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"No!" Jeff gave him a serious look. "They're not saying that Jon, Rob's just being a douchenozzle."
"I'm just saying, like... You realize that that's pretty much the wet dream of SO many middle-aged docs right? To leave their wife for their a-"
"Fuuuuck you! I feel personally attacked by that," Jeff interrupted.
"Oh lighten up you're not middle aged, you're not even forty yet. We're the same age and I'm WAY younger than forty," Rob said.
"We'll be forty in two years!" Jeff laughed.
"You shut your whore mouth!" Rob pointed at him.
Ben laughed and slapped his knee. Jon couldn't help laughing too.
"Jon, Beth is awesome and you two seem great together, don't listen to this twerp," Jeff said more seriously.
Ben chimed in, "Yeah I gotta say Rob, she doesn't quite fit the bill for what you're describing, she's actually a really down to earth girl. Hell of a volleyball player too."
"Oh right! Hey why didn't you pick me for your team? I'm a better player than this guy," Rob said gesturing at Ben. "Then I would've met her already and we could have avoided this whole conversation."
"These are lies, don't listen to him," Ben said to Jon, calmly shaking his head with a smirk.
"I have a bigger vertical than you and you KNOW it!" Rob said.
"Yeah, but you can't DO anything with it. You just smack the ball into next week and act like 20 feet out of bounds is an accomplishment."
"Hohooo Cedar Lake beach. This summer. You and me. Book it my friend," Rob challenged.
"Yeah what did you place in that tournament last year?" Ben asked tauntingly.
"Let's change the subject. Jon..." Rob had an impish smile but it turned more genuine as he turned around, "I know I was being an ass-hat sorry, I just hate when there's elephants in the room and I figured I'd get that one out of the way. I'm just glad you're doing good. Honestly."
Jon smiled and nodded, "No worries man. Thanks. Actually maybe it was good to get that out there. The idea of it WAS bugging me, especially at first, but she's surprised me, it's actually really, genuinely... good. Seems like it might last."
"That's great man, she's helped make you a lot better in the last while, I can tell," Jeff said supportively. "Like, I would never have thought so, before all this, but now, I can see it. It looks like it just works."
"You told me you lost 20 bucks," Rob said.
"You jackass! You KNEW that was a secret. I am thisclose to pulling over and kicking you out on the highway!" Jeff yelled at him.
"You made a bet too!?" Jon said, his mouth hanging open.
"Wait, you knew about the bets?" Jeff said, looking freaked out.
Ben was laughing hysterically again.
"See, like when people could apparently see it coming, how is one not to think that like...." Rob said cautiously.
"I didn't see a fucking thing, I thought the girls were crazy, that's why I bet against you," Jeff said defensively.
Jon could tell he was turning red and was starting to get genuinely embarrassed.
"There wasn't..." Jon sighed trying to choose his words carefully. "Like no, it didn't come out of NOWHERE, but it's not like we were..."
"Fucking in your office?" Ben said. Jon wasn't sure if he was trying to help, or piling on with Rob.
"Oh! Hey yeah did you fuck in your office?" Rob asked excitedly.
Jeff shook his head. "Don't answ-"
"Not before we were dating," Jon said defensively, but giving himself away.
"Ooooohh! But you did though!" Rob grinned wide and offered a fist bump. Jon declined.
"What's that like?" Ben said chuckling.
Jon shrugged, "Like fucking in an office, I dunno."
"I USED that office last weekend!" Jeff said, sounding grossed out.
"Oh, they clean it well, stop being such a prude," Rob said mockingly.
"You used my office?" Jon said.
"It was the walk-in clinic, I was the only one there, and it was closer to the front," Jeff shrugged.
"Ah, so it was YOU that fucked up my computer settings!" Jon said.
"Yeah I'M the asshole here," Jeff rolled his eyes.
"No one's the asshole here, you're just jealous," Rob said.
"Rob you're like at least a BIT of an asshole," Ben chuckled.
"Shut up," Rob said. "Jeff don't tell me if Grace worked at your clinic you wouldn't at least ONCE have like... you know..."
Jeff was silent.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Rob said with a laugh.
...
"Noooooo!" Beth said defensively, but turning beet red, under Grace's naughty smile beside her in the back seat of the SUV.
"That's TOTALLY a yes! Look at her!" Grace said excitedly. "You totally did it in his office!"
"I'll have you know it was ME who took the initiative to switch over to work at a different desk, knowing how... unprofessional that would be if we kept working together." Beth said crossing her arms, but smirking despite herself.
