Get the picture, cut out my middle

 It felt as if it had been so long. Nic had a lot of catching up to do with Tristan. Thank god for the international calls being free on his phone plan. 

Yes, he knew he'd been very lucky this summer. Of course, he'd been a mover and a shaker in the company, or so Felicity kept assuring him. He'd done plenty from making sure beer boxes were moved to setting up events in a hotel and on a fancy yacht too. So there had been bonuses. And now he had something to tell his best friend. He grinned while he listened to Tristan talk about his long hot and humid summer.

"We kept thinking it would rain, but then it never did. You know, you just get used to it, and then these downpours out of nowhere." Tristan might as well be a weatherman, just what was he getting at. Finally, he mentioned that Mona was working. She was with her childhood friend Hoyt.

Nic felt numb to listen about anything Mona-related. It was such a foreign subject.

"So..so she's still living with..with you guys?" It was like an alarm went off. He had no plans to come back. Not now. Not with everything going so well. He even knew a few phrases and he was catching on. It felt everything was Korean English to him. Of course, it was baffling at first, but then they'd say an English word or two and Nic could comprehend. 

"Um, yeah. She's with Hoyt now." Tristan sounded as if they were a couple. Nic felt as if he might as well be hitting a cement wall. He couldn't think of a thing to say. The deeper the conversation went, the more he seemed to forget why he called in the first place.

Tristan talked of Mario and Bren having a baby. And his friend Holden was Bren's little brother.  Of course, Nic didn't remember Holden. He thought of saying, "Why don't you send me a picture." but Tristan was on to talking about Dale and how she was happy to be working with Jade now.  Then he said something about Liv.

It dropped him in his tracks. 

"Why don't you ever send me any pictures," Nic said without thinking.

"Of who?" Tristan sounded as if he didn't have time for that. Usually, all the pics were on Dale's phone not his.

"No, I don't mean Dale." He caught his breath. It was like he needed to investigate Tristan's little sister. He needed to compare, maybe. He winced hard. What was he thinking? "Look, I just want to see you."

"Yeah, but you know," there was laughter in Tristan's voice. "I don't see how."

"There might be," Nic smiled. Here he was home alone, waiting for Felicity to come over so they could go grocery shopping. "I can fly over anybody in my family for free."

This cracked Tristan up.

"But..you know, you are like family to me. Could you come to Seoul?"

"To Seoul?" He sounded as if he might as well be on THE PRICE IS RIGHT. He sighed with a chuckle.

"You've got a passport, don't you?"

"Yeah." Yet, it made it sound like a crazy idea.

"I just want to see you, man." Nic felt it just needed to be said. Couldn't Tristan understand?