1The Longest Time, Part One– James and Courtney have been engaged for three months
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
I'm that voice you're hearing in the hall
And the greatest miracle of all
Is how I need you
And how you needed me too
That hasn't happened for the longest...
"Who are you planning on inviting to the wedding?" Courtney asked James. She was sitting on his couch, surrounded by pads of paper with countless lists for the wedding. James had no idea what they could all be for, but Courtney seemed to know, and they seemed to be making her happy for the time being. That was good enough for him. She was currently working on the guest list, which never seemed to be finished, but he didn't mind.
He laughed at her. "I told you a thousand times. The only person who I care about attending our wedding is you. But, I think my family would appreciate an invitation. So that's Monica and Alan, Edward and Lila, Tracy, Dillon, Ned, Justus, Emily, and Brook Lynn. And Sonny needs to get an invitation, and Jason of course, but he's going to be my best man, so of course he's invited."
Courtney's face fell, and James knew something had disappointed her. "What is it?" he added.
"Well, it's just that I've asked Carly to be my maid of honor. Are those two going to be able to handle being around each other?"
"Is Carly even going to come?" he asked. After the divorce, Carly had separated herself from her friends and moved back in with her parents, saying she needed time and space. The last time James and Courtney had talked to her she said she wasn't even close to being ready to go back to her normal life.
"She asked me to give her a week or two to think about it, and I said yes. How could I say no? She's my best friend and there's no one else I want to be my maid of honor. And if she says she'll do it we're going to have a hard time making this work with the two of them," she replied.
"Court, I know you feel bad for both of them; I do too. Jason is in no better shape than Carly is right now. But they're both adults, as well as our best friends. They should be able to put their feelings aside for one night," James reassured her.
Three weeks later.
James walked in the door to see Courtney waiting for him, a happy look on her face. Everyday she had some new surprise having to do with the wedding. He loved that it was making her so happy.
"Guess what!"
"What?"
"Carly just called!" she told him, exuberant.
"And?"
"She said she'll do it! She'll be my maid of honor. She even promised to try and have a good time, despite Jason being there."
"Oh, baby, that's great," he replied as she went to hug him. "Now we can start planning the announcement party."
She stepped out of his embrace and said, "Well, we're going to be really busy over the next few days. I was so excited about Carly accepting that I went ahead and booked the banquet room at the MetroCourt for next week. It was the only opening they had unless we wanted to wait until June, and by then everyone would know about the engagement. We would be old news. There's no way either one of us could keep this quiet until June."
"Next week? Busy is an understatement. We better get planning."
James hugged his fiancé again, never wanting to let her go. He had never imagined he could have someone as good as Courtney in his life. He squeezed her tighter, reassuring himself that she really was a dream come true, and whispered that he loved her, like he had so many times before. But every time still felt like the first with her.
Uptown Girl, Part Two– Courtney and James's announcement party
Sonny sat alone at a table, waiting for more people to arrive. The party had just started, and no one was there yet. At least no one important. James and Courtney were busy talking to the caterers, and Jason hadn't arrived yet.
Sonny checked his new Rolex watch again, proud that he could now have things like that. But he was also waiting for his boss, Marco Terlione, to get there. As James's boss as well, Terlione had been invited. Sonny planned to use it as an excuse to discuss business. He had moved up in the organization since quitting at Kelly's, and he'd done it fast. He planned to let nothing stop his progress– besides his Rolex he now had a new penthouse in the apartment building he owned, new cars, and guards on his apartment, plus an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, that was all his.
He waved to James's parents as they walked in, but his mind was focused on meeting with his boss.
Carly sat in her room, getting ready for the party. She was nervous, more nervous than she had been in a long time. She knew Jason would be there, and wondered what it would be like to see him after such a long time. She didn't know if she could handle it, but she'd promised herself that she would keep it cool for her friends' sakes. And at least this way she might be a little bit more accustomed to seeing him when it came time for the actual wedding.
"Carly! Are you ready to go?" her mother called from downstairs.
She walked out of her bedroom and into the hall yelling, "Yeah, let's go!"
Ready was the last thing Carly was, but she had to do this for her friend. She knew Courtney would be there for her if she ever needed it, and Carly intended to do the same for her. It would just be weird, she knew, after having been out of touch with everyone for so long.
Marco Terlione entered the banquet room and Sonny stood up to greet the man.
"Mr. Terlione," he said, waving his hand at his boss.
Terlione walked over to the table and Sonny shook his hand. They got deep into a conversation about their latest business dealings and nothing could have distracted them at this point. Sonny was so deeply involved with his work, and nothing could take his mind off it.
They continued their discussion. Sonny heard the entrance door open and a guest was announced, but he didn't take any notice of it until the room went silent. He looked up to see who it could possibly be that was causing such a stir, if you could even call it that. The people in that town were hardly ever quiet.