Grace squinted at her "...how many times?"
"...just once."
"HEYOOOOO!!" Grace cheered in victory.
Jenna laughed in the drivers seat.
Carly was sitting in the passenger seat, listening and trying to at least smirk along with their laughter, but felt like she was dying inside.
She was already regretting this. She had wanted to reconnect, she had wanted her friends back, but this trip had seemed like maybe too much too soon. She and Grace had gone instantly back to being BFFs after a tearful reunion a couple weeks ago. She had kept prodding her to come, and she couldn't convince herself of a logical reason not to.
She wished Jon had just answered his fucking phone a few days ago and told her not to come. She had confirmed with Grace that he hadn't changed his number, so she knew he got the texts. She wished she had been more clear in them about what she was asking. She had needed to make a decision about the trip and she had wanted to at least warn him before suddenly spending a weekend together. It had taken a long time to psych herself up before even trying the once and she hadn't found the gumption again after that. She had almost chickened out of the trip yesterday, and hinted at not coming, but Grace wouldn't hear it. Now she figured it was too late anyway and he'd just have to deal with it.
SHE'd have to deal with it, unfortunately, and she was finding it hard already. Carly had told herself she was mainly just having a fun weekend with her best friend and their group. She WASN'T there to try and lure Jon back... Hopefully just make peace. Maybe become friends again. If that was possible. She hoped it was. She missed him every day and she'd decided that having him as a friend would be better than nothing. The jealousy would fade. Beth was a good girl, she'd make him happy. Why was that making her so nauseous to think about?
Beth hadn't seemed that freaked out to see her. She was surprised, but just gave a friendly, bubbly 'Oh hey, good to see you again', but she wondered how good of an actress she was. She wouldn't be surprised if Beth knew part, or even all, of what had gone on between her and Jon. She would just have to hope Beth could put it in the past.
It would be good. Skiing would be good. Even though she sucked at it. Getting more exercise and fresh air would bring some more life back into her. She felt like the stress of the last 2 months had taken a toll on her body. She was more sore and drained, she felt perpetually stomach-sick. It was maybe starting to improve though, as she reconnected and got out more, but she worried this weekend vacation might overall end up making her feel worse rather than better.
"Did you use the exam table?" Grace asked in a fake-whisper.
"No!" Beth said with an embarrassed smile. "I'm not giving you details."
"Hell I would've." Grace said with a shrug. "Actually I DID try to get Jeff to do that once when I was there with him after work. I wanted to like, use the stirrups and everything."
"Gracie!" Jenna exclaimed in shock.
"What? I thought it'd be fun!" Grace said in self-defense.
"Did he?"
"No... I kind of freaked him out from what I remember." Grace said disappointedly.
"Well no shit he sees patients like that all the time."
"Yeah, but I'm not like... oh whatever." Grace crossed her arms. She looked over at Beth again. "Do you think Jon would have?"
Beth chuckled, "Ummm I don't know. That might have been too much. He took some convincing to do it at all in there, but I was able to... entice him."
"Ha! Yeah I BET you were." Grace laughed. "So how long did you two have the hots for each other?"
Beth thought for a second.
"Don't try to tell me it was out of the blue, I know about the bets," Grace said.
Beth scoffed "Ughhh I was SO pissed when I found out about that! We weren't like, doing anything!"
"Come onnnn."
"No seriously. Sure, people probably could read some signals, but he was loyal to that bitch to a fault. It was annoying as hell, but it just made me want him even more. Like I'm not afraid to admit it, I DID want him to cheat on her with me. When no one was looking I flirted my ass off, and I even slutted it up a couple times, basically throwing myself at him, but he wouldn't budge. I had honestly given up after a while. Even after they'd broken up, I was gonna bide my time a bit anyway but in January he was an absolute shell of a man. I almost got worried he was more likely to kill himself than look at me twice but then... some things happened and... he surprised me. Now he's better than ever. Better than I even imagined," Beth said wistfully.
Carly listened with interest, not having expected to learn this much.
"Aww. Well thanks for saving him girl," Jenna said fondly.
Beth giggled "VERY much my pleasure."
"So how DID it finally happen, I want deets!" Grace said excitedly.
"Yeah!" Jenna agreed.
Beth smiled. "Well..."
...
"I don't wanna talk about it," Rob said stubbornly
"Oh fuck off, you gave him the fifth degree, don't dish it out if you can't take it," Jeff said.
"I thought Chris was great, what was the issue?" Jon asked.
Rob sighed, "It was to do with work, that we worked in the same hospital and just..."
