“Not pregnant” Noelle let out a sigh of relief and Tommy came over and hugged her. He knew that she wasn’t ready for kids and if she was pregnant it would be really difficult for her.

“That’s a good thing” Tommy comforted after realising that his best friend looked less than happy with the results.

“I know it is, it’s just feels weird that I’m even thinking about kids and stuff, even though I’m not thinking about them right now, you know?” She asked and put the tests in the trash can.
They both left the bathroom and went back into the lounge.

“I know what you mean.Giselle asked me the other day about children. I mean I’d like to have one or two little ones but we’re going to wait until after the wedding.” Tommy said.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married in four months. Jesus times flies by quick. I still remember the first time we met” Noelle said in a reminiscing tone.

“Me too”

“Noelle come and meet our new neighbours” Noelle’s father called from downstairs. Noelle was currently in her bedroom listening to music on her iPod and couldn’t hear her father’s calls.

“Noelle we have guests, I want you to come and meet them” Her father said as he pulled her headphones out and walked back over to her door.

“Fine” She grumbled. She was in a rotten mood because she had just got her period and nothing was helping her stomach cramps.

“Thank you. I think you’ll like them” Her father said as they walked back downstairs.

“Noelle, this is Tommy, Joshua and Maria, they’re our new neighbours” Her father said to the parents with their young boy in the kitchen.

“It’s nice to meet you” She said genuinely and with a big smile. “Dad can we order take out please” Noelle asked with puppy dog eyes and a pout.

“Actually we were going to ask if the pair of you wanted to join us for dinner. We spotted a restaurant on our way through and we don’t want to cook tonight, what do you say?” Maria asked.

“I think that sounds like an awesome idea, what do you say No?” Her father asked.

“Let me go get dressed” She sighed a little before walking back upstairs. She played her music through her stereo loud and began to get dressed.

When Noelle returned to the kitchen she was wearing an AFI shirt and light blue skinny jeans with a pair of converse.

“I’m ready” She announced and walked over to the table with a bit of a spring in her step. Maybe those painkillers were finally kicking in.

“Then let’s go” Joshua said.

As they were walking out to their cars Tommy spoke up, hoping to make a friend before they start school in a few weeks.

“Nice shirt, I love AFI” He complimented.

“I was going to say me too but I think that’s obvious” She laughed and Tommy joined in.

“They’re one of my favourite bands. They’re playing here at the end of the month do you wanna go?” He asked.

“I so want to go. I actually thought I was going to miss it because none of my friends like them.” She said with a huge grin.

“Great” Tommy smiled and waved as he got into his parent’s car and Noelle got into her father’s, both of them heading for the same place.

“I think I just made a new best friend” Noelle said to her dad as he turned at the end of the street.

Little did she know at that time, that she was completely correct.


“Noelle you are a fucking genius” Mike called down the phone.

“Why, what did I do?” She asked slightly confused.

“The whole tourist date idea with Elise was perfect. She agreed to be my girlfriend and I owe it all to my best friend, that’s you by the way” He sounded very happy and slightly drunk.

“Well done, she’s a lucky girl. And dude I know I’m your best friend you didn’t need to make it clear to me silly.” She laughed a little at him.

“I know, I know. How are you anyway No-No?” He asked after calming down a little.

“I’m good, just stuffing my face on a bagel and doing some inventory.” Noelle informed Mike.

“Ha, you have a boring job.” Mike teased.

“Actually I wanted to ask you something about work, sort of” Noelle said.

“Shoot”

“You know The Old Tavern? You know it’s up for sale right?” She asked.

“Yeah, I hope some dick doesn’t buy it and ruin it, I love that place” Mike sounded annoyed that their favourite bar was being sold. The guys go there all the time and it would be sad to see someone come in and ruin the charm it has.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about; do you want to buy it with me? Like we could be business partners and own a fucking bar dude” Noelle asked cheerily.

“Are you fucking serious? I so want to do that” Mike said with eagerness.

“Well then let’s fucking buy a bar” She shouted through the phone.

“FUCK YES” Mike chanted.

“I’m so damn excited. I’ll talk to Larry when Tommy and I go out later and let him know.
Hopefully he can wait till you get back from tour to make everything official” Noelle said.

