A few minutes later, Sunset came back downstairs, announcing that lunch was ready. One by one, everyone began to gather around the table. Jennie and Youn Jin came down together, still laughing about a conversation they had left unfinished. Scott pulled out a chair while Joshua helped Sunset carry the serving dishes to the table. Laura arrived a moment later with the glasses.

Finally, Marcela slowly made her way downstairs, carrying the plate Sunset had brought to her room. She returned it to the kitchen before quietly walking into the dining room and taking a seat with everyone else.

The conversation died instantly.

No one planned it.

It just... happened.

Jennie stopped in the middle of her sentence. Scott froze while chewing on a piece of cheese he had shamelessly stolen from the kitchen. Laura lowered her gaze, and Joshua looked up almost instinctively.

Their eyes met for only a few seconds.

Marcela looked away first, ashamed of everything she had done.

She sat at the end of the table, taking a deep breath as though she still needed to convince herself to stay.

The silence was becoming painfully uncomfortable.

As always, Jennie was the one who saved them.

"So... did you guys know Jin ended up sleeping in my room because she literally gave up halfway up the stairs?"

Everyone turned to Youn Jin.

She shrugged, trying not to laugh.

"I got halfway up and thought, 'I don't actually need my bed that much... and Jennie probably isn't using hers anyway.'"

The entire table burst into laughter.

"It was strategy," Jennie joked.

"It was survival. Honestly, I'd survive natural selection."

Scott shook his head.

"I've never seen someone give up climbing a staircase."

"I've never seen a straight staircase spin that much."

She laughed, remembering just how drunk she had been the night before.

"I met Chad."

Jennie immediately raised her hand.

"And I met Matthew."

The two high-fived like excited teenagers. They had more sisterly chemistry than Jin had ever shared with her own sister.

"In the end, somebody had to actually enjoy that party. My flawless decorations were quite the contrast to the absolute chaos."

Sarah chuckled.

"True," Sunset smiled.

"Because the rest of you... congratulations on surviving."

She looked around the table, laughing at everyone's miserable hangover faces.

Before making lunch, Sunset had already gone for a run, finished a protein shake, watered the plants, cleaned up a little more of the mess, and somehow looked like she hadn't spent the previous night drinking as if there were no tomorrow.

For everyone else...

Tomorrow had arrived with a vengeance.

For some, for one reason.

For others, for another.

But it had arrived all the same.

Even Marcela managed a small smile at her own misery.

Scott took the opportunity.

"Speaking of that..."

Everyone looked at him.

"I think we should throw another party."

Silence immediately returned.

"What?" Laura was the first to react.

"Scott... did you hit your head? Or are you being sarcastic?" Jennie asked, laughing.

Joshua stared at him in disbelief.

"My brother... look at the disaster that happened yesterday."

"I know!"

Scott laughed too, clearly excited to explain himself.

"But I promised Megan I'd make it up to her."

Sarah rubbed her forehead.

"So you want us to relive a collective trauma just so you can work up the courage to ask Megan out?"

"I promised! And I told her our parties are usually fun... and that we're actually nice people."

"Scott!"

Laura pointed toward Marcela and Joshua, both still wearing expressions of complete disbelief.

"Look around this table!"

"I am!"

He laughed at his own stubbornness.

"But think about it. If any of you asked me to do the same thing... I'd do it."

The entire table fell silent.

Because it was true.

Scott would.

Joshua smiled to himself.

"Unfortunately... he would."

"He absolutely would."

Sarah agreed.

Sunset crossed her arms.

"Alright..."

Everyone looked at her.

"But this time, we're not inviting half the city."

Jennie immediately added,

"Just us... and our closest friends."

"Lower music... maybe some board games, cards..."

"Less alcohol," Laura suggested.

Joshua laughed and looked at her.

"I think the 'less alcohol' part is impossible. The only one who never ends up drunk is Scott, and the only one who wakes up happy the next morning is Sunset."

"You definitely won't."

Scott shot back immediately, teasing him now that Joshua had more than enough reasons to drink himself unconscious.

The entire table laughed again.

Joshua included.

In the end, without anyone needing to vote, everyone quietly agreed.

The following weekend, they would throw another party.

Smaller.

Calmer.

Just enough to erase the memory of the last one.

The conversation finally settled back into its usual rhythm.

Between one topic and another, Joshua passed the salad bowl to Laura before she even asked for it.

She thanked him with a small smile.

A few moments later, she reached for the hot sauce and handed it to him without asking whether he wanted it.

It was automatic.

Little habits built over years of sharing the same home.

Marcela watched everything in silence.

Had they always been like this?