"So?" Jeff asked with a frown.
"Yeah, it's not like he was your hot assistant or anything," Ben said.
Rob erupted in laughter. After a few moments he finally relented. "He... wanted to be more open about our relationship at work."
"Like, PDA's and stuff?"
"No, not even that. Just, people were suspecting, and starting to ask, and I was denying it, but he was confirming it, and it got awkward, and we had a fight and... yeah. That was two weeks ago."
"Damn. So you guys are kaput then or...?"
"Well... there might have been a booty call last weekend," Rob muttered.
"Ha! You slut!" Jeff laughed.
Rob looked over at him. "If you weren't driving I swear to God..."
Ben piped up. "I think you should've been open about it man. Most people would've been happy for you. There's a few ignorant old farts in that place but they would've just silently grumbled. Nothing would've happened."
Rob sighed, "Yeah you're probably right, I dunno. It had been a long time since I'd come across open homophobia and I was starting to finally tell myself I could be more relaxed about things, but I gotta admit that Brent asshole at New Years kinda set me back a bit. Lost a lot of faith in people. I just figured, fuck it, it's not worth attracting their attention."
The mood was suddenly a lot more somber.
"Yeah that's understandable, but you shouldn't let those people win though," Jon said.
"Yeah... yeah I know." Rob said "Thanks man. I dunno. It was also that we were getting a lot more serious and I maybe freaked out a bit."
"THAT sounds more familiar," Ben said jokingly.
"Yeah you're not getting any younger man," Jeff grinned.
"The second you stop this car Jeff..." Rob pointed threateningly as Jeff chuckled.
"But yeah, I know you're right," Rob grumbled "I should just man-up and proclaim my love for this dude to the hospital admin. Make it official."
They all laughed.
"Wait did you say LOVE?" Ben said suddenly.
"No you misheard," Rob said dismissively.
Jeff looked at him "I've known you for 15 years you've never ONCE even implied th-"
"Nope. You're on crack. Never said it. Let's change the subject."
Jon chuckled and sipped his water bottle.
"Hey speaking of Brent, it's awesome to hear Carly's doing better," Rob said. "I can't wait to see her again here."
"Yeah! She and Grace are back to being besties already," Jeff said. "It'll be great to have her back in the crew finally, we were getting worried. She still seems like the last couple months took their toll. Like kinda washed out and exhausted, but she seems like she's getting better already. This weekend will hopefully be good for her."
Jon swallowed his water carefully to avoid choking. "Is... Carly coming?"
"Oh! Yeah man she is! I meant to tell you before, but we got sidetracked. Grace finally convinced her to take the last room a couple days ago. Has she not talked to you again?"
"Uh, no actually." He cleared his throat. "...but yeah, that's good to hear." Jon said trying to sound pleased, but feeling like he was almost about to have a panic attack.
The other guys' voices seemed to fade away as he stared out the window and tried to think. His hand drifted to his phone, his instinct was to text Beth and warn her, but it was too late. She'd already have been in the car with her for well over an hour. Maybe text an apology? But for what? He hadn't had any clue she was coming. And maybe better to do it in person anyway.
He wished he knew how Beth would react. She loved him. That fact was still working it's way into his brain. After only a month... It had been an amazing whirlwind relationship, and they had known each other well already, and their chemistry was incredible as a couple but still... He wasn't sure whether the words should make him doubt her maturity, or feel like the luckiest man on earth. He wasn't sure whether to trust his instincts either. He had thought she was so much more intelligent and mature than he had expected, but maybe he was simply seeing through rose-coloured glasses, too mesmerized by her to see her faults. He supposed there was no way to really know, but the fact that his friends liked her was a good sign...
He sighed and decided this would be a good test in the end. For her to trust him. For him to earn that trust. Maybe they'll come out of the weekend stronger than ever.
He hated that he had to feel these doubts though. That he had to second-guess and over-analyze everything. With Elaina the doubts had been justified. With Beth he didn't think they were, but they were there. Small, and often ignorable, but still persistently gnawing at the back of his mind and keeping him from fully and truly being happy when he knew he damn well should be.
Funny how he'd never felt that same doubt with Carly. He had felt so inexplicably confident with her. That he wanted her. That he loved her. He had TRIED to doubt it, but it hadn't really worked. She was like an anomaly.
He closed his eyes and chastised himself for letting his mind slip back into the memories of her. That past was gone. That universe destroyed. This weekend needed to illustrate that. He needed to believe it.
"Earth to Jon!" Jeff yelled out.
