Koren

Joey and I are always the last to arrive at the beach house. We fly from L.A. and by the time we land, rent a car, and get over to Siesta Key, everyone’s been there for a good two hours or more. We left early this morning and I’ve been dozing on and off all day from the plane to the car. I want to be wide -awake so I can be up for conversations with Liv and Kate. The three of us haven’t been together for five years and somehow group text messages just don’t cut it.

When we pull into the driveway, I immediately become excited and it’s all I can do not to jump out of the car and leave Joey with the luggage. I know we’re meeting for a somber remembrance, but it doesn’t lessen the anticipation I feel for seeing two of my oldest friends.

We met our freshmen year of college all because of Lance. Lance and I had been friends in high school and the first day of orientation he met Kate at a theatre meeting. He introduced us and a few weeks later, the three of us met Liv, who was hanging out with Lance’s roommate, Chris. At the end of our first semester, Joey moved onto Lance’s and Chris’ hall. He was this big, goofy Italian guy and I immediately started flirting it up big time with him.

“Lance, c’mon. We’re supposed to meet Chris and Liv downstairs at ten.” I knocked on Lance’s dorm room door.

“I’m just changing my shirt. Hey, did Kate say if she was coming with us or not?” Lance called back.

“She’s on a date tonight. Some new guy in the music department. Justin something or the other.” I answered him and looked down the hallway. I was always up for seeing some hot guy walk out in boxer briefs. Although lately all I’d seen were guys with no washboard and the onset of a beer belly.

“Justin Timberlake?” Lance asked, and poked his head out the door.

“Yeah, I think so.” I shrugged and noted the disappointment on Lance’s face. “Aw, Bass, you know Kate’s not your type. She’s a sweetheart and all, but I think she wants someone who moves a little faster.”

“No, it’s not…never mind.” Lance shook his head then ducked back into his room.

That’s when I looked up and saw Joey Fatone for the first time. He was coming out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He caught my eye and chuckled nervously.

“Didn’t know there were chicks on the floor,” he said as he passed me by.

“I’m here all the time. Never seen you before.” I replied and he stopped in front of his room and turned to me.

“Just moved to this hall. I was in a shitty dorm on the other side of campus.” Joey brushed a hand through his wet hair. “What’s your name?”

“Koren Kemper. What’s yours?” I inched closer to him.

“Okay, I’m ready to go.” Lance emerged from his room and the door bumped me, causing me to stumble.

“Geez, Lance!” I snapped at him with an irritable tone.

“Sorry, Kor!” Lance apologized and looked over at Joey. “Hey, Fatone. I see you’ve met Koren.”

“Yeah, just now. Oh yeah, I’m Joey Fatone. Lance’s Bio lab partner and winner at all of our hacky sack games.” Joey stuck his hand out towards me and I shook it.

“Nice to meet you. We’re about to go meet up with some friends. Wanna join us?” I had to ask, even if he said no. I knew I’d be an idiot to pass this up.

“Sure. Lemme change real fast and I can meet you guys downstairs.” Joey winked at me and ducked back into his room.

“Someone sure doesn’t waste any time.” Lance ribbed at me.

“Someone sure is still a smart ass.” I countered back at him.

“Fatone’s great. Just if you end up spending the night on our hall tonight, be quiet when you leave tomorrow morning. I want to enjoy my Saturday.” Lance put his arm around my shoulder as we walked down the hall.

“What the hell makes you think I’m going to move that fast?” I looked at him in feigned shock.

“Not you. Joey. He’s known for being, um, a ladies man. That’s all I meant.” Lance opened the door for me and we walked downstairs.

“Well, if I end up in his room tonight, I’ll make sure to be extra quiet tomorrow morning but I doubt that’s gonna happen.” I was saying this to him as we walked over to Liv and Chris.

“What the hell are you talking about? Whose room are you spending the night in?” Liv immediately wanted to know.

“Nothing. By the way, we’ve gotta wait a minute. I invited someone along.” I told them.

“Who?” Chris asked.

“Joey Fatone.” Lance was smirking and Chris burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, that’s whose room she’s gonna end up in. That dude has had at least four women on our hall and he just moved in like two days ago!” Chris looked at me. “Nice going, Koren. He’s a cool guy.”

“We’re just going to a bar with you guys tonight. It’s not like a real date.” I rolled my eyes at Chris. At that moment Joey came downstairs. “And shut up and don’t say anything else!”

When we got to the bar, we let Chris order a pitcher of beer while the rest of us under-agers went to the back and scoped out a place to sit.

“So, Koren.” Joey turned all of his attention to me. “Where you from?”

“Mississippi. Lance and I went to high school together.” I twirled a piece of blond hair around my finger and eased into a conversation with him. “And you?”

