Text Me Back

26. Big Mistake

Anna's goodbye party was held at The Richman's home in Glendale and Debra had been cooking for 2 days in order to have everything ready; a heard of people were coming to see her off. Eric, along with his parents, had chipped in for a new guitar to Anna – Claire was the only one sour enough not to participate. Eric should be sad to see his sister leave but all his focus was to make sure this party went as smoothly as possible and to keep Jennifer and Florence away from each other for the majority of the festivities.

Anna assumed she had taken care of the 'problem' by setting up Florence on a date but to Eric this made it worse. He had been pondering over this Justin-character since Florence had told him and even though he knew exactly what he felt about it he pushed those thoughts away. Jennifer had kept him occupied by continuously forcing him to promise never to leave her side during the party and he had confirmed it every time. This of course would give him zero time to even speak to Florence, which is probably what Jennifer wanted.

The minute Eric and Jennifer stepped out of the car he felt the ominous vibe around him and Claire was the first eyes he met, that's probably where the bad energy came from. She was leaning against the fence on the porch while staring right at the reunited couple, arms crossed and frowning heavily.

"Look at her standing there watching us like a hawk," Jennifer whispered to Eric, "She's never going to forgive me, is she?"

Eric grabbed her hand and locked it in the crook of his elbow. He needed them to be a united front today, "Don't worry, why don't we say hello to my parents and then we can go get something to drink."

"Sure, let's hope that your newfound friend has decided to stay home." Jennifer mumbled under her breath.

She clung to him when they walked through the door and found Burt and Debra finishing up yet another plate of cornbread, the familiar smell filled Eric's nose and made him smile. Jennifer tried her best to put on a happy face but he knew this was a stretch for her.

"Eric and...Jennifer, it's good to see you here! Have you seen your sister yet?" Debra asked while her eyes were still focused on her task.

"We've only seen Claire so far. Do you guys need any help?" Jennifer said and rushed over to put the plate of cornbread on the buffet table. It earned her a thankful smile.

"You can help me clean up in the kitchen so I can go change for the party, Eric why don't you help your father grab the cases of beer in the garage?" Debra ordered and just like that Jennifer and him was separated.

Burt didn't waste no time cornering Eric the minute the two entered the garage. The cases of beer were neatly placed in the corner of the garage but all Burt did was use it as a seat for the moment.

"How are you feeling son?" Burt asked as softly as he could, but still made it known he was concerned about his son.

"I'm fine dad; we're trying to work things out..."

"Are you sure that's what you really want, son?"

Eric chuckled annoyingly, "Why does every one doubting what I want? I feel like I have to defend my relationship to everyone, no one is on my side here!" Eric finished frustratingly.

Burt walked over to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder, pressing firmly with his hand to demand attention. It was rare for his father to be this serious, Burt was known to be a hobby comedian but right now he had none of the humor in his eyes.

"We are all on your side Eric; that's why we're all concern," Burt started, "not too long ago you brought a young woman here, someone we all saw having an effect on you unlike no other. The way you looked at that young woman, Florence, when she was here; it looked like love to me."

"Dad, please—"

"I'm just telling you what we saw Eric, nothing else. You can't blame us for looking out for you the way you've always looked out for us. Now let's go out there and give your sister one hell of a party." Burt said and gave him a faint smile before grunting as he grabbed the heavy case of beer.

*

Justin had been a blessing that had entered Florence live just at the right time. Apparently he had been at the showing, yet another name that Florence had invited but not thought would show up. He owned a small film company that specialized in filming documentaries and apparently he had been quite impressed by Adam's and Florence's'. Anna had managed to get his number and 2 days later he had texted Florence.

She had been careful not to send out any flirtatious signals, knowing she was nowhere near ready for that, but Justin had been respectful and sweet to her – making her question if perhaps she wasn't a little attracted to him after all. They had discussed working together when Florence graduated; perhaps there was a spot for her in his company, and then the words had just slipped out of her mouth: 'would you like to come with me to Anna's goodbye party?'

Now here they were: parking outside of The Richman's residence and Florence desperately regretting ever agreeing to this. Justin looked good in his baby blue shirt tucked into his jeans; he looked older than he was, having graduated only 2 years ago, which is why Florence had decided to wear heels today – not going casual like she'd first planned.

"We're just stopping by for a little bit, okay? This doesn't have to be a long thing..." Florence assured him when they stepped out of the car, Florence grabbing Anna's gift from the backseat.

"That's okay Florence; I'm here to support you for however long you want to stay. No pressure." Justin said with a smile.

She had explained to him the situation between her and Eric, it would be unfair not to, and Justin had understood. Not to mention the fact that he'd very specifically said he dated older women and not younger, making Florence embarrassed for the few sexual thoughts she'd had about him.

"People are going to think we're dating you know..." Florence mumbled as they smiled walking up to the front door.

"Then let them think that..." He whispered the second before the door was ripped open by a smiling Anna.

"You both came!" She squealed and embraced them both before pulling them into the house. "Everyone is out on the back porch, let's go!"

Justin and Florence gave each other an amused look before following Anna through the warm house and out to the back porch, where she had been sitting not too long ago. The memories instantly flooded back and from the corner of her eye she spotted Eric, with his arm around who she now realized was Jennifer. She began feeling sick.

"Claire, look who showed up after all. I told you she would." Anna proudly showed off both Justin and Florence and she felt eyes on her everywhere.

She tried her best not to meet Eric's eyes and ignored the woman by his side completely. She remembered joking how she wouldn't talk to Eric – now she felt slightly guilty about having messaged him in the first place. Had she just stayed out of his life she wouldn't have been here today.

"Oh boy am I glad to see you," Claire said and pulled her into a hug and greeted Justin with a firm handshake, "I didn't think you'd want to come today..."

"Let me get you something to drink, Florence," Justin excused himself and walked over to a barrel, filled with ice and beer.

With Claire standing in front of her, talking her ear off about how much she hated seeing Anna throw away her life over in England, she didn't see the figure moving toward them ever so slowly – not until it was too late. Suddenly a young woman was standing next to them, a young woman that had once approached her in the coffee place a few months ago now. She was the start of all of this and perhaps she'd come to finish it.

"Long time no see, Florence," Jennifer said with a wide smile, "isn't it funny how we met on Martha's Vineyard not too long ago and now you're here...at my boyfriend's family home. Isn't that something..."

Florence swallowed harshly and met Claire's eyes for a second. It became stupidly obvious that she had made a big mistake coming here tonight – or maybe the biggest mistake of all was sending that first text to Eric in the first place.