And then he knew why. Carly was standing at the door, all by herself looking alone and afraid. She'd been the talk of the town for the past few days, with people debating whether or not she would actually be brave enough to show up. Sonny had never taken more than friendly notice of her before because of the fact that she had been his best friend's girlfriend and then wife. But now he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He couldn't stand how everyone was standing there, just staring at her like they were dumb. Couldn't they see how vulnerable she was?
"Excuse me for one minute, Mr. Terlione," Sonny said, standing up.
Terlione went to protest but then stopped."I know that look. Go ahead."
"What look?" Sonny asked, confused.
He smiled. "Just go."
Sonny shook his head and walked over to Carly. She breathed a huge sigh of relief as he approached her. Why was everyone staring at her, she wondered. "Hi, Sonny," she said, reaching out to him for hug. "How are you?"
"I'm doing good. How have you been? It's been so long," he said, reveling in her hug. She seemed so fragile. He didn't want to let her go. As soon as he had seen her, he saw what he had never seen in her before, something beautiful. Her blonde hair was down and fell softly at her shoulders, and her red dress suited her perfectly.
"I know, it's been forever. I'm doing okay. Hanging in there. It's been hard, but I make it."
Everyone was still silent, and Sonny could tell she was uncomfortable standing there. "Do you want to sit down? My table is just over there. Or would you rather sit with Courtney?" he asked. Anything to make her feel good.
Carly looked at the table where Courtney was sitting with James. She saw Jason seated to the left of them. Their eyes met for a moment, but she averted her glance quickly. It was still too hard. "Let's just go sit at your table, okay?"
"Okay," Sonny said, placing his hand on her back and leading her to the table. His actions, as well as his feelings, surprised him, and he wondered where they had come from. He had never looked at Carly this way before. Now he couldn't take his eyes or his mind off her. He wondered if anything could ever be between them after so long, or if she'd even want him. But Sonny knew he had to give it a try. If his job had taught him anything, it was to never give up.
Uptown girl
She's been living in her uptown world
I bet she never had a backstreet guy
I bet her mama never told her why
I'm gonna try for an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
Sonny pulled out Carly's chair and she smiled at him. It had made her feel nice, someone treating her like she was special.
"You look great, Carly. We've all missed you, Carly," he said, taking the seat next to him. He couldn't stop saying her name. The conversation about business was long forgotten, and his boss's continuing presence at the table was unnoticed to him.
She gave him a strange look, and he said in his head, "Get it together, man."
"Thank you. You're looking great yourself, with your new business suit and all. You must be doing pretty well for yourself," she replied.
"Yeah, well, work's been good lately. I've gotten promoted a bunch of times since the last time we talked. But enough about me. What have you been up to lately?"
"Just hanging around at my parent's house. I've worked for Luke at the Haunted Star a couple of times, but not too much. And I've been spending a lot of time with LuLu. She's such a great little kid."
"So, no new guys in your life?" Sonny asked. He figured he was being obvious, but he had to know.
"Ha! Are you kidding me? No, the only guys in my life right now are Lucky, Nikolas, and Luke. I mean, my parents did try to get me to go out with some guys, but they were all lame rich boys from their neighborhood. They want me to date what they call 'nice boys,' basically the mean clones of James. And don't get me wrong, James is a great guy, but he's not what I'm looking for," Carly replied. "Plus, all the guys that I did go out with never worked. Either I didn't like them or they didn't seem to like me. I guess it's like Jason says, I'm just impossible to stand for more than five minutes at a time."
And when she knows what
She wants from her time
And when she wakes up
And makes up her mind
She'll see I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love with an uptown girl
You know I've seen her in her uptown world
She's getting tired of her high class toys
And all the presents from her uptown boys
She's got a choice
Sonny glared at the place where his friend was sitting. He wanted to tear Jason apart. How could he tell this girl who was so beautiful, so funny, so kind, so smart, that she was anything but perfect?
"Carly, I–" he began, but Courtney and James approached the table and greeted her.
"Hey, guys! Congratulations!" she said with as much enthusiasm as she could. Carly was happy for her friends, but she couldn't help remembering the dreams she'd once had for herself and Jason. Maybe things would go better for Courtney and James. She hoped so.
"Thanks!" they said in unison, their faces flushed. Anyone could see that they were in love. Sonny observed them and thought how he wanted Carly to look like that one day, even if it wasn't with him.
"It's great to see you. How have you been?" Courtney asked.
Carly winced at the question and Sonny wished people wouldn't ask her that. It obviously brought back painful memories.
"I feel a little bit better every day. And of course, it's great seeing you guys. I've missed you a lot," Carly said.
"That's great. We're so happy you could make it for the wedding. I wouldn't want anyone else to be my maid of honor. Listen, we've gotta go, James's mother wanted to see us about something, but I'll come find you later, or you come find me if you need anything. And you can call me anytime you need anything, no matter what, okay?" Courtney told her as she walked away from the table.
"Thanks, Court. I will. That really means a lot to me."
