About a week later, Julie had a house-warming party at her apartment. Ok, it was just another excuse for them to party, but still! She had invited all of her friends and Brian invited several of his as well.
"I don't know if we should worry that Rochelle and Nick are going to be together or not!" Julie joked.
"Yeah, this apartment may not be big enough for both of them. Did you ever find out what was wrong with her that night?"
"Actually I did just the other day when I called to invite her. I told her she could only come if she promised to be nice. Her parents are getting divorced and she's taking it pretty hard because her parents never fought or anything so it was a huge surprise. Then to top that off she finds out that both of her parents are moving away and she had to decided if she was going to go with one of them or stay here and tough it out on her own. I think she decided to stay here."
"Wow. That's rough."
"Yeah, I know. I think she's feeling better about it though."
Julie and Brian set up the apartment, placing chips and snacks out and making sure there was plenty to drink in the fridge. AJ was the first one to arrive, and he came carrying a huge box.
"Hey AJ! What's in the box?" Julie asked as she let him in.
"It's a present for you!" he said.
"For me? Can I open it now?"
"Sure. Just let me set it down first."
Brian walked into the room as Julie was tearing open the wrapping paper. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's a shelving system for my room! Thank you so much AJ!" she said, jumping up and giving him a big hug.
"You're welcome sweetie! Are we still on for that shopping date tomorrow?"
"Oh definately!"
"What are you two doing tomorrow?" Brian asked.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. AJ invited me to go shopping tomorrow afternoon. Is that ok?"
"Sure. I suppose I can find plenty of things to keep me occupied! I'm really behind on some of my work!" he said. Deep down though, Brian was upset that Julie was going out with AJ, not bothering to tell him and then she didn't ask if he wanted to go along. It wasn't that he didn't trust Julie, it was just that he was jealous and AJ has been known to be quite the flirt at times.
Brian helped AJ move the box into Julie's room until they could set it up tomorrow. The guests had started to arrive by that time and AJ became occupied with Kate. All the guys were there and Nick was standing by the door when the bell rang. He went to open it and was faced with Rochelle standing outside.
"Hi Nick." she said.
"Hey Rochelle. How have you been?" he managed to get out.
"Great but I'd be better if you'd let me in the door!" she joked.
"Oh, sorry! Come on in. Julie's around here somewhere. Everyone else is already here."
"Yeah, I had to work late. It sucked."
"Oh really, where do you work?" he asked.
"I work at a collections agency for credit cards. Just a way to make it through college and now that I have to pay for my own living expenses..."
"So you get to like, call up people and demand money from them?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Meanwhile Julie and Brian were in the kitchen watching as Nick sat down next to Rochelle. "Do you see what I see?" she asked.
"Yeah- Nick and Rochelle are having a decent conversation. He must still like her a lot."
"And from the looks of it she likes him too!" Julie said. "And then there's Kate and AJ. Those two have been inseperable. If I see them going into my bedroom, I'm kicking them out!" Julie and Brian shared a laugh and then went to mingle with their guests.
AJ and Kate did not make a break for the bedroom, but by the end of the night she was sitting on his lap and Julie caught them sneaking kisses every once in awhile.
Nick and Rochelle had left to go on a long walk and they still weren't back. Julie hoped that they had worked out all their differences.
"Nick, I wanted to apologize for what I did the night at the hotel. I was going through some pretty heavy stuff and I wasn't being myself. Could we just pretend like it never happened and we just met tonight?" Rochelle asked as they sat on the curb in front of Julie's complex.
"I don't think that's possible." Nick said. Rochelle's face fell. "Because I fell for you even that night after all we did to each other!"
"And here I was afraid you'd hate me!"
"Nope. I kinda like it when a woman puts me in my place, as long as she doesn't do it too much!" he put his arms around her and hugged her. "But I'm glad that you're yourself again. If you need to talk about anything, you can just call me."
"Thanks Nick." They sat outside a few minutes longer before they
decided
to go
back inside to join the party before people got too suspicious.
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