Justin

As I approach the beach house, the sun is just coming up. It’s close to six in the morning and I’ve been driving all night from Miami. I made a few stops here and there and I might’ve stayed a little longer than I wanted at a strip club off I-75.

But I made it, just like I told them I would.

I park behind JC’s SUV, observing the house before I get out of my car. I know what awaits me once I step inside. The usual fake greetings, Kate’s cold, but necessary hug, Liv’s bitchy glare, Chris’ dumb joke about why I’m late. Koren and Joey will brag about how amazing their life is out in L.A. JC will try to tell me why I should’ve left earlier.

And you wonder why I’m even here?

I finally step out of the car, throwing my duffel bag over my shoulder. I let out a sigh and head up the steps of the front porch.

When I open the door, I find Kate asleep on the couch, the television on mute. The house is quiet other than Kate’s rhythmic breathing and I can’t help but wonder if her and JC got into it the night before. Then again, if that were the case, JC would be on the couch if I know Kate like I think I do.

I walk around the couch and into the kitchen, throwing my duffel bag on the island. There’s a Keurig by the refrigerator and I immediately turn it on and search the cupboards for a mug. The coffee selections are all flavored shit that I know Kate has bought because as much as she claims to be a coffee snob, she would rather drink a hazelnut latte than regular Colombian roasted beans.

I hear her stir and look over as I’m putting the mug under the filter. She’s rolled over and her hair is covering her face slightly, but I can still see her eyes are closed.

The coffee brews and I shut off the Keurig before heading over and settling across from Kate in the recliner. I haven’t seen her in five years and as much as I hate her, for some reason, she’s the first one I want to see.

I prop my feet on the coffee table in front of me and watch her sleep. It’s started to rain outside and the only sounds in the living room are Kate’s breathing, the rain pattering on the windows, and me sipping my coffee.

A loud clap of thunder nearly makes me drop my mug and Kate immediately gasps and is startled awake. She jerks her head and looks right at me and lets out a yelp.

“Shit, Justin! You scared the hell out of me!”

Kate

“Aw, Kate, is that any way to greet an old friend?” Justin puts his coffee mug down in front of him and folds his arms behind his head.

I rub my eyes and try and get my bearings. I knew I fell asleep down here after JC and I had sex and I feel bad that I never made it back upstairs to him.

“When did you get in?” I finally ask him, leaning against the back of the couch.

Justin shrugs and reaches for his mug. “’Bout ten minutes ago.” He looks at me. “Why aren’t you upstairs with your husband?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” I wasn’t about to tell him why.

“Fighting?”

“No. Nothing like that. I just….couldn’t fall asleep. And it was pointless to lay up there with him and toss and turn when he was sleeping.”

“Uh huh.”

Silence. I don’t know what else to say to him. It more or less sucks because when I first met Justin, we were pretty good friends. We went on a date and it just didn’t end well. Sometimes I wonder if he ever got over that, but I figure enough time has passed that I’m probably just being paranoid.

“So how’s everyone else?” Justin leans forward in the recliner, cupping the mug of coffee in both hands.

“Fine. We were all pretty tired last night when we got in. We had pizza and we were gonna lay out today but…” I trail off and look outside where it’s started raining heavily. “Looks like that’s out.”

“Eh, it’s Florida. It’ll clear up soon enough.” Justin responds and sips his coffee. “You look good, Kate.”

“Thanks.” I smile at him. “I’m glad you could make it. Even if you are late.” I can’t help but point it out and wink at him.

“Come on, I’ll walk you back to your dorm.” Justin grabbed my hand as we got out of his car. I smiled at him, already thinking of how full of himself he’d been back at the bar and dinner before that. I had heard several stories of how he’d been a star athlete and star of every play and musical at his former high school. I had gotten bored a long time ago.

“Ok. Sure.” It couldn’t hurt because before the date, we’d been friends. He was still charming when he wanted to be.

My dorm was on the top of the hill and was a coveted freshmen girls’ dorm called Van Cooper. It was the newest and nicest of any other dorm on campus, besides the upper class apartments on the other side.

“Wow. Van Cooper. I’ve heard about this dorm,” Justin said to me as I pulled out my dorm key.

“Yep. Hard wood floors and we each share a bathroom with our roommate and not the entire hall.” I had wanted Van Cooper from the moment I’d visited Presley last year.

“Can I see?” Justin asked as I opened the main door.

I shrugged. “Sure. I think my roommate’s out for the weekend so we don’t have to worry about waking her up.”

Justin followed me as I walked up the first set of stairs, then turned right down the hallway. My room was the third door on the left right across from Liv and Koren.

Unlocking the door, I let Justin enter the room after me. The bunk beds were pushed against the window and there were two desks on either side of the wall. He chuckled at the poster of Ben Affleck above my desk.

“Celebrity crush?” He walked over to the poster and examined it.

“You could say that,” I replied and threw my keys on my desk. “So, this is it. Not much but the room is supposed to be bigger than the other dorm rooms on campus.”

“Yeah, I don’t feel like I’m in a walk-in closet,” Justin noted and turned to me. “I had a lot of fun, Kate.”

“Me too,” I lied but feigned a perfect smile. “Thanks.”

He edged closer towards me. “It was my pleasure.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his lips onto mine. I gave in and kissed him back. It wasn’t until I felt him pulling me over to the bunk bed that I pushed him away.

