Coexist // Dave Franco

epilogue

Today-Willamette Stone

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December 24 2023 - 7 Years Later

"Hey! Merry Christmas!" Dylan and Lauren greet me as they enter our house, followed by Alex and her new beau looking as sophisticated as ever. If Alex was going to have a boyfriend he had to be rich.

"Aria, darling!" She says in a fake British accent. "It's been ages!"

I hug her tightly, "I know, I know darling!" I mock her. "How was London?"

"Beautiful and magical as always." she winks at Marcus, her boyfriend. "I basically live there, I'm starting to develop an accent."

"Oh really I haven't noticed." I joke. She puts on a serious face, "I'm being serious Aria. London is like my second home."

We stare at each other before bursting into laughter, "Aria I missed you." She frowns letting go of her accent.

"I do too! Next time when you go to London you're bringing us!" I say and she nods happily.

Marcus walks in with a sack of presents. "Hi Marcus, Merry Christmas!" I greet him.

"Merry Christmas, Aria. Now where shall I put the gifts?" He says in his thick British accent.

"Under the tree." I say pointed to the big christmas tree and he smiles.

"Wow, you and Dave really decorated the flat!" Marcus grins as he wanders aroung the living room.

I turn to Alex, "I'm guessing 'flat' means apartment or something?" I ask. She nods unsurely and I let out a chuckle.

"Hey, where is Dave anyway?" Dylan asks from the couch.

"Picking up the food," I tell him. "he should be back any minute."

And as soon as I said that, the doorbell rings. I didn't think it would be Dave because he has his own key, so I peek my head out as soon as I open the door.

"Tyler!" I say excitedly, engulfing him into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Aria." He says hugging me tightly, "It's been too long."

I nod as I let go of him, "I invited you for Friendsgiving, it wasn't the same without you! What happened?" I ask. He stutters before saying, "Well I-"

"I got the presents, Ty." A girl walks next to him scanning as she me up and down.

She chews her gum loudly, "Merry Christmas, Aria." She says with a slight head tilt and a forced smile-I immediately remember, it's Jocelyn.

Her hair grew weirdly long and was dyed a cherry red. She gained a few pounds, but it looked like she had been working out. She changed a lot.

"Jocelyn, wow. Uh Merry Christmas? I wish I knew you were coming otherwise I would've got you something." I raised my eyebrows at Tyler.

"It's alright I didn't get you guys anything either but Tyler did!" Jocelyn holds up the ba of gifts.

"Sorry, it was so last minute. I was going to tell you but Jocelyn wanted it to be a surprise." Tyler chuckles nervously.

"It's fine, I mean the more the merrier!" I say. "So are you guys like.. a thing now?"

"Yeah, we are actually. We both went to the same college and majored in the same thing, so we spent a lot of time together." Tyler says happily.

Jocelyn smiles at him and blushes.

At first I thought having Jocelyn over might be the worst Christmas ever, figuring she might try to flirt with Dave and cause a scene with me. Maybe I thought she would even sabatoge the dinner or invite random people to our apartment-call it Project Christmas X and then the cops would come. Either way I thought if I allowed Jocelyn into my safe haven right now, it would be a nightmare. But seeing her with Tyler, and his huge smile as he holds hands with Jocelyn, I feel calm and happy for the both of them.