Josh's Apartment – Mid Week

Kelsey collapsed onto her bed, kicking her heels off of her feet onto the floor. The last few weeks had been completely crazy, and she felt like it was all finally catching up to her. She had never been one for secrets, for the most part, but she suddenly felt like she was busting at the seams with them.

Keeping Liza's secrets was proving to be harder than she thought. She had forgiven her, and to a point even understood why she had done it. But she was finding herself having to check everything she said before she said it, so that she didn't reveal that Liza was not, in fact, a millennial, and that she was dating the head of the company. Kelsey wouldn't have believed that one if she hadn't seen them together in the office. They couldn't keep their eyes off each other, and on more than one occasion she had seen them both disappear from the office for a few minutes at a time. They were discreet, but Kelsey couldn't believe that no one else noticed, especially Diana. The day she finds out, Kelsey thought, I want to be somewhere far, far away.

She heard Josh come into the apartment and she sighed quietly. Liza had told her at lunch yesterday that she had told Josh about Charles, and that she had told Kelsey everything. Kelsey knew it was the right thing for Liza to do, but she felt guilty anyways. She had been avoiding him all week. Getting up, she hesitated for a moment before heading down the hall to the living room. Josh was sitting on the couch, a beer already open in his hand.

"Hey there."

"Kelsey." His tone was cool, but not outwardly unfriendly. A good sign.

"So…"

"So how long have you known?"

"Known what?" Josh rolled his eyes at her and downed the rest of his beer.

"About her. About them. About all of it."

Kelsey leaned against the kitchen island. "She told me everything about two week ago. It wasn't my place to tell you about them, Josh. Liza needed to be the one to tell you about them."

"How long do you think it's been going on? Her and…." He swallowed, "Charles?"

"I honestly don't know, Josh. But if she says it just started, I'm going to believe her. Liza made a mistake with this lie about her age, but she is a good person. She's the same person."

"No, she's not. I don't know who she is anymore."

"You still love her, don't you?" Kelsey's heart broke for Josh as she saw the answer clearly written across his face. She liked and respected Charles, and she had the career she had because of him, but Josh was one of her best friends, and it killed her to see him like this.

"Of course, I do, Kels. You know, I was going to propose to her. I had a ring and everything. I was going to come out to the Hamptons and surprise her. But she left me. And started to shack up with her boss. Classy."

"Jesus. I'm sorry, Josh. But you know it's more complicated than that. You need to move on. I know you don't want to hear this, but she is happy with him. This is real, and you need to figure out how to deal with it."

Josh got up and grabbed his jacket, swinging the door open. "Yeah, I know. I'm going to go down and get a few drinks. Wanna come?"

Kelsey wanted to go support him, but she was dead tired. "You know, I think I'm going to pass. I have an early morning and a meeting to prep for."

Josh shrugged and swung the door shut, leaving Kelsey behind to silently curse Liza for putting them all in this situation.

Friday

Friday night found Liza and Charles together once again. They had been "together" for a week that had felt like months. They had been the last to leave the office, and did so together, holding hands as the walked down the sidewalk. Bianca and Nicole were at a sleepover until Sunday, and although Charles felt guilty that he was missing the second weekend in the row with them, he had spent almost every weeknight with them and was thankful that he had two more uninterrupted nights with Liza.

He squeezed her hand as they got out of the car outside her apartment. They had agreed to a night in at the loft, just dinner and a movie. Charles was the one carrying an overnight bag over one shoulder this time. As they swung open the door to the loft, they were greeted by Maggie, grinning happily with her cell phone in one hand and a joint in the other. Charles eyes widened when he saw the joint, but Liza just laughed and waved a hand at him as she kicked off her shoes.

"Liza! You'll never believe what just happened!"

"What?"

"I just sold a dozen of my paintings! This art collector I met a few weeks ago, I just got off the phone with her. She's got a gallery in Tribeca and wants to feature my work!"

"That's amazing!" Liza hugged her friend. "We need to celebrate. Champagne?"

Maggie smiled. "I was thinking a little bigger than that. We should go out." She smiled at Charles, "All of us. You too, Charles. I'll call Lauren and Kelsey. We can go down and meet at ERB."

"ERB?" Charles asked.

"East River Bar. It's great, and it's right around the corner. Please? I know you guys were going to have a quiet night, but where's the fun in that. Plus," She added, "We need to show Charles the wildness of this city that is Brooklyn on a Friday night."

Liza turned to look at Charles, eyes pleading. He laughed and shrugged in surrender. "It sounds fun. Congratulations Maggie. Though I'm thinking I might need to change. I think I might stand out in a Brooklyn bar in a suit."

Maggie and Liza both looked him over and laughed. "Definitely." They said simultaneously.

