Just Friends 2 debuts DEC.24.2014.
It's been such a nice ride, such a simple love story, one that I wanted to be realistic and over-the-top and it's funny because it was and it was great writing it for an entire year and watching my writing and characters (my children) evolve (grow). This story was about life and love and how something so simple can become so complex and messy, and sometimes it doesn't work out, but sometimes it does. That's the message. And that's the thing I want you to take away from this. Life doesn't and isn't going to always work out for us, but then again, it might.
This is probably going to my personal magnum opus and I'm okay with that. Thank you for reading and thank you for just taking time out of what you're doing to.
Epilogue "Anything Can Happen"
All About Your Heart - Mindy Gledhill
Spencer's POV
12, 13, 14, 15, 16
There was the distinctive aroma in the air; one that smelled of irrational panic, used needles, and cough drop medicine.
Doctors and nurses in white were rushing up and down the hallway, people – some moaning and groaning – sat in wheelchairs holding whatever part of their bodies were aching. It was safe to say that of all the nights to be in a hospital, the day after the 4th of July was clearly the worst.
Everyone who participated in bar fights, climbing the side of buildings or skating on sketchy self-made ramps were here; all in the sake of America's birthday. So my visible contempt, breathy scoffs and scowls and just my general huffy-puffiness was absolutely justified (in my mind at least) because hospitals were like the back door to hell.
So when I got the call that she went into labor on this of all days, I was upset – I was furious! I dare her and that fetus of hers drag me from the billions upon billions of business type work to come to this hospital half way across town? Was there no decorum or respect for others anymore? So what if today was her due date? Couldn't it at least wait a day or two?
23, 24, 25, 26, 27
"Will you slow the hell down?"
"No." I bit back, bypassing the clerk at the front desk and ignoring her calls to get me back to her; she was too lazy to get up and stop me anyway.
"Do you even know where you're going?"
"Yes." I grumbled, scanning the room doors for the correct number while trying not to knock over some fool attached to an IV. "Why can't these people just sit down in their beds and enjoy the free television and jello?" I bit, more so to myself but that didn't stop Emilio from answering because he's annoying like that.
"Because sitting in a hospital bed for hours on hours is boring as hell." He responded – one that wasn't requested or needed. "Remember when I broke my left pinky and had to come?"
"Don't remind me." I said, rolling my eyes. Emilio had shattered what bones were in his pinky while he was trying to skateboard and had to be sent to the hospital where he stayed and I (reluctantly) visited. "If you didn't try and 'recapture your glory days' that would've never happened."
"Can you blame me?" he chuckled; raspy because he was slow as hell and was trying to keep pace with me as we finally made it into the maternity section. "I was a bad ass skater in high school."
"Yeah, that was four years ago." 44, 45, 46, 47 "And quite frankly, peaking in high school isn't anything to brag about."
"Hey," he shot defensively, "we're both doing the same lame ass job at Lemon & Knope."
"Yeah, and it's a hell of a lot better than what I was doing in high school." Somehow, interning for the mayor wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Instead of attending conferences and watching diplomats in action, I was cleaning spilled coffee and ironing ties.
56, 57, 58; finally. Jake was waiting outside the door like I knew he would and the moment his eyes met mine, a huge smile blossomed at his lips. "Little man!" He yelled and before I could dodge it, he engulfed me into a hug so tight, I wouldn't be surprised if my eyes balls popped right out of their sockets.
Once he placed me down and my insides stopped aching, I gave him the customary smack at the top of his head. "You dyed your hair." I noted and he reddened just slightly, tapping the top of it with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I decided to see if blondes have more fun for real."
I chuckled and shook my head just slightly before looking behind him. "Where's the Misses?"
"She's picking up the kids from Aunt Abby's house."
I frowned. "Is she still going to try for mayor?" Jake and Karla had moved to NYC a year ago and frequently visited me when they had the chance. It was something I enjoyed because it felt like the good old days and that time wasn't moving as fast as I had believed it was.
He rolled his eyes. "You know Karla, Spence. She's not going to give up until she's defeated." Jake looked around himself until his eyes landed on Emilio awkwardly playing with his thumbs behind us. "Speaking of significant others..." Jake trailed, hoisting a brow into the air.
Emilio swallowed and stepped closer, fumbling his way over to Jake so he could offer a hand. "Hey, I'm, uh, Emilio Blake."
Jake took the hand and threw me a sly side glare. "How long have you two been...?"
Emilio's hand slowed in the shake and his eyes darted between me and Jake and back again before his hand outright stopped moving. "Oh no. Me and Spencer aren't dating; we work together is all. I'm as straight as plywood."
Jake nodded, but kept side-eyeing me. He finally allowed his grip to slip from E's and turned his attention back to me. "So, where's Suzy?"
"In Africa – don't ask." I chuckled. "She said something about trying to find herself amongst the lions or something of the sort." Jake slowly nodded his head and his eyes sank for just a second. "She forgave you."
"Good." Jake and Suzy's relationship proved a bit more toxic than any of us had anticipated. They fought more times than they made up...and not long afterwards, they broke up; enter Karla. The rest is bitter and sometimes unspeakable history, but most of the tension was gone by now.
