Now or Never

Chapter 2

She looked up from her phone smiling and with butterflies in her stomach, after reading his short, but sweet message.

She herself could not explain what was going on with her over the past few weeks. She was happy when she had a date for the taping of the Reunion, because she was so excited about this finally happening. With everything that went on in the world, they decided to wait it out until the show could be done the way they all wanted to. And the long preparation sure did not hurt it.

She was quite shocked when Ben asked her in a Zoom meeting if she remembered David having a crush on her, and because it warmed her heart so much, she admitted that she felt the same. She found it beautiful to read that coffee house kiss during the table read, which really brought back a lot of stuff for her. Even after remeniscing about that time with the others (where she learned that they were being even more obvious than they thought), it still left her at a lack of words when it was adressed during the talk segment on day 2. She felt kind of sorry for throwing David under the bus the way she did, but she truly was at a lack of words at first.

Of course he handled it very gentlemanly (still leaving her space to chicken out) and eloquently as he always would.

If she was being honest with herself, she never in her life met a guy quite like him, and sometimes it was hard to believe someone like him even existed. Tall, handsome, funny, smart as hell and most of all kind of oblivious to all of that when she met him. Even with growing more confident over the years, he always remained down to earth and one of the most caring and sensitive people she ever met. Looking back at the men in her life, she had to admit that, even without them ever being together off-screen, he somehow always was kind of a benchmark when meeting a guy and becoming more serious. She really did not know if this was even fair to the men in her life.

She also knew that he had been hurting over the years and therefore had accepted that he kept his distance to her after the show finished. Whenever they saw each other, they would be overjoyed and have a great time, but a bittersweet note always remained present, to preserve everything they had built over the years. This was also part of the reason she never agreed to live in NYC part time when Justin had suggested, because this could probably made way to things she had carefully tugged away over the years. She did not know how David felt about this, but she knew he was in a good place having a fantastic wife and his little girl, and who was she to potentially mess with that?

But here they were, years later. Both marriages failed anyways. And with working together, she not only felt nostalgia, but in addition the comforting yet exciting feeling of having him back by her side.

She wondered for a short while if she was being too obvious, but then came to the conclusion that it didn't matter. After the taping, they fell back into their friendly, flirty banter (digitally in this time and age), and she could not be happier about it.

When he said that he would be in town and suggested to have dinner together, she did not even need to think about it for a second.

But with the day approaching, she was caught in a hamster wheel of thought, wether or not to make a move, or even how she would react if he did. She sensed that she might not be the only one on board with those renewed feelings, but she was far from sure.

And not only was she yet to come up with a conclusion to that,  she even was hesitating what to say when Courteney would ask her about it this night when they watched the show together, which she kind of feared she would. She knew her best friend was suspicious but had given her space up until now, to figure herself out on her own. But she was positive she would not be able to let Jen get into that dinner without at least a brief piece of advice.

Here she was, sitting in Courts living room. After the final credits, she, Courteney and Coco discussed a few things that they felt the need to, until Coco wished her mom and her godmother a good night with a peck on the cheek and went to her room.

Courteney returned from the kitchen with a new bottle of wine refilling their glasses, while glancing at her friend.

"So, are you gonna start "the talk" or should I?" Courteney asked when she flopped down back in her chair, wine glass in her hand.

Jen, kind of lost, kept looking at the light reflecting from the liquid in her glass. She decided to let Court do the talking for now.

"You and David? Tomorrow night? What will that be: a dinner between two old friends or a date?"

Jen kept looking at her drink afraid to look her best friend in the eye. When Courteney did not continue to talk she looked up at her friends inquiring glance.

"Court, I honestly do not know..."

Courteney looked at her drink for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath to start her lecture.

"Okay, I am just going to tell you my thoughts on this and then give you the chance to have that marinate overnight.

We have been the best of friends for so long, we have been through hell and back, and all I can say is: do NOT let him slip away this time.

I meant what I said that day, I totally get that both of you were afraid to start anything back then, and I honestly am thankful for that because the show and all of us probably would not be standing where we are right now, as strange as that may sound.

But I know both of you, and honestly: everything you have been looking for in a guy, it has been right in front of you for 27 years.

And you cannot tell me otherwise, Jenny Louise, you know that very well. Every guy you were with, you unintentionally compared to him.

It sure wasn't always easy, and I very well know why you both kept each other at arms length since the show ended, but none of those reasons is valid right now. You both are single, and it would neither affect your work nor other people."

"But who tells me that he feels the same? It was so nice to finally close that gap between us as friends, and if I put myself out there, and he would reject me? I wouldn't be able to take it! And even if he did feel it too, what if we found out that we are not as compatible as we think? I would loose a lifelong friend completely, and that is the last thing that I want.

I would rather have him as a friend than not in my life at all!!"

"Trust me, I have seen the two of you together those 2 days. I was almost blinded by the way sparks radiated off both of you. He definitely feels the same.

And about your fear, what happens if it doesn't work? Apart from me thinking that this is not going to happen: you have to talk about it, be careful and listen to your gut feeling. Nothing will be spoiled if you are on the same page and agree not to let that happen.

There is no guarantee for anything in life, but you really have to ask yourself: Do I want to take that leap and finally be in the place I was supposed to be for all of my life, or do I want to keep things the way they are, and potentially ask myself forever what could have been?"

Jen, lost in her thoughts, finished her glass of wine before smiling at her friend and getting up.

"Thank you so much, babe. I guess I head home now, I have A LOT to think about."

Courteney accompanied her friend to the door, where both bid their goodbyes. She watched her friend leave, and closed the door smiling and positive, that her friends would finally be headed where they belonged...