Friends • JARED PADALECKI

Eighty-six

HER PHONE LIT up with Jared's name. She immediately reached out for her phone and answered the call. She cleared her throat, hearing a soft click.

Jared spoke first. "Hey, Jess."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry I disappeared," he said. Jess licked her lips, it had been a couple of days since she heard from him. But there was Christmas to celebrate and parties to attend and thus, she didn't think it was a big deal he hadn't asked about her resignation.

"Don't worry, it's only been a couple of days," she moved positions on her bed, trying to get comfortable with her big pregnant belly. "Everything okay?"

"No. You left Jess. I'm not going to see you at work anymore. We aren't going to live minutes away from each other. In fact, we'll never be as close as we once were," his voice deepened, turned louder and clearer in the quiet night.

Jess tried to deny it. "Well, that's not true."

"It is. Remember my bud, the one I went to visit this summer? He used to be like my brother, Jess. We use to see each other everyday and now I'll be lucky if I speak to him once every six months," Jared sighed, his sigh laced with defeat.

"And that's okay, you know. Our lives will no longer be so linked, and so what? That's fine. We'll still talk. You can still visit me and Essie once in a while," she told him, hoping he'd agree, hoping he'd let go.

His voice broke. "No, it's not fine."

"There's always the summer," she cleared her throat, trying to disperse the knot she felt inside her throat.

"Oh come on, Jess," his voice quavered as he spoke. "Our love wasn't summer love. Our love wasn't fleeting, Jess. It was real, it was very real."

There was something about Jess that not many people knew and it was that she, did not cry. The single exception to this rule? And the only person that could make her both burst into laughter and weep? Jared.

She started to cry. "We didn't even go on a date!"

"Yes, if you count the Grand Canyon which I do. Because why wouldn't you?" He asked. She laughed, finding his words funny. And soon, he was laughing too.

"I have to go. I have an appointment," Jess said. That was probably the worst excuse she had ever used as it was around midnight.

"Jess, it's the middle of the night."

"I have an appointment with sleep and dreams."

"Wait, Jess," he stopped her. "I love you," there was a pause. "I want you to know that. I love you. Not as a friend. But as something more. And I know how awfully inconvenient that is. But it's true, I love you."

Jess felt a bit of deja vu as once more, Jared ended the call before she could m
utter the words back. She lied on her bed, struggling to fall asleep, thinking of how good it felt to finally hear those words.