“What?” He asked me with a gleam in his eye.

“Sorry, Justin. I think a kiss is all you’re gonna get tonight.” It was the nicest way I could turn him down.

He responded by kissing me again, this time harder.

“Justin, no, stop.” I pushed away from him and he glared at me.

“Oh come on, Kate. Don’t pretend you didn’t like that!” He edged towards me again but I moved away.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Sorry.” I was praying he would get the hint this time.

“Yeah. Ok. I get it. See you around.” He turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him.

We didn’t speak to each other for about a month after that, until he started hanging around Lance.

JC

I roll over to an empty spot next to me where Kate usually lies. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I slowly lift myself up and stare around the room. I let out a sigh and dangle my legs over the side of the bed, yawning once more before I decide to get up and go downstairs. It’s still early, but for some reason I’m wide awake. And my wife isn’t next to me, which is unusual for her.

I open the door and hear commotion downstairs and immediately wonder who else is up at this hour. Walking towards the staircase, I hear Kate and another familiar voice.

Justin.

As I edge closer to the top of the stairs I look down into the living room. He’s sitting across from Kate and leaning towards her. My heart immediately pumps faster and I do all I can to ignore the twinge of jealousy I’m feeling.

The thing is, I know Justin wanted her first. I know he tried to make out with her. I know he hated me for a long time but faked a friendship with me to get closer to Kate. Maybe Kate didn’t know all of that, but I feel like I’m pretty intuitive when it comes to the way men look at women. And there were plenty of times I caught Justin looking at Kate in a way that I didn’t like.

“Good morning.” I break the conversation by coming down the stairs. Kate turns and smiles at me, a sheepish expression on her face.

“Baby, I’m sorry I left you in the middle of the night. I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to keep you up tossing and turning.” She stands up and walks over to meet me at the bottom of the stairs. I kiss her forcefully, or as forcefully as I can for that early in the morning. I don’t let her know it, but I’m giving Justin a subtle hint that this is my wife.

“It’s ok. I forgive you.” I wink at her and put my arm around her waist, walking back over to the couch. “Hey, Justin. Good to see you.”

Justin is looking up at me over the rim of his coffee mug. “You too, C.” He stands and we shake hands. I can tell he’s forcing it but so am I.

I sit down with Kate on the couch and she snuggles up next to me. She’s warm and still smells of her perfume from the day before.

“How long did it take you to get here?” I ask Justin.

He shrugs. “Eh, you know. I had to stop off a few places between Miami and here. So I guess around five hours had I not made pit stops.” He sips his coffee and the cockiness exudes from him.

“What in the world is so interesting between here and Miami? Isn’t it mostly-“

“Strip joints.” I can’t help but interrupt Kate and as soon as I do, Justin glowers at me.

“Josh!” Kate laughs uneasily and looks over at Justin. “Please don’t tell me you actually stopped at those cheap strip joints!”

“Of course not. I have more class than that!” Justin stands up and walks back into the kitchen, dumping the remainder of his coffee into the sink. He turns back to us. “Believe it or not, I do have other friends other than you people.”

“You can see us for free, though.” I can’t help but keep riding him about it. Justin was notorious in school for sleeping with anything that walked his way. “Strippers cost money.”

“Dude, it’s not funny.” Justin stood in the kitchen, looking as if he wanted to punch me.

“Calm down. He’s kidding.” Kate looked up at me. “Josh, stop it!” she hissed at me and looked back at Justin. “I think we’re making pancakes this morning. Koren promised to bring her blueberry pancake recipe.”

I know Kate’s trying to act as though there’s nothing wrong and that the tension with me and Justin is nonexistent but she’s doing a terrible job.

Justin doesn’t say anything back to her, only comes back into the living room and walks over to his duffel bag.

“Where’s my room?” He’s ignored the statement about breakfast.

“Upstairs. Last door on the right.” Kate is trying to remain cheerful but it’s not working. “Are you going to sleep?”

“I’m gonna try.” Justin starts to head up the stairs.

“Should we wake you up for breakfast?” Kate calls after him.

“No.” Justin answers and doesn’t turn back. The next thing we hear is him stomping down the hall and the door closing behind him.

“Why did you have to keep going on about the damn strip joint?” Kate turns back to me, a frustrated expression on her face.

“It was a joke!” I reply in defense.

“Why do you always have to tease him?” Kate huffs. “It’s bad enough that Liv and Chris want to kill each other but I don’t need you and Justin at each other’s throats, too!”

I stare at her as though I can’t believe what I’m hearing. She’s more worried about Justin’s damn feelings and keeping the peace at this fake little get together where we all pretend to miss someone who was so distant the last year of his life that I sometimes forget why the hell we’re even here.

“Kate, come off it.” I snap at her and she winces. “You know as much as you want to believe it, nobody really wants to be here right now. It’s over. I mean, last night, I thought Chris was going to punch me out if Joey hadn’t been there. Nobody cares anymore. Lance killed himself and it sucks and I hate it, but you know that we’re all just forcing it.”

Kate has tears in her eyes and as a single tear falls down her cheek, she briskly wipes it away, then stands up. “Fuck you. Maybe you’re forcing it, but I have to believe that everyone else wants to be here to remember our friend!”

She is up the stairs before I have a chance to say anything else to her.