A Second Chance. Jen and Brad.

Chapter 1, "Jen's 50th".

Court : Rita and Tom, stay or go?
Jen : Stay.
Court : Katy?
Jen : Mm... stay, since I'm inviting Orlando.

Jen and Courteney are going through the invitations to Jen's upcoming 50th birthday party, which turns out to be a bit harder than she first expected.

Apparently Jen's got a lot of friends. Almost too many.

Court : Jen?
Jen : Mhm?
Court : Brad? Chelsea's friend? I didn't know you guys were close...
Jen : No. It's not him.

Court looks up from the invitations with a confused look on her face. She thinks she knows what's going on, but that doesn't mean she's not surprised.

Court : Brad? Really?
Jen : Yeah.
Court : Why?
Jen : I don't...
Court : You're not inviting Gerard, but you're inviting Brad.
Jen : Well, Gerard and I aren't that close anymore and lately Brad and I...
Court : What?
Jen : We've just been talking. Texting, calling... and it's been really nice so I decided to invite him. It'd be weird not to.
Court : What's weird is inviting half of your exes to your birthday party.

Jen laughs as she realizes she's right. It is an unusual situation, but it is what it is. It's her 50th birthday, she wants to share it with everyone who's played an important role in her life.

No matter when or how.

Court : I mean I knew you guys were on good terms, but I didn't know you were this close.
Jen : Yeah... I've kind of kept it to myself on purpose.
Court : Oh.
Jen : In case it would leak. The pressure is just... I mean we're in the same room for 2 minutes and a day later Page Six says we're adopting twins.
Court : I know. But this is really great though. I know the friendship you guys had meant a lot to you.
Jen : Right. I just want to stay in the good place we are in now. As friends.

2 weeks later, the morning of the party :

Nina : They're nice, but...
Jen : The Louboutin ones?
Nina : Definitely.

Jen takes down a pair of her many black, open toe stilettos and tries them on. Thankfully, they still fit.

Jen : Could you...
Court : Sorry I'm late.

Court walks through Jen's bedroom door with a suitcase in her hand, looking like she's moving in.

Jen : You brought a suitcase?
Court : No. Three.

All the girls roll their eyes at Courteney as they should have seen this coming.

Court : I couldn't figure out what to wear so I just packed it all.
Andrea : Then you might have a shirt I can borrow?
Court : I probably have shirt for everyone in this room... what about you Jen? You need a shirt?
Jen : Hm?

Jen's got her nose in her phone and isn't listening to Courteney. Or anyone for that matter.

She just got a text from Justin and it's not good news.

Justin
   -  Stuck in New York filming for the
       weekend, can't make it tonight. Sorry.

Jen : Justin's not coming.
Andrea : What?
Court : Why?
Jen : He's stuck in New York filming.
Andrea : Oh.
Court : Did you tell him that Brad's invited?
Jen : No. Why?
Court : If you had, that might have...
Jen : But John's coming as well.
Court : Yeah, but Brad... Justin was never a big fan of Brad.

8 hours later, at Sunset Tower :

Lisa : You really outdid yourself this year huh?
Jen : Well, you only turn 50 once.

She sighs after hearing what just came out of her mouth.

Jen : God, I don't think I'll ever get used to that number.
Kathy : Oh shut up, you've got 20 year olds wishing they looked like you.

While Jen and Kathy move on to talk about how fast time has gone by, Brad walks through the door.

He can sense everyone's a bit shocked as all eyes are on him, but he's used to that kind of attention. He just hopes him being there doesn't ruin anything.

It's Jen's night. Tonight is about her, and her only.

Court : Brad is here.

Court whispers in her ear, after sneaking up on her.

Jen : Thank you for the head's up honey... but you do realize we're not in High School anymore.
Court : I just thought you'd might want to say hi.

Courteney was right, she did want to go say hi. As a matter of fact she's been keeping an eye out for him ever since she got here. Constantly checking over her shoulder, hoping she'd see his face somewhere.

But she doesn't want to admit it. To herself, nor Courteney. She and Brad broke up nearly 15 years ago... he shouldn't have this affect on her anymore.

Jen : Brad!
Brad : Jen!

But he does.