"Good." I smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Now, where's Russo and Amy? Still planning the wedding?"
"Yup. They're in South Korea as we speak. I'm flying out next week Thursday for the Bachelor party. You should come."
"Pass." I blurted. "I have work."
Before Jake could (annoyingly) interject, the door leading to inside the room opened and our attention was now to a short and plump nurse with a few papers in her hands. "Are you here for Shannon Littman?"
"Yes." The three of us said in some kind of union; one that had the nurse darting her eyes between us.
"Well, the mother is sleeping right now and I don't want her to be disturbed so, two a time." I looked at Emilio and he waved it off, basically saying that me and Jake should go in; but, as the both of us stepped forward, the nurse pushed us back. "There's already one in there besides the husband. So, only one of you can go in now."
"Oh." Jake mumbled and looked towards me. "You have stuff to do, so you should."
I blinked and allowed a single second to pass. "You sure?"
"Yeah." He chuckled and leaned back up against the wall. "I can wait."
I nodded a thank you as the nurse moved aside and allowed me to place my hand on the knob. I opened the door slowly and stepped into the dimly lit room thanks to the closed curtains and dark blue walls and was immediately greeted by the sound of a baby crying and an onslaught for coos from the adults in the room. Coos and stares; or maybe just one stare in particular.
Ethan was standing there with a baby in his arms, rocking it just ever so slightly with his eyes glued to me. And for a second of a minute of this hour in this day in earyl July, time became a mere illusion. Because I couldn't tell myself the last time I had seen those eyes looking at me into flesh, in front of me, right here, so close.
The room was quiet, even the baby had stopped crying momentarily as our eyes stayed glued to one another. "Uh," Ethan mumbled, voice deeper than I remembered. More cut than I remembered. Taller; lovelier.
I didn't know how to respond to his 'uh'. I was afraid I would say something more stupid and so I responded in the only way I knew how:
"Beard." He frowned but I smiled. "You've grown a beard." It wasn't a Moses beard; just one that wasn't as scratchy or scattered as it was in high school. It was neat and clean and not...Ethan.
"Oh." He said and gently and hesitantly brought one of his open hand to his face and lightly sat in under his chin, gently caressing the hair that stuck out there. He smiled. "Oh." He repeated with a bit more humor in his tone.
There was a brief moment of silence in which a blanket the size of Texas wrapped itself around us and basically smothered us with its stuffiness and awkward. "And you've grown taller." he laughed, nearly forgetting that a new born was in his hand and almost dropped it.
"Woah, shit bro!" Josh yelled and came over to get his newborn out of the hands of his stupid little brother, who was still eying me down with those soft and surprised eyes. Too encapsulated to even give his big brother and new father a fleeting regretful stare or a random blurt of 'I'm sorry I almost killed your newborn son'. "Hey, Spence." Josh mumbled as he sat back down near a sleeping Shannon.
"Hey Joshua." I smiled. "Congratulations. He's beautiful."
"Thanks." He laughed and stared down at the new bundle of life he had created nestled in his arms. "It's a miracle, really. And I'm shit scared out of my mind to be quite honest."
I laughed at that. If anyone would be a great father, it would be Josh. "You're going to great. With your street smarts and Shannon's brain, he's most likely going to be ruler of earth by 2020."
"Here's hoping." Josh snarkily shot back with a sly grin.
And as the room faded back into just the sound of a baby cooing and the sound of that baby's father cooing back, my attention turned back to Ethan, who was playing with his fingers. "Uh." He mumbled again. It seemed that's all he could say tonight. "You want to go and get some fresh air?" he asked. "You know, let's give Jake a chance to see him." He swallowed and I swallowed and he blinked and I swallowed again.
"Sure."
And we left the room and Ethan and Jake embraced and there was a rush of congratulations Mr. Uncle. And then Ethan's eyes went to Emilio and then they dimmed before he simply nodded in his direction.
"We're going to get some air, E." I said in Emilio's direction and the boy nodded.
"I have to use the restroom anyway." He responded. "I'll come out and find you."
The walk to the outside was anything but silent. Sure, we – us – were silent, but the sound of other people was enough to block any awkward tension. Even inside the elevator with that annoying music was a breath of relief. Then, we made it outside and in front of the building and there was no way to stop the tension that pranced around us; teasing us as it did so.
The air was lovely tonight though. There was wind but not enough to make me shiver and it was warm, but not so much that I wanted to strip off all my clothes. Stars lined the sky and did what they did best: provided me a reason not to talk and to not make eye contact of any sort; I could just stare up at them as the world went on.
"How long has it been?" Ethan asked, but I figured that the question was rhetorical. "A year or two?"
"Or two." I responded. "The last time I saw you in person was at Jake and Karla's wedding." I paused. "With Tyler."
"Yeah." He chuckled, but it was laced with a bitterness that said things didn't go quite a planned; or as he planned, because I saw that relationship crashing and burning universes away. "That was...a mistake."
"Mmm."
"What about...E in there...is he your-"
"Co-worker. That's all." I bit back quickly. "You know I haven't dated since the train thing..."
