by Lauren Wood
“Do you really want to go?”
Mariss nodded her head and clasped her hands together like she was begging. I made a sound of aggravation and she took it as it was my way of giving in. It really was and it was then that I realized again that Mariss knew me too damn well.
“Yes and you do too, even if you don’t know it yet. It’s going to be fun and we could both use a night out. I mean, when was the last time that we went out instead of staying in and grading papers?”
She had a point and I agreed finally. Mariss had been hinting at going for days, but now was the night and she’d been on me about it since school let out and we drove back to the house that we shared. It was my turn to drive and though we were late this morning, I should have known that there was a reason that Mariss wasn’t upset about it. I should have known that it was going to be leverage for later.
“Fine Mariss, we will go. But I think you’re expecting far more than you’re going to get. You were about the only thing I wanted to take with me out of high school. Everyone else I could give or take. I don’t know why it would change ten years later.”
“It’s a nostalgia thing I guess. I don’t know why, but I want to go. I guess I am just interested how everyone turned out. I know that it’s weird and we’ll never see them again after tonight, but I think it would be nice.”
“No more reason to explain it. I’ve already agreed. I will go get dressed. Give me five minutes.”
“Take ten and put something cute on. A little war paint wouldn’t hurt”
I didn’t comment back to her because we were in perpetual argument about clothes. She liked to wear clothes that were not very elusive to what they hid beneath them and I preferred not to dress like that. I was twenty eight years old and so was Mariss. She needed to remember that sometimes. The dress she was wearing now was too short and tight, but I wasn’t going to be the one to rain on her parade. She knew what it looked like and didn’t care. Mariss was thin and beautiful and still figured that she could wear whatever she wanted. Since everything looked good on her, I was of that ilk to think that as well.
But I was a different issue altogether and I had filled out in the last ten years. My tits got bigger, hips got wider and the dresses in those stores at the mall didn’t fit right anymore.
I sighed at the closet as I looked at all of the things that were hung up. I was in the back of it, way in the back with things that I hadn’t seen in years. There was this one little red dress that I’d bought as a fluke and now I finally had a place to wear it. If I did by chance run into Mack, I wanted to be wearing something pretty and sexy like this. Why else would I go to this thing? I wasn’t thinking about him, but just in case.
Chapter 2
Danielle
“Is this too much? I feel like this is too much.”
I felt strange to look like this. I was an elementary teacher for goodness sakes and I felt like a painted whore. It was the only term that I could think of when I looked in the mirror. Mariss had done my makeup and she was exclaiming how good I looked but I didn’t see it and I certainly didn’t feel it. She’d even put fake eye lashes on me, something I’d never worn before and it was all too much. The weight of the eyelashes was making it hard to see and it was becoming clear that this wasn’t going to work.
“No, it’s perfect Danielle. You have to chill out Danny. You never wear makeup, but it looks good.”
I looked back at the reflection in the mirror. The makeup made my hair look blonder if that was possible and there was a part of me that did like it. I didn’t look like myself and I guess that’s what I was going for. I didn’t want to look like the schoolmarm. Not if I ran into Mack. I wanted him to remember me as the sexy woman that I was. I didn’t want to get back with him, but if he was attracted to me after all of this time, I would take it as an ego boost and spend the next ten years with less on my shoulders. If his wife was uglier than me, well that wouldn’t be so bad either.
“Are you sure? I feel like, I don’t know.”
“It’s fine. I mean this isn’t a look that you’d wear to work, but for tonight it’s perfect. I don’t know why you don’t dress up more. You’re hot and you should flaunt it. Hell, I know that I would if I looked like you.”
I ignored her comments and took one last look in the mirror before I walked away. I didn’t want to think about it and it was going to have to do because it was time to go or we were going to be late. Since she was such a stickler for that and had been looking at the clock several times in the last few minutes, I figured it was time to go. It was as good as it was going to get apparently.
“Let’s get out of here then and see what this night is going to be like.”
She told me to stop being so pessimistic and I told her that I was going to try. All of this talk of Mack had him in the forefront of my mind and I knew that he was pretty much the only one that I really wanted to see. It would nice to catch up with everyone and to get to know the new people and how they turned out, but at the end of the day it was Mack that I wondered about. No one else really got into the equation, but he had always been different.
Mariss was driving and I was glad for that because my mind went to scenes from the past. Mack had been my first in so many ways. He was my first in bed, first in love, first to break my heart. Or I broke his heart. However it could be seen, my heart broke in the process as well, but we were two very different people. I wanted to go to college and he wanted to hang around and see what happened. It wasn’t a good enough plan for me. I knew that I wanted to be in education and a degree was needed to do so. I could have gone to school closer, but for some reason, I chose to get out of the area.
Maybe I wanted him to tell me to stay, offer to go with, but that wasn’t how it had happened. Instead I left and I had never seen him again or heard much of anything about him. My curiosity was up. It wouldn’t have taken Mariss too much to have convinced me to go. Secretly my curiosity was way up and I just wanted to know.
“What are you thinking about Danny? You’re so quiet.”
“I’m just thinking about high school and how I thought it was never going to end. It was really long and exhausting. All of the clicks and mean girls to deal with was a lot back then. I don’t know. I’m just feeling weird.”
“You’re not thinking about any guys in particular? You know, six foot three, strong build, dark blue eyes and blonde hair that looks about like the color of the sun?”
I laughed at her question and I knew that she was talking about Mack. It also reminded me that she’d had a crush on him all that time ago. We’d gotten into a fight and didn’t talk for a month over him and I knew that I was still just as opposed to the two of them going out. I cut her a look and she tried to look innocent.
