Jocelyn braced herself for what Arianna and Chloe would say, she wasn't worried about Mason. The street was mostly deserted, Tyler was driving off and two cars besides Jocelyn's were parked at Arianna's house. An icy wind blew as Jocelyn walked up the forever elongating driveway. The rain had once again subsided but the air remained damp and cold. The porch light was on, beckoning her arrival. The impending doom that awaited Jocelyn inside the house was almost too much. She reached for the door knob, but decided to knock instead. She paused and listened for movement inside. A few moments past and the door was unlocked and opened. Jocelyn stepped inside.
    Chloe was sitting on the couch with Mason, Arianna was holding the door.
    "Hi," she said simply.
    Chloe sat with her legs crossed, looking at her foot that she was shaking. Mason was next to her, he looked up when she entered. Arianna seemed like herself.
    "Look," Jocelyn blurted out "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you any of what happened, I didn't want to jinx it at first, it had been so perfect. I thought if everyone knew, that it would somehow ruin the relationship. I didn't mean to hurt you, any of you, if I did, I just, but now, everything has changed, I think." Jocelyn stopped explaining herself and just looked at Chloe. It would have hurt her the most. She told Jocelyn everything; she would have felt betrayed because her best girlfriend hadn't done the same.    
     Without looking up Chloe began "so, you just go on pretending to be all inoccent, when in all reality, you are....Did you just not trust me? How would we ruin it, whatever 'it' was or is?" She looked up. "I don't understand."
    Arianna looked at her and Jocelyn. "It's ok, it just would have been nice to include your friends in your life." Jocelyn knew that Arianna probably held some annimosity towards her because she knew Arianna had liked Tyler once. That was one of the reasons Jocelyn hadn't told her.
    Jocelyn was somewhat hurt by their reactions. She didn't think it was really that big of a deal, but she had never told them about her love or her heart break and that was a big deal to them.
    "I'm sorry."
    Mason hadn't said anything. He was upset because Jocelyn was with someone else. "Whatever, it really isn't that big of a deal. Just let it go."
    "Jocelyn," Chloe said, "what really happened between you and Tyler? Will you just tell us now?"
    Jocelyn sighed and began to fill them in on everything that had happened, from the day they had met to their reunion that night. It was hard for Jocelyn to actually state what had taken place. When she had finished the room was somber and the quiet reactions from the audience drove Jocelyn crazy.
    "So, you are in love with Tyler," Chloe asked.
    "Yes, well I was, and now I think I am still."
    "What is going to happen?"
    "Well, I hope that we can be together, but I don't know. It is a lot for me and a lot to ask of him."
    Arianna looked Jocelyn in the eyes and asked "how do you know that you love him, or that he loves you?"
    "I don't really now, I just have to have faith in it."
    "But isn't that how you got your heart broken in the first place?"
    "Yes, but if you never put you heart out, it can never be broken and it can never love. It hurts, you know that Chloe, but, I know that I have to try."
    They finished their talk and Jocelyn left. It was past midnight and Jocelyn needed and wanted to go home. They said goodbye, none of them where happy.
    Jocelyn drove home and collapsed in her bed. Her sleep was restless and her dreams were full of joy and missery. When she woke up it was close to ten. As she strolled down the stairs she noticed the silent atmosphere surrounding the dew covered land. It was a wonderfully sunny morning after the early rain. Jocelyn retrieved the drying paper from the driveway and tossed it onto the table. There were no interesting headlines to catch her attention as she flipped to the art and community section. She noticed an announcement for a new art exhibit that seemed exciting and there was a good review of the play that had reunited her with Will.
    Jocelyn casually walked to the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of orange juice. A sunny morning desereved a sunny disposition and orange juice was just the thing to help that along. She went back to the table, thoughts of seeing Tyler later overloading her mind. Jake entered the kitchen, he was wide awake and fully dressed.
    "Hey Jake," she said, taking a sip of her drink.
    "Hey, how was last night?"
    "It was, eventful, to say the least."
    "That's nice, I guess. Hey, any good news?"
    "Not really," Jocelyn answered, tossing him the first section of the paper. He gladly accepted the light projectile and sat at the table with a cup of coffee.
    "Did you sleep all that time," Jocelyn asked, looking up from the announcement page.
    "Yep," Jake responded without taking his eyes off the front page.
    "Oh."
    Jocelyn surveyed the wedding, birthday, anniversary, and mourning announcements with little interest. Something, however, in the engagement announcements caught her eye. Towards the bottom of the page was a picture heading for the engagement of Tyler Stevenson to Hilary Cross. The picture was of Tyler, her Tyler; the girl she didn't know. Jocelyn frose. She read the announcement, every word, it was definately her Tyler, but she couldn't believe that he was getting married.
    Jake looked up at his sister. "What's wrong?"
     "No, nothing," she sputtered, "just, someone we know is getting married."
    "Who?"
    "Tyler Stevenson."
    Jake had known Tyler in high school, and he also knew that something had gone on between him and Jocelyn.
    "Oh, who is he getting hitced to?"
    "Some girl, Hilary Cross. I don't know her."
    "I knew Hilary, she dated Tyler before you did. They must have got back together after you broke up with him." Jocelyn never told Jake how their relationship had ended; she thought it was better if he didn't.
    "Really? Well. I saw Tyler last night, he was at Arianna's party, he didn't say anything about it. Oh well."
    Jocelyn was devistated. She excused herself from the table and went to her room. She got ready for her meeting with Tyler and thought about what she would say to him. She heard the doorbell ring. She ran downstairs, hoping to get the door before Jake did. Unfortunately the door was open before she reached the hall and Jake was questionably looking at the man in the doorway.
    "Hello," Tyler said, unsure of what was going on.
    "Hi, Tyler, umm, Jake, you remember Tyler?"
    "Yeah, hey. What are you doing here," Jake asked.
    "I came to see your sister, but it's nice to see you again too," Tyler was a little hesitant about the response from Jake.
    "Yeah, Tyler come with me," Jocelyn took his hand and walked to the stair case. "Jake," she said turning to him, "you can close the door."
    Hurrying up the stairs, Jocelyn and Tyler left Jake alone below.
    "What was that about," Tyler asked when they had reached the family room.
    "Nothing, Jake was just surprised to see you. I never told him you were coming over."
    "That's ok."
    Tyler held Jocelyn and kissed her lightly. Jocelyn pulled away, unceratin about Tyler and what she had read earlier.
    "What's wrong?"
    "Nothing," she lied. "What do you want to do today, what's going on?" She walked towards her room as she said "if we're going some where, I need to get some things."
    "I don't care. I just want to spend time with you."
    "Look Tyler, will you hold on just a moment?"
    "Yeah."
    With that she ran down the stairs and reappeared in a few moments carrying part of the newspaper. She sat down on the couch next to Tyler and handed the paper to him.
    "What's this," he asked, not knowing what she was intending.
    A little annoyed, Jocelyn opened the paper and made the engagement announcement clearly visible. "What's this?"
    Tyler took the handled newspaper and read the announcement Jocelyn was pointing to. He was silent for a moment, then he looked at her, he was clearly choked up.
    "Jocelyn..."

<3 axelle