeth to the door. “See you later guys. We will hang out soon.” Drew waves and gets in his red pickup truck and drives off. John and Elizabeth exchange a loving goodbye. Then they kiss and Elizabeth sets off on foot to her house, just down the road.
“Love you babe, talk to you soon.” She yells over her shoulder. John smiles and goes on to get ready for work.
A couple of weeks fly by and then they are hanging out at the library, studying for the exams that start the next day. They are all discussing what the plans for their futures are and what they think is going to happen next.
“Well you guys know what I’m going to do. A whole lot of nothing, there isn’t anything I am good enough at to do as a job.” Drew complains.
“Oh shut up. You’re good at a lot of things. I could see you being a comedian someday. Up on stage in Las Vegas making tons of people laugh.” John encourages.
“Oh bull crap. That will never happen.”
“Well not with that attitude,” Elizabeth jokes, “I, on the other hand, know that I am going to be the best veterinarian you will ever know.”
“Well I don’t know many veterinarians in the first place.” Drew said and winked in Elizabeth’s direction.
“Whatever, you know what I mean. I will be like one of those that you see on Animal Planet. Saving so many cute and innocent animals lives.”
“I’m going to be the one that drags the animals out of a burning home along with their owners. The best firefighter around, you just wait.” John proclaimed proudly.
But what he didn’t know was that drew had fallen in with a bad crowd and owed money to some bad people and the same night that john proclaimed he would be the best firefighter Drew got stabbed and left to die he survived only due to Elizabeth finding him lying in the street on the route that she usually takes back from work in a pool of blood she immediately called 911 he was sent to hospital in fell into a coma everything changed between them nothing was ever the same Elizabeth and John got married had three little kids and 20 years after the accident they decided to pull the plug.