everything I didn't say

thirty four

THREE MONTHS LATER

JANUARY

"God, running is a bitch." I say after gulping down a bottle of water.

"Then why don't you run less?" Julie laughs at my expess and I shake her comment off.

"I like excercising, it keeps my body and mind busy." I smirk at her, hinting she should join.

"You're too energentic for me." She shakes her head and she loads her dishes into the dishwasher. I wipe sweat off my forehead.

The door opens and Chase walks in. "Hello hello." He announces as he walks through the door with a large smile.

"Hey." I wave for him to join us.

"Hey Chase." Julie greets, pulling him in for a hug. He hugs her back as Gillian walks in with her hands full, kicking the door closed behind her.

"Happy new year." She smiles at us, setting her bags and plates on the table. She almost goes in to hug me, but stops when she sees my appearance.

"Ew, gross you're sweaty." She laughs.

"Can't go on runs in January back home, it'd be covered with inches of snow right now." She says, hugging me anyway. I sometimes forget that Gillian is from Ohio, and not from the west like the rest of us.

"Is anyone else coming?" Chase asks. I shrug. "Just Julie's boyfriend and Daniel, I think."

"Cool. I was hoping it wouldn't be too big of a party."

"We can't have big parties here, the neighbors complain about noise levels." Julie rolls her eyes.

"I didn't know you've ever had a party here, thanks for the invite." Chase looks at me and sticks out his tongue in a goofy manner.

"We've only had one, and I didn't even go to it." I stick my tongue out back at him.

"Just a random rager?" Gillian laughs, sitting down.

"No, it was a going away party me and Jared hosted for Ni-" Julie starts but stops when she sees me shaking my head at her.

"For who?" Gillian asks, her never meeting him, so she doesn't know him.

"Nobody." Julie looks down at her list of snacks she's been preparing.

Jared walks in the door, directly followed by Daniel, and they both walk into the kitchen.

"Who has a New Years party on January 2nd?" Daniel laughs, shaking the rain off of his jacket.

"Hey, watch the list!" Julie protects her paper from his droplets with laughter.

"You guys were all busy on New Years." I shrug, defending Julie and I's two-days late party.

"And your guest list is off the charts." Jared jokes, pointing to all the intendees.

"Hey man, we're always the life of the party." Chase says of him and his girlfriend.

"I'm sure you are." Jared laughs and then leans down and plants a kiss on Julie's forehead, having not said hello before. Daniel takes this time to move past Jared and to my side.

"Hey," He smiles at me, putting a hand on my waist and bringing me in for a hug.

"Hey, how was visiting home?" I ask, knowing he just got back from visiting his family for the holidays yesterday.

"Good, did you go home for the holidays?"

"Yeah, I visited my parents." I smile, remembering the short yet sweet visit I had.