been known by the majority of their friends as the three amigos. They had gone everywhere together, and done everything together, and when Cort measured up his friendships, Kevin and Jenna were the standard that was measured against.
Jenna stepped out of the car first and walked over to Cort giving him a huge hug. She looked perfect, as always, in her white parka and jeans with black boots crunching in the snow that was left on the ground. Her short brown hair framed her oval face, displaying her brown eyes perfectly. The wind was blowing her hair, tickling Cort on the neck and he didn’t even care. Even if everything else went wrong from this point on, at least they were together.
“So, who are we waiting for?” Kevin said, stepping out of the truck. He too had on a white parka, jeans and black boots. It was interesting, how a couple could be together for so long that they started to dress like each other unintentionally. A tiny pang of jealously twitched somewhere within Cort, something deep inside of him that he didn’t care to acknowledge. He wanted something like they shared, a companion for life that would become so close they probably wouldn’t realize they were dressing alike. Sure, it was a little obnoxious, but it was also one of the most obvious signs of a couple meant to be together.
“Annalise,” Jake responded as Cort put out his cigarette. His tone was one of half amusement and half annoyance. Cort didn’t know exactly how to respond to that because while it was true that he and Annalise hadn’t talked in awhile, and that her and Jake had never really gotten along, he couldn’t understand the emotion coming from Jake.
“No shit,” Jenna replied stepping back from Cort. “She agreed to come?”
Cort was starting to get irritated by both of them. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“I don’t know, maybe because you guys are broken up?” Jenna said playfully as she shoved his shoulder lightly. “I’m okay with though, I liked her and that means I won’t be the only girl.”
“You wouldn’t be the only girl anyway,” Jake piped. “He also brought Katy.”
Jenna and Kevin both looked at Cort in a sort of wonder and awe. There it was again, that kind of similar look you only saw in a couple who was truly meant to be together. “You brought your ex-girlfriend and your current fuck-buddy?”
Cort sighed and looked back to the car where Katy slept to make sure she hadn’t woken up to hear what he was about to say. “Her apartment burned down, what was I supposed to do - leave her behind?”
“Was this before or after you invited Annalise?” Jenna asked, leaning onto Kevin. Cort knew they weren’t judging him, they were just judging the situation, but it aggravated him. They had probably arrived to the same idea Cort had, that it was a bad idea.
“After. It’ll be fine,” he said dismissing their questions and effectively ending the conversation. “Annalise should be here soon, in fact, that’s probably her right now,” he stated pointing to a pair of lights that were heading down the off ramp. For the first time since the morning he felt a little pit of nerves bubble up in his stomach. Annalise was here. She was going to be standing next to him in the flesh for the first time in months. Suddenly, he didn’t know how he should act. Should he hug her? Should he shake her hand? Just say hi? He decided on just saying hello, besides Jenna was the huggy person in the group. She would probably jump at Annalise the minute she got out of the car.
The sporty car Annalise drove came to a halt behind Kevin’s car although she didn’t shut if off. The door opened, and she stepped out of the car walking towards them. The brightness of her headlights created a silhouette around her that made it impossible to actually see her face but accentuated a couple things that Cort pondered. First, she had lost