“Brooklyn. Well, sorta. I was born in Brooklyn but my dad got transferred down to Florida. I decided to give Georgia a try for college. So far, it’s working out.” Joey grinned at me and I immediately decided he was going to be fun to talk to, at least for tonight.

“Ok, you little youngins. Here’s your beer.” Chris placed a pitcher of Bud Lite in the middle of the table along with a stack of red cups. “Be good and drink it all.”

“No problem there.” Lance reached for a cup and did a double take. “Hey, Kate.”

I looked over and saw Kate playing pool with Justin. She looked up at us and waved, then put her pool stick down and walked over to the booth.

“Hey, y’all.” She glanced at me, then at Joey. “Who’s your friend, Kor?”

“This is Joey.” I was smirking back at her and I saw her trying not to make a face at me.

“Hey, Joey. I’m Kate.” She reached over and shook his hand.

“How’s your date?” Liv asked her and Kate turned to look at Justin who was lining up a ball to hit in a pocket.

“It’s okay.” Kate shrugged.

“He’s cute.” Liv noted.

“He’s kind of full of himself,” Kate said under her breath, but loud enough for us all to hear.

“Hey, Kate. Your turn.” Justin called to her and Kate turned around and flashed him a smile.

“Okay!” She called back to him then turned to our group. “See y’all later.”

I noticed Lance looking longingly after her and sighed at him. “Hey, she said he was full of himself. That’s a good sign.” I tried to tell him as quietly as I could.

He looked at me and shook his head. “Whatever. Let’s drink.”

When we got back to campus, Joey and I were both well beyond tipsy. Lance followed us back to the dorm, waving me off as I followed Joey into his dorm room.

The next morning I kept my promise and was as quiet as a mouse when I made my way down the hall of the dorm. I almost knocked on Lance’s door, but thought better of it. Besides, I’d already told him I’d be quiet and I never broke my word.

When we open the door to the beach house, everyone’s hanging out in the living room. Kate and JC are sitting together on the couch and Liv is in the recliner, while Chris is in front of the television hitting on it.

“Come on stupid piece of crap!” Chris is groaning at it.

“And hitting it is a good idea?” Liv gripes at him.

“You got a better one?” Chris snaps back.

“Yeah, how ‘bout we say hello cause the party just got here!” Joey always knows what to say in situations that are about to get awkward. And it didn’t take a genius to note the tension that had been building between Liv and Chris just then.

Kate looks up at us as though we’ve saved the day and I’m dying to know what’s transpired before we got here.

“Good to see you, man.” JC stands to his feet and slaps Joey’s back. “Hey, Kor.” He hugs me and then lets me go so that I’m able to give Kate a long hug.

“Thank god you got here.” She mutters into my ear and I don’t move in case she wants to say more. “They’ve been spouting off to each other for the last hour.”

“We’ll talk later.” I whisper in her ear and pull away to go and hug Liv.

“Hey, roomie.” I greet her and she smiles half-heartedly at me. I can already envision some late night chats with her and Kate before Monday morning comes around.

“So I guess all we’re waiting on is Justin?” Joey asks and looks around for an answer.

“Haven’t heard from him.” JC replies and shrugs. “Did he pay his half?”

“Yeah.” I nod and pull out my phone to see if there are any missed texts or calls from him. “He said he was looking forward to seeing us.”

“Well, we can order a pizza while we wait for him.” Chris leaves the television and goes over to the island in the kitchen to retrieve the number for the local pizza place.

“How are the boys?” Kate asks me, as I join her on the couch. Liv gets up from the recliner and joins us.

“They’re good. Tristan is five and Carson is seven. Carson is in the same class as Jessica Alba’s kid this year. She was his girlfriend for about a week.” I let a yawn escape and pull out my phone. “Speaking of, I better call the nanny and let her know we got in ok.”

“Living in L.A. and being a top real estate agent sure has its perks.” Liv mentioned and raised an eyebrow. “What I wouldn’t give to have a nanny sometimes.”

“Oh, Livvy, you’ve got awesome kids.” Kate tells her and shakes her head.

Liv just sighs and both Kate and I glance at each other.

“Should we have some wine on the deck tonight?” I ask, while the phone is ringing.

Liv just nods and looks more forlorn than I’ve ever seen her before in the last fifteen years.

“Pizza will be here in thirty.” Chris calls to us from the kitchen. “And Justin texted. He won’t be here til tomorrow.”

“Shocking.” Kate mutters under her breath. “I might faint if he was ever on time to anything important.”

Kate

Now that Koren and Joey are here, the tension has been somewhat relieved. Chris and Liv had come in about an hour and a half before and from the beginning all they had done was snap at each other.

I love getting to see my two best friends and I love getting our old gang together, but I’ll be honest. I dread this weekend and I’m glad it’s only every five years. When Lance died, I felt like a little piece of me did, too. He was my best friend. Oh sure, Liv and Kate are, too, but Lance and I just shared something special from the beginning. And it was because of Lance that I met JC.

