Back to December

Blake paced the edge of the crowd, unwilling to start a conversation. He wasn't even sure why he was here. Most of these people were her friends so consequently they hated him, the other man.

Jarred went to shake his head and his eyes landed on Anna. "Ya, actually. Just did." He grumbled and he felt his heart sink. Hopefully she wouldn't notice him and they'd avoid another heated conversation.

Kale was chuggin his water, tugging at his open collar and gave a small shake of the head. "No, but if she comes, she'll be exactly on time. She always is."

Tara caught sight of Adrian and had to use someone for support to keep from falling over. So much for her one in a million huh? She gulped and did her best to turn back to the conversation, doing a terrible job at getting back into the "grove."

Cassidy smiled, talking to a group of friends, but her eyes were far away. Instead they stayed on Blake... The one she had cheated on Austin for. She hated that word though. Cheating. You could only cheat on a test or a game, and love was neither. She sighed and tried to stay focused in the conversation.

Adrian chuckled. "Well, just don't meet her in the middle of the room," he advised Jarred. He glanced back at Kale and laughed a bit more. "And just between us, I think she just walked in," he said under his breath. He couldn't keep his ees from straying back to Tara every once in a while, though.

Blake saw her and hesitated. Unsure if intruding on Cassidy's conversation with her friend would be welcome. He shoke his head, probably not. Instead he headed over to the table to grab a drink.

Kale's face paled slightly as he saw Merideth walk in. "If she starts throwing things again, I'm hiding behind you guys." He said as he tugged at his collar.

Jarred chuckled and shook his head. "Ya, that would most likely be a bad thing seeing as how our conversations tend to...grow in volume lately."

Tara glanced over to see Adrian staring at her, her eyes locked with his and she couldn't pull away. She felt the tears start to come though. Those wreched tears that had been haunting her for weeks.

(I forgot about Austin!!)

Austin was chatting up some girls, actually the same group that Anna was in.

Anna didn't flirt with him, though, her eyes strayed away and landed on Jarred. Her jaw dropped. She wasn't one to pretend like she didn't see him...since they hadn't ended on a /completely/ bad note she decided to walk over. They were still friends...right? She pasted on a big smile. "Jarred! OH my gosh, I didn't know you were coming back for break."

Meredith had come with one of her best friends and that was it. She noticed some guy that looked like -- NO. That wasn't...Kale. She stared at him a moment too long, basically locking eyes with him. Shoot. Eye contact. She looked away.

Adrian knew it was too late to just ignore her, so instead her started over, taking several deep breaths and keeping his eyes down. "Hey Tara," he said quietly. They tears in her eyes made her look younger, more vulnerable. He bit his lip slightly.

Cassidy slipepd away from her friends and appeared in front of Blake. She pushed hair out of her eyes and looked up at him, smoothing her dress. "Hey," she said, but the words sounded weak, unsure.

Kale quickly looked away, images of flower vases flying towards him filling his head. He cringed slightly and shook his head in an attempt to shake the thought and began to wish there was something slightly stronger than water there. Perhaps some nice sprakling cider or something.

Jarred tensed slightly and gave a small smile. "Uh, hi..Ann." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Ya, I promised to be home for Christmas." This was slightly...awkward.

"Oh, uh hi, Adrian." Tara said and swallowed, trying to blink the tears back and started to fiddle with her dress again. Oh Gaia, what was she going to do? Why was he here? Why! "H-how have you been?"

"How's Australia?" Anna asked, keeping the bite from her voice. She kept her smiled fixated, but was starting to feel low already. Maybe she shouldn't have come over here.

"I've been okay," Adrian said, shrugging. "What about you?" He asked. He really, really hoped that she was doing well and he also hoped that he hadn't caused the tears that were in her eyes right now. He'd feel like an ass, even though he didn't do anything wrong.

Blake smiled, "Hey Cassidy." He offered her the drink he'd just poured. "Here, I can get me another."

Tara nodded and sniffled a little. "I've been...I've been alright. J-just got done with finals." She forced a small smile. Just got done with finals, and two failed relationships, not to mention her mother kicked her out of the house again and her and her father weren't talking. Ya, everything was PERFECTLY fine.

Jarred shrugged. "Hot, really hot. But fun. Go wake boarding and surfing alot. The schools are really strict though." He felt his tension lighten slightly, falling back into a more reserved version of their friendship.

"I'm sure you love it, though. You used to talk about Australia all the time, so you got what you wanted, right?" Anna said, trying to talk normally but it was hard.

Celia was talking at the edge of the crowd. Seemed perhaps he wasn't here. At least, she hadn't seen him yet....

Jarred gave a small nod and rubbed the back of his head. "Ya, love it. Miss everyone something aweful though...did I tell you I made it on the soccer team down there?"

Adrian put on a tight smile. "What's wrong?" He asked, genuine worry coloring his voice. Since last year, right after the break up, all of his emotions had been contained... Or fake. Feeling something now was odd, unfamiliar to him.

"Thanks," Cassidy said, examining the drink before taking a sip. "So... How've you been?" She asked with a slight smile. She didn't feel nearly as awkward with Blake as she did with Austin, but that was probably because Austin had been the hardest breakup she had ever dealt with.

"That's great," Anna said, with a genuine smile. And he missed everyone? She figured she could exclude herself from that count.

Jarred nodded. "I'm excited. Maybe I'll get recruited to the All Blacks." He said, his eyes lighting up at the thought. The New Zeland All Blacks was his favorite team in 'football', aka soccer. He'd been keeping tabs on them ever since he could remember.

Tara gulped and shook her head. "Nothing, nothing's wrong." She looked down at her hands and pulled gently at her fingers, taking deep, hopefully unnoticeable, breaths to keep the tears from coming. "Just family stuff. You know how it goes."

Blake grinned, "Mom is almost able to cut down to one job. The same with Dad. The last Guy I painted for liked the picture so much he paid me fifteen hundred for it, the man was rich. Hows things been with you?"

"Then you'd live in New Zealand, just as far away from all those people that miss you," Anna said. She often guilt-tripped him without meaning to.

Jarred's face fell and he shut himself off emotionally. Of course. She always had to do that. Always. It was like her personal goal to crush his dreams or something. He wasn't sure how to respond to that, well he was..but he was sure it probably wouldn't be nice. He'd be good and wait till they were outside before having a heated conversation with her.

Anna sighed when she saw his face fall. "I think we should talk," She lowered her voice for that, and nodded towards the front porch.

Jarred watched her, but complied and gave a small nod and followed her to the porch. "About what?" He asked once they were finally outside.

Anna's brow furrowed. "I don't know, it just seems like we need to. You got that disappointed look on your face...."

Meredith was extremely thirsty. Yet Kale just had to be near the drinks. She grabbed the friend she'd came with and walked cautiously to the drink table, pretending not to notice Kale. Or trying to do that, anyway.