Or had she simply never noticed before?

Joshua poured Laura a glass of water while filling his own.

Without thinking, Laura stole a bite from his plate before reaching for the serving dish to help herself.

No one commented.

No one even noticed.

Because it was natural.

It always had been.

Marcela lowered her eyes.

She tried to convince herself she was imagining things.

They had always been like this.

Laura's room was the only bedroom upstairs with its own bathroom.

Scott had been there too.

Joshua and Laura had been best friends forever.

None of it meant anything.

So why did it suddenly feel like it did?

Laura, on the other hand, had noticed Marcela watching.

Without saying a word, she began avoiding every automatic gesture.

When Joshua reached out for her empty plate, just as he had done for years so he could carry both of them to the sink, Laura held onto it before he could take it.

"No... it's okay. Thanks."

She gave him a small smile.

Joshua frowned, confused.

"Okay."

Laura quickly stood and walked into the kitchen.

Joshua remained seated for a few seconds, completely puzzled.

Scott watched the entire exchange in silence.

He looked at Joshua.

Then at Laura.

He let out a slow breath.

There it was.

Now it was a problem.

The days that followed were strangely peaceful.

Not because things had gone back to normal, but because no one seemed willing to bring any of it up.

The house remained as noisy as ever. Sunset still kept forgetting where she had left her phone. Jennie and Youn Jin still argued over the smallest things. Scott was still trying to convince everyone that another party would somehow erase the disaster of the last one.

But for the first time in years, Joshua and Laura had to think before doing things that had always happened naturally.

The following morning, Joshua was playing video games in the living room when he lost a ridiculously easy match.

"Oh, come on..."

Without even thinking, he called out.

"Laura!"

Her voice came almost instantly from upstairs.

"Yeah?"

Joshua kept staring at the television.

Silence.

Only then did he realize...

He hadn't called her for any reason at all.

Because before...

She would simply appear, sit on the arm of the couch, grab the second controller, and start playing without asking.

He let out a quiet laugh to himself.

"Never mind..."

Upstairs, Laura remained standing in the doorway of her room for a few seconds, still looking toward the hall.

"...Okay."

Neither of them could explain why that hurt so much.

Another morning, Laura was making coffee while the rest of the house slowly woke up.

Automatically, she grabbed two mugs.

She added sugar to both.

Poured coffee into both.

Then stopped.

She stared at the second mug for several long seconds.

She sighed.

Poured the coffee back into the pot and quietly returned the mug to the cabinet.

Joshua walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

He looked at her.

Then at the single mug sitting on the counter.

A small smile appeared on his face.

"Only one today?"

Laura smiled back, slightly embarrassed.

"I decided to be selfish today."

He chuckled.

"Fair enough."

He grabbed a bottle of water and walked away.

Both of them knew it was a lie.

The next day, Joshua walked past Laura's bedroom and noticed the door was open.

Without thinking, he leaned inside.

"What are you—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

Laura was lying on her bed reading.

She looked up.

They smiled at the exact same moment.

Joshua took a step inside.

Then stopped.

"Nothing."

He turned and walked back into the hallway.

As soon as he rounded the corner, he leaned against the wall.

Ran a hand over his face.

Why did I leave?

Because before...

He had never asked permission to come in.

He simply walked inside.

Took the book from her hands.

Collapsed across her bed.

Started talking about whatever happened to come to mind.

Now it felt as though he needed permission just to exist in the same room.

Laura watched the empty hallway for a few more seconds.

Then looked back at her book.

She realized she had no idea what the last page she'd read had been.

One afternoon, Joshua grabbed his car keys.

He was heading to the grocery store.

He walked upstairs and entered Laura's room without knocking, just like he always had.

Without thinking, he called her name.

"Laura."

She looked over at him.

Something that used to be ordinary suddenly felt new again.

"Yeah?"

She was organizing her bookshelf.

"I..."

The words disappeared.

No...

They hadn't disappeared.

He had simply realized he was doing exactly what he did every single week.

Asking whether she needed anything from the store.

Or if she wanted to come with him.

"What is it?"

Laura asked with a warm smile.

For one brief second, Joshua stopped filtering himself.

He took two slow steps toward her.

Close enough to feel her breathing.

Without realizing it, his eyes drifted to her lips.

Laura noticed.

Both of their hearts began racing.

For a fleeting moment...

She did exactly the same thing.

Neither of them moved.

Long enough for the silence to say far more than any conversation ever could.

Laura was the first to come back to reality.

She cleared her throat, took a slow breath, closed her eyes, then crouched in front of the bookshelf, pretending to sort through a random box.

"Were you going to ask me something?"

