Over the course of a few weeks, Jackson and I have made ground rules for ourselves and our house.  Two rooms were separated between Jackson and me to have an office which left two other rooms in the house.  We decided that we would just share the master bedroom so when Jackson has his friends over, they could pass out in the guest bedroom.  His friends were over all the time!  It was like they were in love with each other.  I felt lucky when they started inviting me to drink with them in Jackson’s office.  Almost all people say that you gain family when you get married; I on the other hand gained a new group of friends.  I soon understood why Jackson valued his friends so much, they were like brothers to one another like Key was to me.  One day, we were finishing watching a baseball game in the living room when we all spotted JR slowly drifting off.

“Is he okay?”  I asked Mark who was sitting next to me.

“Yeah, he’s just a lightweight” Mark shrugged off.

“We’ll just bring him to the guest room before we go to bed” Jackson said.

An hour after that, Jaebum stood up and offered everyone a ride home since he was the only sober one.  JR had driven his car over to our house so that’s why he had to stay behind and wait until the morning, plus he was passed out.  After the guys left Jackson and I were left with the task of carrying JR’s body to the guest bedroom.  The whole thing was ten times harder considering Jackson and I had drunk quite a bit.

“How can such a tiny body be so heavy?”  I asked while struggling to hold up JR’s shoulders.

“It’s all that singing power he’s got” Jackson joked.

“I know his singing is so good, I heard him singing along to songs when we were dancing at our wedding.”

“You danced with him at OUR wedding?”  Jackson questioned while dropping the lower part of JR’s body on the ground.

I tried to continue and carrying JR all by myself while Jackson stood there and glared at me.  “I danced with all your friends at the wedding, we be like this…”  I let go of JR to show off my booty poppin dance moves.  While Jackson was dying from laughter from my dancing, JR groaned from his sudden placement on the ground.  Jackson and I both snapped out of our drunken moment to proceed in carrying JR.  Jackson tucked him in while I turned off the lights.  As shutting the door we both whispered, “Goodnight sweet prince” before making our way to the kitchen.  I grabbed a little personal tub of ice cream and some French fries we had left over and headed upstairs.  Even though I was tired, I still tried to stay awake to watch whatever Jackson had on.  We both sat up in our bed and ate the ice cream, passing off the spoon to one another after each bite.  This was a weekly occurrence and it never once occurred to me that Jackson and I had become ridiculously close in the amount of time we had been together.  Most couples spend years with each other before ever reaching this level of embarrassing laziness together.  That’s the great thing about Jackson and I though, we weren’t in a relationship, we were simply friends so there was no pressure of feeling embarrassed.  We finally laid down to fall asleep when I heard Jackson talking me out of my slumber.

“Can we make another rule for our… whatever this is?”  Jackson asked.  When he saw me nod, he proceeded with his idea, “let’s promise to not ever lie to each other okay?”

“Sure, but why do you feel the need to say that now… when I’m trying to sleep…” I replied.

“We have to trust each other that’s why” Jackson simply said.

If I wasn’t so tired I would have thought more about what he was saying, but all I could conjure up was, “friends and trust go hand in hand Jackson, so I already trust you.”

Jackson laughed, “Just friends?  Effie!”  He shook me, "I've seen your underwear, you've seen mine.  We're pretty much BEST friends right now."  Jackson explained.

"I guess that makes sense.  I mean you are the only one who doesn't judge me when I want to go for a donut run at midnight..."  I said.

"Only because I see nothing wrong with late night donuts."  Jackson reasoned.

I couldn't help but feel completely content with my life as is.  If this is what marriage is like, then I'm totally cool with it.

          At around seven in the morning I heard rustling downstairs.  I went to the kitchen to see JR stuffing his face with toast.  When he saw me he smiled and waved me over to sit down next to him.  “I’m glad that you feel totally comfortable to eat all our food…” I said sarcastically.

“Sorry, I just woke up feeling super hungry.  I also feel like I fell down the stairs or something, but that’s probably just the hang over.”  JR explained.  I tried to hide my laughter as I remember how Jackson and I dropped JR while carrying him to the guest room.  JR continued to talk casually to me, “I’m glad to see that everything has worked out for you and Jackson after everything.  Jackson seems better now.”

I gave him a confused look, “better now… after what?”

“Well you know, being previously engaged and then that falling apart and then being set up with you.  But you are so cool to treat him just like a bud even when knowing that he hated the idea of this marriage.  We all thought that you were for sure going to deny him.”  JR spoke as if everything he was saying to me was something I already had known, so I nodded along.

I noticed JR was staring at me waiting for my reply so I quickly snapped out of my train of thoughts before stuttering out, “yeah you know me, I’m always cool.”  JR patted me on the back before putting his plate in the washing machine and heading out the door.

          I stayed in the kitchen just staring off while thinking about everything JR had spilled to me.  Jackson was previously engaged?  This was all news to me.  He hated the idea of this marriage?  I wasn’t too fond of it either, but I never hated it.  Just a few hours ago he was telling me how we should trust each other and all this but now I felt like I didn’t even really know him.  Jackson came downstairs to see me staring at the kitchen walls.

“You okay?  Did JR leave?  I heard the door.”  He started saying.

I was so startled that when I finally saw him, I avoided eye contact.  “I have to go to Key’s office… he needs help arranging flowers…” I quickly said.

Jackson saw me head up the stairs to go change.  “He needs you this early in the morning?  Usually you’d be asleep still” Jackson yelled up the staircase.

I came down quickly having the urgency of needing to get out to think.  “Yup, so I have to go… now…bye” I said before quickly shutting the door behind me.  Jackson was right; Key would have never called me this early.  How could he know me so well when I don’t know anything about him?  When I arrived I saw Taemin who’s a friend of mine and also Key’s assistant.

“Hey you, what are you doing here?”  Taemin said while pulling me in for a hug.  Hugging someone felt so comforting right now and I didn’t want to let go of him.  “Are you alright, Effie?”  Taemin questioned me with a concerned look on his face.

I heard the shuffling of papers before two big doors swung open, “Where’s Effie and why wouldn’t she be alright?”  Key ran towards Taemin and me and pulled me from Taemin’s arms so he could hug me.  “What’s wrong, why are you up so early?  Why are you so clammy?  Are you sick?  Do you want me to take you to the hospital?  Did you…”

I cut off Key so I could end his worrying, “I’m fine!”

Key examined my face, “are you sure?  You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

I told Key and Taemin everything that had happened from the point where Jackson and I had our trust talk to when JR left the house.  For once, Key didn’t have anything to say.  I guess we all weren’t expecting this.  Finally Key opened up is mouth, “Taemin, cancel all my appointments for today.  I need to spend time with my sissy.”