They pushed their way into the bar a half hour later. Both Liza and Charles had changed their clothes. Charles couldn't remember the last time he had been in a dive bar and had struggled to figure out what to wear. Liza took pity on him and had finally picked out a pair of jeans and a black button up for him. He had had a hard time keeping his hands off her as she had stood picking through his clothes in her underwear before changing into a pair of ripped up jeans and a white tank top. She had slid a black leather jacket on, and Charles had been tempted to pull her down onto the bed and persuade her to stay home for the rest of the night.

"Maggie! Liza!" They were called over by Lauren, who was already perched at a table with Kelsey. The trio wound their way through the crowd to the table. Liza reached back and grabbed Charles' hand.

"And who is this hot piece?" Lauren leaned back and sized Charles up. Liza blushed, but Kelsey spoke up first.

"Lauren, this is Charles Brooks. He's the owner of Empirical. And my boss. And Liza's boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Lauren."

"Yeah, you too. Nicely done, Liza. You know, I adore Josh, but good job on the upgrade."

"Lauren!" Both Kelsey and Liza exclaimed. But Charles laughed it off and leaned down to kiss Liza on the cheek.

"First round is on me. What's everyone want?"

As Charles weaved back towards the bar, Kelsey turned to Liza. "I can't believe you brought Charles here! This is weird."

"You need to get used to it Kelsey. He's going to be around a lot more."

"I know. I'm happy for you Liza. But it's weird for me. Remember who I live with."

"Hey! Look at this, my gang's all here!"

The four girls froze as Josh appeared by their table. Liza could smell on his breath that he had already had a few drinks. He was a little wobbly on his feet and bumped into Liza as he squeezed in between her and Maggie.

"Mags! I haven't seen you in forever. Come to watch us play tonight?" He wrapped his arm around Maggie and Liza searched the crowd for Charles. This is going to be a disaster, she thought.

"Yeah, sweetie."

"Okay, drinks have arrived." Charles stepped up the table, balancing their drinks in his hand. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Josh leaning against the table between Liza and Maggie. Liza moved away from Josh and reached over to take the drinks from Charles. With his hands free, Charles reached out to shake Josh's hand.

"Josh, right? It's nice to see you again."

Josh paused for a moment, surveying Charles. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Showing up at his bar, with his friends, with his girl. He stepped back. He wanted to knock this guy's lights out and he sure as hell wasn't going to shake his hand.

"Yeah, uh, I gotta get back to the band. Talk to you guys later." He stumbled back through the crowd up onto the stage. As he settled onto the barstool, he glanced up to see Liza wrap her arm around Charles and rest her head against him, like she had done so many times with him. He clenched his hand as he saw Charles slip his arm around Liza and slide his hand into the back pocket of her jeans, like it was nothing, like he had done it a million times before. Charles leaned in and said something that made all of the girls laugh, and Josh felt like a knife had been stabbed into his back. His brain was telling him that he needed to move on, that Charles wasn't going to replace him, but his heart was screaming something different. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Liza leaned into Charles, silently trying to smooth over what had just happened. She could feel Charles tensed underneath her hand. Lauren started talking to Maggie about her art, and Kelsey picked up her phone and started texting.

"I'm sorry about that, babe. I didn't know he was going to be here. He usually keeps the studio open late on Fridays during the summer."

"It's okay. Comes with the territory."

"It's not okay, but I love you for saying that. I told him about us last weekend, and I don't think he has taken it well."

"That's an understatement." Kelsey leaned towards them. "I'm sorry, guys, but he's been in rough shape this week. Liza, maybe you guys shouldn't be here tonight."

Charles was more than happy to leave, but Liza squared her shoulders and tossed her hair. "No, we're not leaving. We came out tonight to celebrate with Maggie, and that's what we're going to do. Listen, everyone here knows the truth about me, and all of you are mature enough to deal with it. And you have. And you've all forgiven me, and I love you all for that. He," she said, gesturing towards Josh, "needs to move on. I've talked to him about this and I'm done feeling bad about living my life the way I want to. I'm going to go get another drink." She turned and strode towards the bar, trying to clear her head. She leaned against the bar, waiting for the tiny blonde bartender.

"What can I get you, miss?" Liza was thrown off by the heavy Irish accent.

"A vodka tonic and your accent, for starters."

"Sorry, that's only available in a tiny little village 30 miles outside of Dublin, I'm afraid."

"I've always wanted to go to Ireland. I did a concentration in Irish literature at Dartmouth."

"James Joyce?" The girl smirked, wryly.

"Don't get me wrong, I love James Joyce, but I secretly love Bram Stoker more."

"God love ya and your dark and populist soul. I'm Clare, by the way."

"Liza."

Clare handed her the drink. "Nice to meet you, Liza."

"You too." Liza smiled and made her way back through the crowd. The bar was especially crowded tonight, and she had to lift her drink above her head to avoid spilling it. Maybe I'm getting too old for this scene, she thought. She was, she admitted to herself, looking forward to dinner tomorrow night with Charles's friends. A quieter room and mature conversation. No drama.

Or so she thought.