Joshua blinked a few times.

Then took a step back.

His pulse was still racing.

"Oh... do you need anything from the grocery store?

Want to come with me?"

She almost answered something else.

She almost said what she truly wanted from him.

"No.

Thanks."

"Alright."

He smiled.

Turned around and quietly left her room, closing the door behind him.

Laura closed her eyes as soon as he was gone.

Trying to steady herself.

She rested her forehead against the bookshelf in front of her and took a slow, deep breath.

She wanted to go with him.

Joshua wished she had asked for anything.

Neither of them had the courage.

They had promised to act normally.

The problem...

Was that their normal had always been being together.

Scott noticed it before anyone else.

Not because either of them had changed completely.

Quite the opposite.

They were still constantly looking for each other.

They just never made it all the way anymore.

Joshua would walk into a room looking for Laura.

The moment he found her, he'd invent some excuse to leave.

Laura did exactly the same thing.

Sometimes they'd run into each other in the hallway and spend several minutes talking about absolutely nothing...

Simply because neither of them wanted the conversation to end.

But it always did.

One afternoon, Joshua watched Laura walk upstairs.

He kept watching until she disappeared from sight.

Scott closed the refrigerator door.

"You two are acting really weird."

Joshua looked away.

"Weird how?"

"You.

Both of you.

Weird."

Joshua pretended not to understand.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Scott laughed.

"You two used to just... exist in the same place."

"Now it feels like you rehearse saying good morning."

Joshua lowered his head.

"We just..."

He never finished the sentence.

Because he didn't know how.

Scott let out a slow breath.

"It looks like you both want to talk to each other all the time..."

"...but spend the whole day finding reasons not to."

Joshua let out a quiet laugh.

"Yeah..."

"I think that's exactly it."

While Joshua and Laura were trying to figure out how to keep being themselves, Marcela carried a guilt she shared with no one.

In her mind, everything traced back to that same night.

Joshua had bought new rings.

She had turned him down.

She had kissed Harry right in front of him.

She had started drinking again.

She had made a scene.

How could he possibly act the same way after all of that?

She had no idea there was just as much confusion inside him.

She genuinely believed she was the only reason everything had changed.

A few days later, she found Joshua and Scott sitting in the chairs by the barbecue area, sharing a couple of beers while the sun slowly disappeared behind the lake.

"Mind if I interrupt for a minute?"

Scott smiled.

"Of course."

She sat down.

Took a deep breath.

"I wanted to apologize to you...

For real."

Joshua looked up.

"Cela..."

"No... let me finish."

He nodded.

"I ruined everything that night.

I ruined your proposal.

I ruined the party.

I ruined us...

And I needed to apologize while actually remembering everything... not while I was drunk."

Joshua remained silent.

She offered him an awkward smile.

"I'm sorry."

After a few seconds, he answered with the same calm voice he always had.

"I accept your apology."

"I already had before, sweetheart."

She let out a quiet breath of relief.

Hearing him call her sweetheart sent a small shiver through her.

The silence no longer felt heavy.

Then she asked softly,

"Can I ask you something?"

"You can."

"The rings..."

She smiled faintly.

"I got curious...

Can I see them?"

Joshua looked at Scott.

Then at the lake.

He scratched the back of his neck before answering.

"So...

Drunk Joshua decided the lake deserved an offering."

Marcela frowned.

Scott laughed, taking a second to understand.

Then his eyes widened.

"Hold on...

You did WHAT?"

Joshua pointed toward the lake with his beer bottle.

"They're all in there."

Scott stared at him in complete disbelief.

"YOU THREW TWO SOLID GOLD RINGS INTO THE LAKE?"

Joshua burst out laughing.

"At the time, decorating the lake seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea."

"Joshua!"

"I was emotionally devastated."

"So you decided to become financially devastated too!"

Marcela covered her face, laughing as she tried to hide the tears beginning to gather in her eyes.

She shook her head.

"You're an idiot."

Joshua shrugged.

"Very much so."

He stood up, walked over to her, and placed a long, gentle kiss on her forehead.

"It's okay, Cela."

She closed her eyes for a brief moment.

It wasn't okay.

She hadn't really been curious.

She had wanted to know whether there was still any chance those rings could one day belong to her.

Now she had her answer.

There wasn't.

Even so...

She smiled.

"Thank you."

She turned around and walked back inside.

Joshua returned to his chair.

Picked up his beer.

The two of them sat quietly, staring out across the lake.

Scott took another sip.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Joshua didn't answer right away.

He watched the water reflecting the evening sky.

Then he raised the bottle to his lips.

"No."

 

Marcela! Download here! ❤️