Afterthoughts~Naming Names
Written by Isa

Set after "Naming Names"

 Julia set her alarm clock for six am & set it on the nighttable by her bed. It was already eleven-thirty, if she went to sleep right now she might get a reasonable amount of rest. She didn't see how she could sleep though. She was still weak from Ned's kisses, and confused by what they meant.

First of all.....she's still married!

"It's not like we're legally seperated," she told herself. "Just, right now, I live here, he lives there." she threw her head down on the pillow. "He lives at my house." She grabbed the pillow and burried her head in it, hoping to suffocate her mixed up feelings. All it did was make her hair stick to her forehead. She pushed it away & sat up, disgruntled. It was then that she noticed that Maggie was gone and a note lie on her bed in the midst of the tangled sheets.

"Julia, went to find Ned, don't wait up."

She tossed the note in the trash. "Wonderful." she wondered when Maggie had left. She could have seen them kissing! That would have been a nice addition to all the problems in her life right now.

She opened a drawer & pulled out the Polaroid the Justice of the Peace took at her & Griffin's first wedding. They were both beaming, he with a silly grin on his face, her wearing a look of sheer happiness. She held the photo to her chest and let a tear stream down her cheek. As stupid as it was, she almost felt she'd been cheating on him.

"I've got to get it together," she sat up, tossed the photo back into the drawer and wiped the tears from her eyes. She stood up and began pacing, talking to herself, trying to figure out why she could kiss Ned, but she couldn't kiss Josh.

"Don't I like Josh? I certainly don't mind being around him, but I can't...when he gets close I just freak out, and with Ned, it was like human nature, it's the craziest thing."

She paced for awhile longer and then resorted to channel surfing. When all else fails, watch late night tv. Maggie's TV was wired (illegally she assumed) by Ned with cable, so she settled on some old tear jerker on AMC.

"Better to cry at someone else's problems then my own."

When the movie was just about over, around one am, someone knocked on her door. She jumped and turned the TV off. "Who is it?"

"Me."

"Charlie??"

"Yeah, can I come in?"

She unlocked the door and let him in. "No, you can't, what are you doing here?"

He hugged her and came in. "I just kind of need to talk, and it's not the kind of stuff you can say on the phone."

"Is something wrong with Daphne? The baby?"

"No, she's fine. Daphne too?"

"Charlie..."

"It's a girl, I'm having a little girl."

Julia threw her arms around him. "Charlie, that's great!"

"A little girl I'm naming Diana."

Her smile faded just a bit. "Oh. That's good. Mom would like that."

"Something wrong?"

"No," she sat on the bed. "Yes. I guess I always thought, if Griffin and I had a little girl....."

"You can still do that you know," Charlie sat next to her, wondering why she was thinking such things when they were supposed to be separated and seeing other people. "I mean, she wouldn't be Diana Salinger, she'd be Diana Holbrook."

"Good point." She sniffled in the remainder of her tears. "So how's Daphne with all this?"

"Okay, I guess. She went into premature labor tonight, but it was nothing."

"If she went into labor, why are you here?"

"The contractions stopped, they wanted her to stay overnight just to keep watch, she said to go home and get some sleep."

"So instead you drove through the rain for a few hours to come see me."

He laughed. "I listen real well to directions, huh?"

She laughed too. "You always have."

"Jule?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you, you know, with Griffin living in the shed and all?"

She stood up and began fidgiting with things on the desk. "I'm fine with it. I mean, why wouldn't I be?"

"You're not fine. What's up?"

"You wanna hear the whole bit?"

"Yes, spill."

"Okay, there are two guys here at school. Josh, who is sweet and sensitive and he writes, and then there's Ned, and Ned is.....I kissed Ned tonight."

"And?"

"That's the problem Charlie! I don't know! I mean, I like Josh, but whenever we get close I freeze, and I like Ned, but I'm not sure if I like him because I like him or if I like him because he's not Griffin. And when I try to picture Griffin with another girl--"

"Excuse me?"

"He told me he was seeing someone else."

"I don't think he is Jule."

"What?"

"I prolly shouldn't be butting in where I don't belong, but from what I heard, he seems pretty miserable and alone."

She was becoming more and more confused. "I think I need a drink."

"You're not old enough."

She rolled her eyes. "Too bad I don't still have that fake ID."

"This is college, there's nothing in your mini-fridge?"

She shook her head. "Maggie cleaned it out last night."

"Jule?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not thinking you're going to stop seeing people here on campus because of Griffin are you?"

"Charlie, we're married!"

"That didn't stop him. Before, I mean."

"I know, but I can't be like that, not when I still love him." She pulled a long chain out from under her blouse. Her mother's wedding ring was on the end of it. "I still wear it, every day. Sometimes I wear it backwards on my right hand, and sometimes I wear it here, I just can't be without it, you know?"

He nodded. "I still don't get why you guys seperated in the first place if you want each other so bad."

"I really don't either. I mean, when I got accepted here, he just kind of decided it and that was that."

"Why didn't he move here with you?"

"I guess he was trying to let me be, or something." she sat down again, more frustrated than when she started. "I guess he should have been selfish."
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