“Okay, just imagine the fun we could have with our own bar.” They both thought about it for a moment. “I’ve got to go, we go on soon and I have to go hang out with my girlfriend” Mike liked being able to say that.

“Okay, have fun and try not to break some fingers” She responded.

“I’ll try not to. You try and not die of boredom with your inventory” Mike joked and the pair of them hung up and got back to what they had to do.


A couple more weeks went by and the tour was over. Noelle had spoken to Larry, the current owner of The Old Tavern, and he was more than happy to take the ‘for sale’ sign down and wait for Mike to complete his tour.

When he got home him, Noelle and Larry had a meeting; they spoke figures and what owning a bar entails. The best friends were more than excited and were totally okay with everything that was said in that meeting. They signed an agreement and handed over a cheque, making Noelle and Mike the new official owners of their favourite bar.

They hadn’t told anyone else that they had bought it since they wanted it to be a surprise. They were going to do it tonight at their ‘under new management’ party.

“Guys come on we’re going to be late” Mike called to Vic and Tony who were still upstairs getting changed. Everyone had stayed and Mike and Vic’s house last night so knowing they would all be at the bar on time wouldn’t be a problem.

Mel and Jonah were meeting everyone there. Tommy and Giselle were also going to come along later.

“Ready” Noelle shouted as she exited the spare bedroom that she and Jaime had shared.

“You look beautiful babe” Jaime complimented as he kissed her on the lips and pulled her into a hug.

“You actually do look amazing” Mike also complimented.

“You don’t look too bad yourself. Who knew a scruffy git like you could scrub up so well?” Noelle teased.

“I agree with Noelle, it’s weird seeing you so smart” Elise said as she emerged from upstairs.

“Well enjoy it because it’s not happening all the time” Mike said back to them.

Soon enough everyone was dressed and ready to go to the bar. When they walked in there were a few people there; the regulars. All the staff had been introduced to their new bosses the day that Noelle and Mike signed the deal and they were in on the revelation to the pair’s friends.

“Hey boss and boss” One of the barmen, Jimmy, said as Mike and Noelle approached the bar.

“What’s he talking about?” Jaime asked, looking between the two adults with child-like grins on their faces.

Noelle hopped onto the bar and spun around so before hopping back off, this time on the other side of the bar.

“Welcome to mine and Mike’s new bar” She shouted and Mike opened his arms as if he was revealing something like a magician’s assistant.

“Are you serious?” Vic and Tony asked almost in unison.

Noelle had started to get everyone a drink, she and Tommy actually did a bit of bar work when they were younger so she knew most of the ropes.

“Yep, we made it all official a few days ago” Mike confessed to everyone; they were still trying to digest the news.

“At least it’s someone decent taking over from Larry” Tony said.

“That’s what we said when he told us” Jimmy chimed in.

“Mike they said we’re awesome, they totally want free drinks” Noelle said as if she just cracked their top secret.

“Well they can keep on wanting” He joked.

“What? You’re not even going to give us free drinks?” Vic said sounding super upset.

“This is a business and we can’t give everything away. You can have the odd free drink” Mike said sounding like an official businessmen; it just made everyone laugh but he was being serious and they all knew it.

About twenty minutes later Mel, Jonah, Tommy and Giselle all turned up and were given the news; they reacted in pretty much the same way. They were all excited about Mike and Noelle’s new business adventure.

Throughout the night the bar got full and many drinks were drunk. Mike and Noelle were celebrating in style. Vic had a lady friend turn up not long after Tommy arrived and revealed to the gang that it was his girlfriend; it turns out he had been seeing her for the last 2 months but nobody knew about her. He wanted to make sure it was a good relationship and that it was going somewhere before introducing her to everyone, they all thought it was sweet. It also made Mike and Noelle’s previous assumption that Vic was single completely wrong.
Her name was Elizabeth and she was a hairdresser, she owned her own salon and had a daughter. Vic and the daughter got along and Elizabeth thought Vic was a great catch. Now everyone in the band had a girlfriend.

Notes

Are you glad she's not pregnant?
What about Mike and Noelle buying the bar?

The next chapter is the last one and I don't think there will be a sequel.