The next morning Danielle and Jen woke up to find Vanessa passed out on the couch. “Ness” Danielle said shaking her a little and sitting beside her on the couch.
“Hi” She said pulling up the covers and not opening her eyes.
“How’d you get home last night?” Danielle asked
Vanessa rubbed her head as it pounded. “I don’t remember, one of the guys, I think” She shrugged. “I got a little carried away”
“Oh, well I’m glad you got back okay” Danielle said standing up. “Do you want some coffee? It might help you a little”
“Sure, that would be good. What time is it?” Vanessa asked sitting up.
“Its 10am” Jen said smiling. She knew who took Vanessa home but wasn’t about to stay anything. She jumped when the phone started ringing. “I’ve got it” Jen said picking it up. “Hello?”
“Hi, is Jennifer there?”
“This is she”
“Hey Jen its Justin, from last night”
“Oh hey” She couldn’t believe he was calling. She didn’t expect him to. “What’s up?”
“Nothing but I was uh, wondering if you wanted to get together today. Maybe meet for lunch or something?” He asked
“Sure, what time and where?”
“Um… 1pm and at Olive Garden?” He asked, “I like the small places”
“That’s fine, I’ll meet you then”
“Awesome, bye Jen” he said and hung up.
“Who was that?” Danielle asked handing each of them a cup of coffee.
“Justin, I’m meeting him for lunch” Jen smiled leaning back on the couch.
“That’s great, you two have a lot in common. I’ve got a job interview today so I got to get ready” D said and walked away.
Meanwhile Justin called Lance to talk to him. “I asked out Jen” Justin blurted out after ten minutes of conversation.
“Really? That’s great J! You need a new person in your life”
“Ha, yeah. What about you? Is anything else happening with Danielle yet? Did she call you?”
“No, man what if I fucked up our friendship?” Lance asked rubbing his eyes. “I don’t want that to happen. She’s become one of my best friends J”
“I know I’m sure she’ll call. If not, you call her and talk to her about it. It’s worse not to talk about the situation. Trust me, I know from experience.” He said trying to give some advice.
“I know, thanks for the help Justin. I’m going to go, good luck with Jen”
“Thanks, bye” He said and hung up. Around 12:30 Justin headed to Olive Garden to meet Jennifer. He waited in his car until 1pm when he saw her waiting at the door. He smiled as he got out of the car and headed towards her. Once she recognized him she smiled back.
“Hey” He said opening the door for her.
“What a gentlemen” She smiled as she walked in.
“Name please?” The hostess asked
“Its under Jennifer”
“Okay, this way” She said and showed them to their table.
“So how have you been?” Justin asked after they ordered their drinks.
“Pretty good, apparently Vanessa came in totally smashed last night. I think JC brought her home but I wasn’t about to tell Danielle that.”
“Yeah, she would be really mad. She really hates JC right now.”
“I know, its kind of sad. You know what makes me kind of mad though” She said looking up from her menu. “That for the past year she never told us that she knew any of you, much less dated JC. We’re supposed to be her best friends and she didn’t even tell us about this other life she has.”
“But didn’t you live with her?” Justin asked
“No, not then, Vanessa and I just started living with her 3months ago because we’re three years younger then her school wise. We just graduated college and ended up with jobs out here so D was happy to let us move in with her.”
“I see, but maybe she had a good reason for not telling you. Did you ask her about it?”
“No, I guess I should though” They ordered their food and talked, just getting to know each other.
Meanwhile Vanessa rested at the apartment while she waited for Danielle to get back from her job interview. She winced when the phone rang since her headache was still hurting.
“Hello?” She asked
“Hi is Danielle there?” Lance asked
“No, she’s at an interview, can I tell her who called?”
“Yeah, let her know Lance called. Whose this?”
“Vanessa, thanks for having JC get me home last night”
“No problem. Oh there is another party tonight, not at my place but Justin’s if you want to come and try and get Danielle to come too”
“Alright, I will. I’ll talk to you later then”
“Ok, bye” He said and hung up disappointed. Just as they hung up though Danielle walked into the apartment.
“Hey, how did the interview go?”
“Fine” Danielle said throwing her keys down on the table.
“Are you sure? You seem kind of angry”
“Its not because of that” Danielle said sitting down next to Vanessa. “Its because of Lance! Why did he have to tell me that he liked me? Now I can’t get him out of my head and I’m starting to think that I really do like him. He’s sweet, caring, and always been one of my best guy friends. He’s just always been there for me. I don’t know anymore.”
“Why don’t you go talk to him tonight? He called and said there’s a party at Justin’s tonight, he wants you to go”
“I don’t know”
“Come on Dani, what’s it going to hurt. I mean come on, give him a chance.”
“Fine, you and Jen better come with me”
“We will don’t worry”
“I’m glad you guys are here, it means no more parties by myself” She smiled.
Jen got home two hours later and they hung around until the party around 9. “Don’t be nervous about talking to Lance Danielle” Jen said holding arms with her as they walked up to the door of Justin’s house.
“I’m trying not to be” She shrugged
They walked into Justin’s place; glad it wasn’t as crowded as the night before. “Hey!” Justin said walking over to them.
“Hey, how are things?” Jen asked
“Good. There’s a pool and hot tub out back and there’s a bar set up on the patio too. Danielle I think Lance is looking for you”
“Oh great.”
“D, you have to talk to him, he just wants to smooth things over”
“Fine, I’ll go find him” She said and walked away.
“Hey Jen you want to go to the hot tub?” Justin asked
“Sure” They walked off leaving Vanessa by herself. She sighed as she looked around for someone she knew.
