Once Chris had finished his shower, I decided not to put everyone through the misery of smelling me, and take a shower myself.
The warm water felt refreshing against my body, and I stood motionless under the shower head for almost fifteen minutes before soaping up and washing my hair.
When I finally got out of the shower and dressed, I found Chris sitting on the couch, starring at something he was holding in his hand.
"Hey," I said softly, walking toward him.
He looked up quickly at the sound of my voice. His eyes were red and his face was tear stained.
"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down.
"Nothing." he replied, wiping his face.
"Nothing? Then why are you-"
Chris held up his hand, showing me what he had been looking at.
It was an old photograph taken at least a year ago, when they were here last.
We were all piled around a convertible Joey had rented for he weekend.
JC, Chris, and I were sitting on the back, me in the middle, my arms wrapped around each of their shoulders, all three of us grinning from ear-to-ear. We'd been laughing. Joey and his girlfriend at the time, Amy, were leaning against the car in front of us, Justin and Katie were standing off to the left side, Justin's arms wrapped around Katie's waist, his chin resting on top of her head, Lance and Brittny on the other side. Right before the picture had been taken by Heather, JC's sister, Lance had run up behind Brittny and scooped her up into his arms, so she was screaming and laughing at the time.
We had all looked so happy and. .. alive.
I didn't know what to say. The past two days I had been the one upset and crying. Now the tables were turned.
"Chris," I murmured softly. Chris hunched over next to me, and I felt his body rack with a sob.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and pulled his body close to mine. "Shh." I said softly, rubbing his back.
After a moment Chris pulled away, immediately wiped his face, and sniffled.
"We should go." he said, his voice hoarse. "We don't want to be late."