The Reunion

"I did it. We're over."

I read the text several times before fully comprehending it. Jessica always threatened to break up with Josh, but that's all it ever was. A threat.

"Is there a ghost in my apartment I don't know about?" Justin asked as he held out a cup of black coffee for me. I shook my head and held up my phone for him to read. His eyebrows rose. "Wow, I thought you said she was full of it?"

"That's what I thought," I said before taking a sip of coffee. Of course it was delicious, just like everything this guy made for me. "I guess I was wrong. Thank goodness."

Justin shrugged as he got back into bed with me. "He seemed like a nice guy." We were having the perfect Saturday morning, filled with sex and reruns of Friends. I wasn't looking forward to getting out of bed, but we both had plans and they were unfortunately separate. Alan was having a barbecue and so was Anna. I was kind of relieved that I had an excuse not to go to Alan's barbecue. Enough time had passed where I'd be comfortable enough around him, but it still felt weird to grow friendships with a cheater and his oblivious girlfriend. I was disappointed Justin couldn't spend time with my friends, but a night apart wouldn't hurt.

I cuddled up to Justin. "That's why Josh is so scary. He seems so fun and innocent, but he's gone crazy on her a few times. He used to follow her home to make sure she wasn't meeting up with another guy. I mean, this time it wasn't anything he did as far as I know. She just didn't feel they could work through their issues."

I could tell by the way Justin's body began moving against me that he was nodding. "Poor guy," he replied. "Getting dumped sucks."

I sensed a conversation about romantic pasts coming and I was not in a mood to go there. "I'm going to call Anna," I said as I crawled out of bed and began pacing while dialing Anna's phone number. I knew she wouldn't mind if I invited Jessica to her barbecue, but I still wanted her okay on it. While I didn't know the details of the break up, I knew Jessica would appreciate being surrounded by friends. Even though Darlene and Anna were annoyed at Jessica for her behavior, they'd easily forget it all and embrace her presence as if nothing happened. We're not in high school anymore.

Anna was surprised by my call, since I hadn't told Darlene or her about what Jessica told me on the boardwalk, but very open to having Jessica over. She said she'd give Darlene a heads up and I called Jessica once we hung up. After some convincing, she agreed to come with me to Anna's house.

As I hung up, Justin began wining from the bed. "Come back to bed, Caroline." I smiled at him for a few seconds before jumping on the bed and making our last hour together truly memorable.

That night, I could hear the music from Anna's backyard before I even turned my car off across the street. "Wow, this is quite the event," Jessica coldly said. She was definitely nervous and her anxiety was not bringing out the best in her.

"You know how Anna likes to entertain," I replied waving my hand at her. I handed her the bottle of wine we purchased minutes beforehand and glared at her. "Ready?"

Jessica nodded. We walked into Anna's backyard through her high white fence where two beer pong games were already going on. Everyone welcomed us with warm hugs. Of course, none of the guys knew that Jessica had been avoiding Darlene and Anna, so there was nothing strange about this situation to them. I watched from afar as Jessica awkwardly said hello to Darlene and Anna. They all hugged like nothing ever happened. Peace was restored.

Moose suddenly bumped into me as he walked out of Anna's house. "Oh, hey," he said. "I didn't know you were coming."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Why wouldn't I be coming?" I asked.

He turned around and reached down to get a beer from the cooler before shrugging. "I don't know," he replied. "I figured you'd be spending time with your boyfriend or something."

I rolled my eyes at him. I didn't know how many beers he already had, but I assumed he was right in between buzzed and belligerent, because he always became obnoxious right before he reached belligerent.

I politely walked away from him to where Anna, Darlene, and Jessica were feverishly talking. Anna was telling them about her most recent date with some guy she works with at camp. I don't know how she does it, but Anna always seems to meet new guys and when I was single, I was super jealous. My jealousy has since vanished since I couldn't be happier with Justin.

Everyone was having a great night and around eleven o'clock, I went to get my sweater from my car. It was a really nice night, but the breeze made me question my choice to wear a tank top. As I began walking back, Moose walked through the gate towards me.

"Caroline," he said, putting his hands up. "Wait." I gave him a questioning look as I tried to figure out how drunk he was. "Why haven't we ever hooked up?"

Okay, that answered my question. He was extremely intoxicated. "Moose, I have a boyfriend," I answered. I was becoming annoyed.

"I know, I know," he replied. "I just mean in the past. Why didn't we ever try?"

Try what? I attempted to move past him, but he kept blocking me and insisting we talk. I was about to really lose it when I heard a voice behind me.

"What's going on?" I didn't even have to turn around to recognize Justin's voice.