The One After the Reunion

Chapter Six

June 14, 2021, 8:30 AM

Three days after the party

JEN

So it's the morning already and I barely slept. It was 4 AM and I was still wide awake crying my eyes out and relentlessly reliving that moment wishing for a different outcome every time. My body feels sore as if I had just finished a heavy workout instead of having stayed under the covers. My eyes are puffy, my voice hoarse - I'm in a terrible state.

I decide to close my eyes for a couple more minutes, willing to delay the start of this awful day until I hear a successive noise of loud honks coming from a car. With a bit of a grunt, I pull myself up from the bed and walk towards the window that faces my front gate. I see it coming from a black Tesla X parked outside my house. It's Court's car, I recognize. I am not up for this visit. With as much energy as I can muster, I open the automatic gate through my smartphone, change into my casual clothes and go downstairs.

Right as I open my front door I see, not just Court, but also Lisa, Perry, and LeBlanc.

"What are you guys doing here at this hour?" I say, not believing what my eyes are seeing. I gesture for them to come inside and we all start to head to the living room.

I notice how their reactions instantly soften. I must look worse than I thought.

"We heard about what happened. We just wanna make sure you're OK." Lisa tells me. I give Court the look and she returns a slight smile that means "I had to. I'm worried about you."

I let out a sigh. "Look, you guys, I really appreciate this. I'm fine... I will be anyway. I'm just not really up for company right now." I feel listless. All I'm thinking is getting back in bed and crying some more because why not? I feel miserable.

"Come here, you." Matt opens his arms and approaches me to give me a big hug. Everybody starts to join in and I get squished like a sponge.

"You're just making me cry again!" I try to protest, although this group hug is starting to make me feel a little better already.

"That's alright. They're happy tears, aren't they?" Perry says, and I almost choke in the little sobs that are starting to form.

We stay like that for a couple more moments and I think of how lucky I am to have this group of people show up at my doorsteps at 8:30 in the morning just so they can try to make me feel better. When I break away from them, a sentence escapes my lips. Looking down on the floor, I say "I lost him. I had my chance and I chose to let him go."

"Do you maybe want to tell us exactly what happened last night?" Court asks. So I start from the beginning. I recount the story with as much detail as I can remember, in the same way I repeated it to myself last night: the sweet words, the little gestures, the confession, and the way I rejected his love. I tell them the past conversations we've had prior to last night for context. I sprinkle the story with every single moment that matters to why I did what I did.

"And what scared you so much you decided to push him away?" asks Lisa.

"If I'm to sum it up in two words — the future, our future together. For a long time, I'd accepted the fact that our ship has sailed. The idea of me and him? Of us? It's never going to happen! First, it was work that kept us apart. That show was the best thing that happened to both our careers, and to mess that up for something that might not work anyway was not something we were willing to bet on. Then there was our dating history. If I wasn't in a relationship, he was, or we both were. And when the show ended, with my marriage in tow not long after, he was already in New York. And the number of days we hadn't spoken kept growing and growing until we both got used to life without the other person that used to be our constant source of joy. And that was fine! Did I wish we give it a try before things get more complicated? Of course.

But we were also Ross and Rachel, and for a long time that was enough for me. We got married and had 2 kids: a boy and a girl. Emma grew up to be like his dad. And our little boy wanted to be in the fashion industry like his mom. We have a happy ending, just not one I get to live in for every day of my life.

So yeah, I'm scared of what will happen if, after 27 years, we finally give this a go. What if we're not supposed to? What if it ends disastrously? What if trying to get together only ends with us losing each other? I don't think I can take it.

Because at least we're good friends. At least I'm certain he'll always be in my life... Well, yesterday morning I was."

"Do you know when he came to me for advice he mentioned the same worries?" says Lisa. "Yeah, he was afraid that there's no longer a part of you that would be interested in crossing that boundary with him, and that by asking you out, he's risking losing you in the process. And you know what I think of that now? The fact that you both care so much about your friendship only goes to show how much love and respect you're going to put in when you enter this relationship."

LeBlanc offers his two cents too. "It's 27 years later and here you both are, in the same city where it all started. You're both single and you're both in love with each other. If you believe in fate, I don't think it's telling you you're not supposed to be with him. I think it's showing you that it's finally time. 'Thank you for your patience. You have arrived at your destination.'"

"This isn't the end of the line for you two, you know?" says Court. "So you lost a couple more hours, big deal. Tell him how you really feel. Tell him what you told us. You haven't lost him yet."

"You really think that would work?"

Matty chimes in. "No question there. The guy's been in love with you from the moment he saw you. Believe me, I was there beside him. He'll want to hear this all from you."

I look at each of their faces as I take it all in. I'm still afraid of the consequences, but at this point, I'm more afraid that he'll believe I don't reciprocate his feelings for me when I do. And I want him to know that. I want to tell him what I should've told him all those years ago.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and stand up. "I should probably call ahead so they can prepare the jet."

"For what? He hasn't left LA."

"He's still here?"

"He's at Sunset Tower. He made reservations till the 16th but he canceled the rest. He checks out this noon." I look at the nearest clock. It says 11:11.

"Don't worry about the details. We got everything covered. Matty and I will get the car running—" Court throws the car key to his direction and he catches it with ease. "—Meanwhile you girls do what you gotta do."

"It's about 25 minutes from here. 20 if we don't hit any traffic. So as long as you're ready by 11:35 we should get there on time," says Court.

"Why don't you get your cute ass in the shower and Court and I will run through your closet, help you find something gorgeous to wear, OK? We got this."

With them by my side, I don't doubt that at all.