Joey, Chris, and Lance had already formed a pretty tight bromance by the time our sophomore year came around. Justin and Chris had gotten to be friends through a few classes and pretty soon, he was also hanging out with us. Despite the fact that Justin was the worst date I’d ever been on due to his arrogance, when he got around the guys, he was rather enjoyable.

Our sophomore year had started off pretty unmemorable. The only thing I’d enjoyed so far was being in almost every class with Lance.

“Why do they have music theory at 7:50 in the morning?” Lance griped and sat down next to me.

“Shh.” I was resting my head on the table and trying to get over a bad hangover. “You’re talking too loud.”

“What’s wrong? Late night out?” Lance patted my back and I turned my head to look at him.

“You could say that.” I mumbled and lifted my head, reaching for my thermos filled to the brim with coffee.
“Lance!”

I looked up to see the most beautiful man walking into our class. He had dark brown hair, the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, and a smile that immediately made my insides turn to mush.

“Hey, JC.” Lance fist-bumped the beautiful man and he sat down at the same table where Lance and I were seated.

“Hey, buddy.” He looked over at me. “Hey, I’m JC.”

“I’m Kate.” I was suddenly wide-awake.

“Kate’s in theatre with me.” Lance told JC then turned to me. “JC’s a music major.”

“Music education, if you want to be exact,” JC said. “Yeah, I had to switch out of the three o’clock class and into this beast of a time.”

“This is offered at three?” I nearly croaked. “I didn’t see that on the schedule.”

“Because you had already signed up for Jazz.” Lance reminded me.

I spent the rest of the class trying to concentrate on treble clefs and bass clefs and majors and minors but the entire time all I could think about was JC sitting two seats away from me.

“How’d you know the hottie?” I asked Lance later that afternoon before our Theatre History class.

Lance chuckled at me, his hazel eyes twinkling. “JC? We met last year. He was in Intro to Physics with me.”

“And you neglected to tell me about him why?” I folded my arms across my chest.

“Because he was dating some other girl from his hometown. But I think they broke up. Want me to bring him to Chicks tonight?” Chicks was the locally owned restaurant where I waited tables and also a popular college hang out.

“Yes, please!” I answered without even batting an eye.

Lance made good on his promise. That evening he and JC showed up for a beer at Chicks and before they left, JC had asked me for my number.

We went out two nights later and we’ve been together ever since.

“Kate.”

I look up and JC’s holding a Blue Moon and handing it to me. “Here, babe.”

“Thanks.” I smile at him and he pecks my cheek before returning to the kitchen.

“You guys are still like you were in college.” Liv notes with a tone of sadness to her. “I wish we were.”

“What happened?” I ask, already knowing there are problems with her and Chris.

“We grew apart.” Liv sighs and shakes her head, looking over at her husband. “We’ve been trying to hide it in front of the kids but even they’re getting suspicious.”

Just then, Chris comes back into the room and we both clam up. Koren hangs up with her nanny and soon all six of us are sitting across from each other in the living room.

“Kids are fine.” Koren tells Joey. “Tristan was a little whiny earlier missing us, but Amelia says he’s fine now.”

“Wish our kids missed us.” JC looked at me.

“They do in their own angsty, teenager-y way.” I assure him.

“God, I still can’t believe you guys have teenagers.” Liv notes.

“Just one. Maggie’s still twelve.” JC reminds her. “And I’d like it if she stayed twelve for about four more years.”

“Yeah, well, they got busy before the rest of us.” Chris teases. “I still remember when you told us Kate was pregnant.” Chris’ face suddenly goes from jovial to despondent. “Never mind.”

“It’s okay.” I interject. “We all know it happened after the funeral.”

“That’s when the guys found out.” Koren can’t hide the smirk on her face. “Me and Liv were told in the bathroom of that seedy bar we used to all hang out in.”

“Pregnant?” Koren grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face her. “Have you told Josh?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know how to tell him. We’re engaged and we’re supposed to get married this summer.”

“So shouldn’t it be okay?” Liv asked.

“I mean, yeah, I guess it should. I just don’t think he’s gonna be exactly thrilled with having a kid before we’ve been married a year.” I rested my hand on my stomach. “You guys can’t say anything to Chris or Joey, okay?”

“Who else knows?” Koren wanted to know.

“I told Lance yesterday.” I bit on my lower lip. “I know I should have told Josh first, but I just, I don’t know. Lance knew something was up the minute I saw him.”

“Well, Josh isn’t stupid either.” Liv reminded me. “You need to tell him.”

“I know. I’m gonna tell him soon..”

“She told everyone before me.” JC loves to remind me of that fact. “But I guess, well, in spite of everything, I’m glad you got to tell Lance first.”

I can only nod my head in response and recall once again that Lance never got to meet Ellie and that my children would never get to meet my best friend.