"Yeah." He murmured and stepped down from the entrance of the hospital, his back to me until he spun around to face me with questioning eyes, "You want to get some coffee or something." He asked, randomly and surprisingly. "A Starbucks is right around the corner. Those fucking things are everywhere now."
I chuckled because he was right. Those things were everywhere now; one moved across from me in my townhouse and now my mornings smelled like lattes and cappuccinos mixing with my microwavable pancakes; not that I was complaining. But that brought up something else. "You don't drink coffee." In fact, whenever I said the word, Ethan usually cringed as far as I can remember. Then proceeded to act as if he was vomiting because he was childish like that. But this new man didn't even budge at the sound of that hard 'c' sound rolling off his own tongue.
Instead he smirked as he started to walk along the sidewalk and I caught up with him. "People change." he replied, softly soon and without any warning once we had fell into some form of comfortable silence. And he replied so without a bit of snark and a measure of truth.
"Hey." He said abruptly and stopped just as sudden once we were in front beige looking flowers that were sitting on the grass next to us. He knelt down and surveyed them for a while with me just silently watching him. "Do you remember these?" he asked and I knelt down beside him and narrowed my eyes and tried to recall them, but nothing came to mind. They smelt wonderful though; vanilla mixed with a hint of something familiar, but too vague and fleeting to recall.
Ethan must've noticed my confusion because he sighed just a little. "Remember when went on that drive and we came across that river-"
"Lake." I corrected.
He blinked. "Lake, river or pond, whatever." He chuckled, rolling his eyes. "These flowers were there." I petted one of them. "I remember because they smelled just like this one."
I raised a brow. "You remember how flowers smell?"
"Only when they're important to me." He mumbled, eyeing the one that sat between his fingers and then he picked it from the roots and I gasped a little.
"There's a sign back there that says do not touch the plants on the lawn."
He looked up to me from his position on his knees and smiled. "Yeah?" he chuckled and snapped another one off. "What sign?" he smirked, coming back up to eye level and standing not an inch from my nose. His eyes glistened with something and I cursed myself mentally because I was so good at reading his emotions once upon a time ago, but now it was all just blurry and a mixed ball. He placed one of the flowers in my hair, making sure it stuck and did the same with his.
And when he smiled, it was forgotten that I couldn't remember his emotive expressions because his smile still meant the same thing. And then he chuckled as someone near the hospital entrance dressed in a blue shirt, black pants and hat yelled in his direction to not touch the lawn.
And when he did and did and did and did one more time for good measure, that man in that ensemble of unflattering and unfitted clothing for his stature and size ran with his night stick in our direction. And without any real warning, Ethan grabbed me by the arm and ran with me stumbling behind until we were clear out of the hospital's yard and around the bend with the coffee shop now in sight.
"You're nuts." I gasped, leaning against a wall, trying to catch my breath and he did the same but his gasping was mixed with laughter and him twirling off-white flowers in his hands. And then he came closer and placed each of those flowers in my hair; still huffing and puffing until his breathing stabilized and I wish I could say mine did as well. And as his tongue hung out his mouth as he tried to find a place to put the flowers, it occurred to me that what Ethan had said was true. Things did change.
"There." He blurted, patting the top of my head roughly and taking my hand as we started for the shop that wasn't that far away anymore. And as I looked down at that hand carelessly intertwined with mine, I had decided that yes, things – people – change, but then again something's never will.
"Spencer!"
We both looked back and saw Emilio running in our direction. A huff exited E's – Ethan's – lips and he untangled our fingers. And, as I stopped walking, he continued for the Starbucks. By the time E – Emilio – had caught up, there was a pretty and unwanted amount of distance between us. "Dude, where are you going?" he eyed my hair bizarrely, but waved off any questions
"Coffee." I mumbled, a bit aggravated, but not at all angry. "I need it; you know how much work we have left when we get back to the firm." We started walking again.
"Right." He said in a huff and in a tone that was filled with judginess – judginess that wasn't appreciated. "And this has nothing to do with the tall, dark and handsome piece of meat walking up there."
"No, it does, but..." But what? Emilio threw me a knowing look. "We're friends." I answered, anticipating the question that was obviously going to follow. And as Ethan looked back and eyes met mine before spinning back around, that's when I figured out that life's a funny little thing. It messes with you, it does you wrong, it curses you, you slaps you down and kicks you in the balls just because it can. But then there are those times when it picks you back up and dusts you off...because it can.
"You sure, because he doesn't seem like just a friend."
Ethan looked back again at me with one of his hands stuffed in his jeans pocket and the other pulling very familiar piece of metal from under his shirt to hang in front of him visibly for all to see; or maybe just me. And then he smirked again.
A smirk that morphed into a smile and transcended into a small chuckle that was inaudible to my ears, but not quite so to my stomach and my chest and my heart. And that's when the aroma of the night changed from the smell of medicine to the enticing perfume of fresh coffee beans and rekindled flames.
"I'm sure." I answered poignantly as Ethan looked back one more time to send a wink in my direction coupled with a sly and knowing grin. "Just Friends."