Night On Set ❁ COLIFER

Chapter 35 ❁ Friends marathon and guacamole overload

Jen's POV

When Colin and Daniel get back from their camping trip late in the afternoon, I'm in a weird, exultant mood, and our intention to move as little as possible has lead us to become an extension of the couch. We hear Dan's low voice coming from the top of the stairs; as soon as he reaches the last step, I tilt my head back and blurt out, "SO NO ONE TOLD YOU LIFE WAS GONNA BE THIS WAYYY!"

He pauses for a second, blocking Colin's path, and raises a brow. "Are you guys seriously still watching that?"

I scowl at him as he falls down on the couch next to Ellie. We've been fighting the Friends versus How I Met Your Mother battle for years now; he blames me for ruining HIMYM for him, because I starred in a few episodes before Once Upon a Time, and ever since then he's tried to ruin Friends for me.

Until this day, no one has won the battle. Merely because we're both too stubborn —some would say "childish"— to let it go.

"We're on our sixteenth episode," Ellie says before she greets him with a kiss. "We would've been on our eighteenth if we hadn't taken a lunch break— and the necessary bathroom breaks."

Daniel rolls his eyes, but I ignore it and grab the remote to put the episode on pause. "How was your hike, anyway?" I look at Colin, who's slowly walking over to the couch, but he avoids me and is entirely focused on Daniel. Almost too focused.

"It was great!" Dan tucks in his legs, getting in position to start telling us about their day.

And I almost listen. Because there's something weirdly uncomfortable about the way Colin's standing next to the TV, and I can tell something's up. He's clenching and unclenching his jaw repeatedly, fiddling with his fingers the way he does when he's not at ease. My heart drops when I realize the hike might've been a total bust for him.

But that wouldn't make sense, since he and Daniel have been getting along perfectly ever since we left LA.

A little confused, I reach over to grab a chip from the bag we've been passing around. There's no guacamole left by now, which Dan notices right when I'm leaning over him.

"Did you eat the entire bowl?" he asks, holding it up and looking around at us.

"Hey, you're not one to judge," Julia says. "Besides, you two can get started on dinner. Mom and dad will be back in about an hour, so you've got plenty of time." 

I look up and catch Colin staring at me. He immediately turns his head.

"We can get started?" Dan repeats.

"We have made dinner for the past two days," Julia says. "Besides, you pretty much owe us this for peeing in that bottle."

"Oh, Christ, are you ever going to move on from that?"

Colin clears his throat, and my gaze flicks back to him, because apart from some murmurs of agreement to back up Dan's story about their hike, that's the first noise he's made in five minutes. "Come on, let's go," he says to Daniel.

He starts walking away, but he backtracks when he reaches the stairs and turns around to fix me with his eyes. When he does, my breathing stops and a cold feeling spreads in my abdomen.

"Can I talk to you after dinner?"

A little bewildered by the serious tone of his voice, I nod and watch him go upstairs. An uneasy feeling has settled itself in my stomach; I've only heard that tone a handful of times, one time being the evening he moved into the apartment across the hall and confessed that his first two months in Vancouver were the loneliest months he'd ever experienced.