Jon jolted back into the moment to Jeff and Ben's chuckles.
"You okay man?"
"Yeah I'm fine, just spaced out for a bit."
"If you're car sick I got some gravol packed."
"I'm fine thanks."
"K... you look a bit off that's all."
...
"...and sure enough, I see him get up and leave the table, and just walk away. He paid and left the restaurant. She thought he was in the bathroom," Beth giggled. "I saw him look back at her once, but he kept walking up to my car, got in my back seat with that smile and, yeah I took him back to my place, and... the rest is history."
"Wow," Jenna exclaimed.
"Wait, got in your BACK seat?" Grace asked with a smile.
"Yeah we... didn't go home RIGHT away," Beth giggled.
"Holy FUCK girl. I mean... I met Jeff at a bar...? I got nothing on that story," Grace shrugged and held up her hands.
"I mean... it's not exactly one she'll be able to tell her grandkids," Jenna giggled.
Beth laughed, "I'll make something up."
"I can't believe he almost went back to that bitch!" Grace exclaimed.
"I know!" Jenna agreed.
"YOU my girl, are a saviour. MVP of the year, seriously." Grace said.
Beth giggled cutely again.
Carly was feeling carsick. At least that's what she was blaming it on. She expected to feel uncomfortable with the story, but the roller-coaster of knowing how destroyed he was after she cut him off (she was sure it wasn't Elaina that had made him depressed), the sickening thought of him going back to Elaina, the heartbreak of hearing a romantic happy ending with another woman in his arms... She had motion-sickness from the blur of emotions.
"So has Elaina given you any... trouble?" Jenna asked.
"Less than I thought! I figured I'd have to take out a restraining order, but she showed up at the house once while I was there, and slinked away politely when she saw us together, and weirdly enough she hasn't bothered us since. Jon says she's civil when they meet with the real estate agent, and she's apparently dating again," Beth shrugged.
"Huh. I wouldn't let down your guard too quick, but I guess that's good." Grace said.
"Right there with you, believe me. I'm just so happy I snagged him, the thought of him back with her, just...ugh."
"You're lucky either way, I had a couple friends lined up for whenever he seemed ready to date again. Freaking bidding war for who would get set up first."
Beth giggled. "Well too bad, there's no way in hell I'm letting this one get away."
Grace and Jenna laughed. "Awww somebody's smitten!"
Carly's nausea suddenly skyrocketed.
"Grace actually I think I'll take you up on that Gravol after all."
"Oh... uh yeah sure just give me a minute it's in my purse, where did I-..."
"Fuck Jenna pull over."
"What?"
"Pull over!"
Carly barely made it out of the car before she keeled over and vomited onto the snow at the side of the road.
...
"Hey boyyyys!" Grace called out across the snowy parking lot as they got out of the SUV.
"Ladies..." Rob called back with a smile, pulling out his snowboard as the rest of them organized their bags behind the van.
"I thought you were gonna beat us, but was that you pulled over on the side of the road a while back?" Jeff asked as they walked up.
"Yeah, Carly was just a bit carsick" Jenna replied.
"Oh, shit are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine don't worry about it." Carly said, sounding like she was tired of saying it.
She was hidden under sunglasses and winter clothes but just hearing her voice made Jon's heart rate go up. He was glad he had sunglasses on as well to hide his eyes bouncing over to her every few seconds. He wanted to say hi, but everyone was focusing on their bags.
"Hey babe!" Beth pecked him a kiss and gave him a light squeeze. "How was the drive?"
"Good. You?"
"Awesome. I like these girls, they're fun." she said with a pretty smile.
"Carly! Baby!" Rob called out as he spread his arms wide for a hug.
"Hey Rob!" She said with a smile and hugged him back.
"You gonna let me take you dancing later? This resort's got a pretty good bar I hear." Rob said doing a shuffle with her as they ended their hug.
Carly giggled. "Yeah it's a date."
"Hey Ben!" Carly hugged him kindly as well. "Are you as excited as Jenna for a toddler-free weekend?"
"Actually I kinda miss her already." Ben said.
"D'awww" Jenna said moving in to hug her husband affectionately.
Jon was 'next in line' without meaning to be. He had hoped for just a handshake but now it would seem awkward.
"Hey Carly." he said, trying to keep the strain from his voice.
"Hey Jon." She said, and leaned in for a hug that he knew was coming but still took him off guard. Even under their winter coats her soft body felt painfully familiar to sink into and flashbacks plagued his mind as he forced his arms not to squeeze her too tight or for too long.
