“ Logan get your ass in here,” his father yelled. Logan huffed and stomped into his dad’s whiskey- scented room.
“ I’m here what do you need now, dad?”
“ Can you refill my whiskey please son?”
Logan’s dad drank so much alcohol that he never got drunk or tipsy anymore but when he didn’t have alcohol in his system that was the kicker. He would go into fits of rage slamming pictures down and throwing sharp objects at Logan. Of course when these moments happened Logan knew to stay out of the way and would go to the store to get more Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
“ I guess I can, dad.”
“ You’re my favorite son.”
“ I’m the only one you have, dad,” Logan mumbled as he walked away from his dad and into the kitchen. When Logan got to the kitchen he looked for the pale Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle and realized that his dad was almost out. He poured the whiskey, watching it swirl around the glass. Logan had poured the whiskey so many times that he now had a game where he would time himself to see if he could break his record. He went back into the living room and handed his dad the now full whiskey glass.
Logan returned to his room to finish the monstrosity the teachers called physics  homework. Logan could focus on anything but his physics homework.  While his mind stayed on a tangent, he noticed that his room was a mess. There were clothes everywhere and the picture of his mother was covered up. Logan knew that if he didn’t clean up his room soon that terribly awful things would begin to happen . He finally got his room clean after 7 hours.  He realized Friday at 11:30 pm that he had early hockey practice the next day, and needed to sleep because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to be the best goalie he could be.
Logan was woken by someone who was very loud and excited.
“It’s too early for excitement,” Logan thought.  His eyes slowly and painfully peeled open to see his best friend Jack. Logan was still drowsy from the sleep that had just been interrupted but he could tell that Jack was holding a larger than normal envelope.
“ I got in and they gave me a full ride!!”
“ Dude, that’s amazing!!”
“ I know! What about you?  Have you heard back?”
“ Not yet but they don’t give out hockey scholarships till June.”
“ Well that’s a bummer but you’re gonna get in dude.”
“ I hope so it would really help me out a lot.”
“ Dude you’re gonna get in you’re like the best goalie in all of Connecticut.”
“ Don’t say that, but I have to go dude early practice meet you after?”
“ Definitely.”
Logan knew that he smelled absolutely awful after practice but he had a another pressing matter. There was a monster better known as hunger gnawing at his stomach so he stopped at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, not the healthiest but what’s a boy to do. To make up for the lack of healthiness he got a little cheeseburger with tomatoes, lettuce, and green peppers with a small side of fries and water. Once Logan devoured the poor little cheeseburger and fries he went home to take a nice hot shower to ease his achy muscles.
Almost as soon as he was dressed he was out the door to see his best friend Jack.  They hardly ever met at Logan’s house mostly because of his dad and his sudden outbursts. The best thing about Jack was that he never judged Logan ever in their friendship. From the first day that Jack and Logan met Logan knew that he was his person and best friend. They had been best friends for over 10 years. They had been through it all elementary, middle, and now high school. Logan can remember the exact day they met, it was the first day of kindergarten and Logan was crying his eyes out because his mom had just passed away 6 months ago and didn’t get to walk him into school like moms are supposed to. Jack saw Logan crying and showed his mom then jack’s mom asked him what was wrong and he told her about his mother’s passing. Jack whispered something secret in his mom ear and Jack’s mom asked the teacher if she could take Logan out for a minute she promised he’d be right back. Jack’s mom turned around and walked Logan in like most mothers do. When she did Logan’s tears vanished and the biggest grin appeared on his face. Logan will never forget that memory it may not have been a big gesture but it sure did mean a lot.
Whether it was help with homework or just being there while Logan shook with sobs, on the days of anniversaries, and birthdays.  Jack was always there and never flaked on him for someone else. Jack’s family also never judged Logan or his dad like most parents at Logan’s school did. Logan’s dad didn’t really care who Logan hung out with as long as he was happy and they didn’t do drugs. Jack was the only person who knew the true side of Logan and Logan made Jack pinky swear when they were 13 that he would never ever tell anyone about his mom or his breakdowns. Of course Jack could never ever break a pinky promise that’s a like a breaking an actual word promise. Of course Jack made pinky promises with Logan and Logan kept those promises no matter how silly. The silliest promise that Jack made Logan keep was that he had an astounding love for the musical Wicked. Logan loved Jack as a brother and got really depressed when he thought about how they weren’t gonna be living one street away in the fall. Logan was going to Penn State while Jack was going to Dartmouth all the way in New Hampshire.

