A #JENVID STORY: Following the Reunion, will they be able to finally confess their feelings and be happy? First time writing a fic in 15 years.
I am not a native speaker, so please excuse some mistakes.
I cannot stop thinking about those two ever since the Reunion, and I am not used to write about 'real people' instead of fictional characters. But since this was not leaving my head I thought I might as well write it down and share it. Some sexual content will be included, to have you warned, but as we are talking real people here, it will not become a smut fest out of respect.
Hope you enjoy it ;-)
It had been a hell of a rollercoaster ride for him for the last weeks. The two days of shooting for the Reunion had been even more bittersweet than he had expexted them to be.
The (due to the pandemic) prologued trip down memory lane had already stirred up a lot of feelings which even caused a slip here and there, for example talking to their director about how he had been feeling about a certain co-star for (at least that was what he had said) the first few seasons of the show. Although he could all but blame Ben for it, it shocked him when he heard that he further dove into it and that she had admitted to have felt the same. Which, even knowing that had been the case (although he was usure about the actual intensity of her feelings at that time matching his), came as a surprise to him.
Which lead to them letting the cat out of the bag publicly in those two days. Which came with a certain rush of a lot more than nostalgia. The world was still to find out about this, as the official premiere was upcoming. But he was sure that this would stir all kind of feelings in a lot of people, including himself. And he was still in the middle of a thought process to figure that out for himself.
They had been in much closer contact since all of that happened than before, because neither of them wanted to let go of the unlabelled feelings these two days had evoqued in them. What went on was a constant digital flow of short but sweet messages, which mostly consisted of a friendly banter they always used to have, but also a (if he was not mistaken) growing level of flirtation.
When he allowed himself to dive deeper into his own feelings, he knew that this was going way beyond nostalgia for a past crush and asking yourself "what could have been". He knew that this could very well be labelled as "being in love" with someone, going far beyond the brotherly love he had for the other people in their small group of six.
Which would have been a great thing if only he knew if he was the only one feeling like this. And the possibility to turn their new-found closeness, which he could not fathom to loose, into awkwardness in case this was not reciporcal.
When he knew he would go to LA for a meeting about an upcoming project on May 29th, first thing he did, was to take Lisa up on her offer to come to her house for the premiere of the show. Right after that, he decided to just ask her, if she was free the on Friday the 28th to have dinner with him as he was in town for a few days. She not only said she would be happy to, but also invited him to her house, as both of them knew that, after the revelations that would certainly come (no way that that one would be left out), it would not be the best to step out to the public the next day, without even having talked where they were standing right now.
He knew it was kind of a "now or never" situation for him. Maybe, after almost 3 decades, this was the day to rip the band-aid off and finally trying to label this thing together. He knew that finally, there were no reasons to chicken out, like "I can not ruin this show I worked so Hard for", "I cannot hurt XY, she was nothing but good to me", "she seems so into AB, I would not stand a chance anyway".
They were not going to be working together anytime soon, he knew he had not been seriously involved ever since his divorce, and as she said, she was not seeing anyone right now. Still, he was unsure if he would be able to bring that up over dinner. Good thing he was with Lisa the night before, who had always proved to be the best when it came to giving advice.
It was always a joy to come to Lisas house, she was probably the one he had remained closest with over the years. He also was good friends with her husband Michel, and even her son Julian had come to him a few times for advice when he was working on materials for his college application, as he was aspiring a carrer as a directior. Which really was an honor to him, to find his opinion valued that way.
Even though they all were EPs of the show and of course had had a saying in what was being shown and had seen segments of it to approve, it was great to finally see the thing as a whole. It was terrific and moving and he was sure that apart from some nasty comments that would surely come (heck, they all were in their fifties now, which of course could be seen and Matty had not been in the best shape that day, but who would have been with that teeth thing?!), the overall feedback would be fantastic.
Sitting on the couch, wine in hand, Lisa looked at him and bluntly asked: "So, big night tomorrow. Are you going to tell her how you feel?"
He looked at her startled "Is it THAT obvious?"
"Oh come on, David. We have known each other for almost 30 years. I have seen the two of you together back then, and my eyes are still pretty fine now. Its all back, is it?"
"Yup"
"I am not going to make this too long: I think you should tell her"
"This is hard to explain. We were really fond of each other over the years, but after I went to New York, it never came as easy as with you and me. I think we both know why. And now, we are in some way back to where we once were, and it feels so good to really have her back in my life. I do not want to jeopardize this by making here feel awkward when telling her. I would rather have it the way it is right now than loosing her altogether..."
"You know, if you wanted the most reliable opinion on this you should probably ask Court, as be both know that not even a sheet of paper would fit between those 2. But I know that Jen is spending this evening with her and Coco, so that is not really a possibility. So you have to take my 2 cents or leave it: I am pretty positive she feels the same. I have spend a lot of time with her over the years, I have seen her with different guys. I was at her wedding to Justin, I held a few tissues when that went... you know... I have seen her last week, she was radiating like I have not seen her in a while. She did not say why, and I did not ask, but at some point she was chatting on her phone, and when I asked who it was, she said it was you. And she really seemed smitten. I am not going to say too much more: you are both single, the mututal attraction is obviously still there, and you have always been perfect for each other. You can either give this a try now and possibly find everything you have been looking for or you can remain in the "friend zone" and spend another 30 years wondering what could have been. That is up to you."
"Thanks for the pep talk. Good that I still have some time to get my act together"
"Hope you keep me updated"
"I will".
They clinged their glasses, smiled at each other, and as Lisa knew that he had to figure the rest out himself, she switched the conversation to an easier topic.