She put her head down as soon as she was sure they were gone. Why was this so hard? They were her friends. Just because they happened to also be Jason's friends shouldn't have changed anything between them. She knew it hadn't changed anything, not really. She was only uncomfortable with their questions because they talked about the past, and the past involved Jason and pain. Carly didn't want anything to do with her past anymore. She was done with it, so why couldn't her friends be done with it too? All it did was bring back bad memories.
"Are you okay?" someone asked her.
She wanted to shout no, that she wasn't okay, but Carly recognized that voice and immediately picked her head up, trying to put herself together.
"Yeah, Jason, I'm fine," she lied, wanting him to get away as quickly as possible.
"Carly? Can we talk for a while?"
Sonny shook his head at his friend from behind Carly. Carly was too upset to handle something like this, and Sonny wasn't about to let her get hurt more.
Carly hesitated before saying. "Yes. All right." It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't let Jason see her all shook up over him still, months after their divorce. She had to show him that she didn't need him, that she was strong enough to get on without him.
She stood up and followed Jason to an empty table near the wall.
"What did you want to talk about?" she questioned once they were sitting.
"This is hard for me..." he began, just as shaky as she was but trying with everything he was not to let it show. "Carly, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for what happened to us. I shouldn't have asked you to marry me in the first place. It was selfish of me. I should have respected your decision to take a break, but I couldn't, Carly, I was too in love with you."
Carly's eyes filled up with tears at the reminders of all that she'd been through. "Jason, please stop," she begged him.
"No, just listen to what I have to say. I shouldn't have done what I did; I shouldn't have asked you to marry me just because I didn't want to let you go. We did all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. It was nobody's fault. Things just went wrong with us. We didn't try hard enough either. But, Carly, all that's in the past. It doesn't matter anymore. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wanna give us another shot."
Tears fell down onto her face now as he went on, "I haven't been the same since you left. And the only way I can see that happening is with you in my life."
Uptown Girl, Part Three
And when she's walking
She's looking so fine
And when she's talking
She'll say that she's mine
She'll say I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love
With an uptown girl
She's been living in her white bread world
As long as anyone with hot blood can
And now she's looking for a downtown man
That's what I am
Uptown girl
She's my uptown girl
You know I'm in love
With an uptown girl
My uptown girl
Sonny watched Jason and Carly talking, not moving his eyes to anything else. If Jason hurt her now, he didn't know what he would do. He didn't even know what he could do. He'd just realized these feelings that very night; feelings for a woman his best friend was still very much enamored with. What was he supposed to do? Tell his friend to just step aside? Sure, he knew that Carly was done with Jason for good, but could he do something like that to his best friend? They'd promised each other they'd never let girls come between them. Could he just ditch the person who'd been there for him so many times before for a woman? And more importantly, would Carly even want him to that?
He didn't know, but he did know that tonight, with this one woman, he chose her over his friend. Sonny had just realized that Carly was everything he'd ever wanted, and he wasn't about to give that up. They weren't even in a relationship and yet she meant so much to Sonny.
"She's special to you?" Terlione asked, feeling that it was okay to talk again. Sonny hadn't said a word to him since bringing Carly to their table.
"Yeah," Sonny answered distractedly, not breaking his stare.
"And I can see she's important to your friend too," Terlione stated. Now he had Sonny's attention.
"What do you think I should do?"
"How high is she on your list of priorities?"
"She's on the top, number one."
Marco was taken aback. He had asked Sonny this question before when he was making a decision, and Sonny's answer had always been, "At the bottom. My work is the only thing that matters." He was obviously very in love with this girl.
"Then go for it. Friends last forever, but a girl like that may only come for a moment and then you've lost her," he advised.
Sonny nodded. He had already made that same decision himself. Terlione's advice just made him more sure that he was going to do the right thing.
"Jason, why did you have to make this so hard? I was working on getting past us, and then you come over here with this confession that you want to try again. No. I can't do it, Jason. I'm sorry for what went wrong between us, but if we can't make it work once, chances are we won't be able to make it work at all. I'd wanted to try being friends with you again when I felt well enough to do so, but obviously you're going to make that too difficult for me. Just go," Carly pleaded.
"Will you just think about this? Please?"
"No!" she shouted. Everyone turned to look at them and she suddenly realized how loudly she'd spoken.
"I'm sorry, Jason, but I can't go down that road again," she said, speaking softer. "Can't you see how much pain this has caused me already? I can't go through that again."
She waited for Jason to reply but he said nothing, just turned and walked away. Carly's head dropped and she started crying, but she wasn't as upset as she had been before. She knew she'd done the right thing for herself, regardless of what Jason wanted, and that she was one step closer to being over the whole ordeal.
Sonny watched her and got up to go to her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Sonny. I'm fine. Thanks."
"Carly?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to dance with me?" he asked nervously. He had to take the first step, even if it was as small as a dance.
Carly smiled. "Okay. I'd like that."