Sunday morning Logan snuck out to go to church like he always did his dad wasn’t religious, but he was desperately trying to be on God’s good side. Logan’s mom was closed door Christian, he knew because he watched her pray and do daily devotions before she passed. Logan felt somewhat accomplished because he was slowly getting Jack to come with him some Sundays. Which was an accomplishment itself because Jack’s whole family was science oriented. Go figure they were all doctors and medicine was all they knew.
“ Where do you want to eat lunch at?” Logan asked.
“ I don’t care as long as it’s food,” Jack responded.
“ Dude, you’re like the pickiest eater I know.”
“ I am not, I just don’t like certain foods.”
“ Whatever we’re eating at Hoodoo Brown BBQ.”
“ I want a kids chicken fingers and fries please.”
“ I swear you’re pickier than a girl.”
“ I am not,” Jack mumbled under his breath as they pulled into the restaurant.
“ I want the Doc Holiday and he wants the kids chicken fingers and fries.”
“ It’ll be 20 minutes,” the hostess said with a tone of aggressiveness in her voice.
The boys sat down and waited as Logan texted his dad and told him that he was getting lunch with Jack. Jack was on his phone doing God knows what although he couldn’t do too much because he parents put a parental lock on his phone. Thank God Logan’s dad wasn’t like that but he did wish that he dad cared for him and was proud of him like Jack’s parents were to Jack. Finally the food was ready and Logan drove them to Jack’s house.
Jack’s parents weren’t at the house. They had day shifts at the hospital this week. The boys swallowed their food whole then raced upstairs to Jack’s room to see who would get to be player 1 on the xbox usually Logan was player 1 because he’s faster. Surprisingly Jack won this time and got to be player 1. Of course he did a victory dance because the nerd just beat the athletic one in a race. The boys usually play NHL because of Logan but today was Jack’s day to choose the game. So he chose GTA of course Jack would never need to steal money like in the game because he’s filthy rich but it wouldn’t hurt to practice. Logan was gonna miss these days where they would just play xbox together and cherished them because he knew there wouldn’t be many more. Logan and Jack played this for 3 hours and Logan decided that he couldn’t kill anymore people or steal anymore cars.
“ I need to go home dude gotta finish the physics homework.”
“ Okay if you need any help you know my number.”
“ You’ll probably get a call in 30 minutes to an hour.”
“ See you in 30 minutes.”
“ See you in an hour.”
Logan went home to finish the physics homework he started on Friday. It was no more than 45 minutes and Logan was calling Jack asking for physics help.
“ Sorry to bother you but I don’t get any of this.”
“ I’m coming don’t freak out if you already haven’t”
“ You’re a lifesaver.”
“ More like your lifesaver.”
“ Just shut up and get over here please.”
“ Pulling in right now.”
Jack tried to think of a way to describe physics to Logan. Finally the light bulb turned on and he figured it out. Jack would apply hockey to physics then it would all click in Logan’s head.
“ See Logan just think about how the hockey puck gets across the ice.”
“ It glides like friction”
“ Exactly. What about the Laws of Motion?”
“ I know there are 3 I don’t know the order though.”
“ Just apply one of them to hockey.”
“ Uh okay um every action has a reaction.”
“ How does that apply?”
  “ Because when you hit the puck it doesn’t stay still, it moves.”
“ Correct keep going.”
“ Um an object at rest will stay at rest.”
“ How?”
“ A puck isn’t going to move unless someone hits it with a hockey stick.”
“ Good and last law?”
“ Umm Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass.”
“ Apply it to hockey.”
“ Um the sticks weighs more than the puck so when I hit the puck with the stick it’s going to move causing acceleration.”
“ I think you got it.”
“ Thanks Jack.”
“ I didn’t help you, you helped yourself. I’m proud of you.”
“ Thanks, means a lot.”
“ I don’t say that to just anyone.”
“ I know I’m pretty special.”
“ See you tomorrow dude.”
“ See you tomorrow dude.”

Monday morning arrived way too early, but soon after Logan’s face was covered by a grin. Graduation was this Friday which meant he only had 3 days left excluding today. Logan was out the door in under 7 minutes, how did he do it no one will ever know. Logan arrived just before 7:30 what could he say, he liked to be there painfully early. When school finally started Logan slowly and painfully trudged through the hallways. English was monotonous, History wasn’t that bad, Physics made a lot more sense, and Math was the worst. Logan was happy now because as soon as school was out he could go to hockey. He always had his hockey bag in his car so he could be the first one there and get a little practice in before everyone else.

The week flew by after Monday, Friday was finally here and Logan didn’t know if he could keep it together long enough for graduation. Today was the last day he was he was gonna see his best friend because he had to pack his bags for Penn State and practice for hockey started Wednesday of next week. Plus orientation was on monday so he was flying out early Sunday morning. Logan’s college was a little bit farther away from home but the colleges themselves were very far away from each other. Logan hadn’t talked to Jack about this and he probably should have but Jack had been so happy lately. If Logan would have asked Jack to talk about this it would have made Jack miserable. Logan was pretty sure that Jack hadn’t even thought about the distance that would be between them when the traveled off to college. Then there was Logan who couldn’t get how far away they were going to be off of his mind.
When they called Logan’s name to get his diploma he looked out into the audience to see if he dad was here but he knew better. Logan knew his dad wouldn’t be there he just wanted to make sure, although when he looked out he saw Jack family taking pictures of him on the stage  like he was their own. Logan was really going to miss Jack and his family when he went off to Penn State next week. Once all the names had been called Logan went to find Jack only to have Jack’s mom take 1,000 pictures. Logan told Jack’s mom that he wanted some of those sent to him so he could put some in his dorm room. Of course there were many graduation parties to go to but Jack and Logan just wanted to hang out one last time before they both went in their different directions.
“ What do you want to?” Jack asked.
“ I don’t know what do you want to do?” Logan responded.
“ I mean there’s xbox, we could go swim, or watch tv.”
“ Um let’s eat first and then we can decide.”
“ I can put in a frozen pizza.”
“ That’s fine.”
Both of the boys wanted to talk about what was going to happen when they went of to college next week and what would happen in the fall but neither one of their mouths could form the words. The silence between the two seemed like it lasted an eternity long. Logan finally said something to break the massive ice in the room.
“ I need to leave. I have to pack and you know get things ready for Sunday.”
“ Don’t worry I understand I do too, so you’re good.”
“ See you tomorrow at 5 at the ice cream shop.”
“ See you then.”
As soon as Logan got into his house he started bawling his eyes out. Uncontrollable sobbing where his whole body just shook. Thank goodness his dad wasn’t home to make fun of him. Logan didn’t know what he was going to do when he flew out on Sunday. This would be the first time his best friend wasn’t by his side and that scared him tremendously.
After Logan left Jack was left with a sudden feeling of panic. He realized that he would have his best friend at Dartmouth. He didn’t want to make new friends he had friends here. He had a best friend here actually. Jack felt red hot tears stream down his face. His parents were home, so he covered his mouth to prevent them from hearing the gasps of air he took when the red hot tears turned into blubbering sobs.

Saturday arrived, both boys cried themselves to sleep last night thinking about how they were both going so far away for college. Logan and Jack both looked absolutely worn out from not getting any sleep last night. Both boys tried to make themselves look less tired but that didn’t make anything better. Jack got to the ice cream shop first so he took a nap in his car while waiting for Logan.
When Logan got to the ice cream shop, the place was empty so they got their ice cream pretty quickly. Both boys spoke in short sentences never mentioning college or what was gonna happen tomorrow. Once they finished their ice cream they both looked at each other and saw the tear drops fall from each other’s eyes. No one was there to stare at the two boys in the middle of the ice cream shop sobbing into each other. After 10 minutes of sobbing the boys got ahold of themselves and hugged each other goodbye one last time. They both knew that they weren’t just losing a best friend but a brother. A brother who had been through the good, bad, and ugly. A brother who wasn’t afraid to cry in front of the other. A brother who was proud of the other brother and would always love them as a brother no matter how far away the other one was.