“What, you have to admit he did have great hair.”
I knew that he did because I used to run my hand through it all the time. It was silky smooth and he had kept it so shiny that it almost glowed in some lights. It was a distinguished part of him and I did remember it well.
“Yeah he did have great hair and great abs. There is a lot that I miss about him; I’m not going to lie. But I don’t even think he will be there and if he was, I don’t even know what it is that I would say to him. What would you say to him?”
“If it was me Danny, you know that I wouldn’t say much of anything.”
I rolled my eyes, but it was about the answer that I would have expected from her. She was always into the physical side of a relationship and I swear that she was more like a stereotypical guy than most guys. I was different, but when it came to thoughts of my time with Mack, it was where my mind went as well.
“You can’t just go up to a guy after ten years and bang him.”
She laughed at my choice of words. “I don’t think I’ve heard that expression in years. God, see, we are already feeling like we did back in the day.”
I just sighed and tried not to think about it all that much. I was getting nervous and talking about it wasn’
t helping. It usually did. We would make light out of a problem and it wouldn’t seem like such a problem.
“What if he is there and married to some hot model, rich and I threw it all away. The best sex of my life and it was all for a crappy forty thousand a year job teaching kids that don’t really want to learn?”
She got serious for a moment and I was happy that Mariss wasn’t going to make light of this. I was freaking out inside.
“It’s going to be fine Danny. If he is there, big if, he will see that he was a fool for letting you go off to college and not following you. That’s what he’ll learn and nothing more. I hope that he’s miserable and got fat.”
“Don’t wish that.”
She told me that I knew that’s what I wanted, but it wasn’t. When I thought of Mack, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Not in the least bit.
Chapter 3
Mack
“Denise, I don’t have all night. I told you that I wanted to get going, so come on or I am leaving you here.”
“I will just be another minute.”
“That’s what you said last time. Get your ass out here or I’m leaving without you.”
She huffed and I saw her head pop out of the bathroom. “I’m not finished yet.”
“You look good enough. Who are you trying to impress?”
“No one. I just want to look good for you.”
“You do. Let’s go.”
She made a few frumping sounds and I had a feeling that she was going to be pouting on the way over. I was rethinking taking her to begin with. Maybe I should have just gone solo. I hadn’t because I wanted to come with a certain look about me. That meant that I had to have a hot woman on my arm and Denise was free. She was one of many, but she was also one of the hotter ones that did like to flaunt it. The flaunting I didn’t mind because it would just make me look better.
Back in school I was a troublemaker and some would most likely say I was still one. I didn’t care, mind you, but it would be good to show up and let every asshole in there know that I had made it. High school hadn’t been my favorite time, but there were parts of it that I remembered fondly. There were a few people that I remembered even fonder and I was looking forward to finding out how they were. There was one in particular I wanted to see and I hoped she made it there.
“I’m leaving, screw this shit. You can only put so much damn paint on before become a damn Picasso.”
Denise got out of the bathroom and gave me a dirty look. I was going to have to do something to make her feel a little better in the car. I didn’t want her going in with that scowl on her face. That sort of expression didn’t exude what I wanted it to.
“You going to pout all night?”
“Maybe.”
We got in the car and I told the driver where we were going. He took the address and put it into his GPS before taking off towards the destination. We had a little bit of a trip and since she was being this way, I knew I was going to have to take care of her to get her in a better mood.
“Come here Denise.”
Her eyes went to mind and there wasn’t just the look of anger that she’d had before. There was something else in her eyes now and I could have sworn that it was desire. It was like a light switch and I smiled back at her. I would have that beautiful smile back on her face soon enough. I always did.
***
The driver pulled up at the front of my old high school and I had a moment of nostalgia that came over me. It had been a while since I’d been back here and I now saw it in a different light. It had been the center of my universe so long ago, but things had changed and so had my world. My world had gotten a lot bigger and now I wondered how I had been contained for so long here.
“So this is where you went to school, huh?”
I didn’t answer her question because it didn’t need an answer. Denise was good for many things, but conversation was not really one of them. I didn’t want to have to mingle with her all night. She was really just for getting in the door. I was going to have my eyes open for someone in particular and if Danny did happen to make it here, I was going to be talking to her and catching up. I wanted her to be hot and single, at least single enough for a little fun for old time’s sake.
We made it through the door and I smiled back at Denise. She was already getting plenty of looks and I was glad that I’d brought her. She was making me look good and I didn’t have to do anything at all.
“Name?”
It was Betty Johnson sitting down at the table with one of her little groupies from school. She didn’t even look up at me, but I didn’t mind. She hadn’t aged well and she had always been too good to talk to guys like me. She liked her men older and rich. Now that I was both, I wouldn’t have given her the time of day. I tried not to take the snub personally, but I wasn’t used to people not knowing who I was. I’d made a name for myself in certain circles.
“Mack Stevens.”
She looked up then from the deep timber of my voice and I saw the appreciative look that I got now. She wasn’t like most women though. Betty wasn’t worried about my hard arms and wide chest. No, she was checking out my watch and shoes. She wasn’t worried about physical attributes, but the contributions that I could make to her bottom line. She was a gold-digger in the very sense of the word and I could have seen her coming a mile away. I knew her type all too well.
“Wow, you look a lot different Mack. You clean up nice.”
Betty was referring to how I was in school. I certainly wouldn’t have been caught dead in a suit like this, but times changed and so had I.
“Well it’s been a long time. You haven’t changed a bit.”
She took it as a compliment and I didn’t say otherwise. It wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination. I was already wondering why I came here. I’d had that invitation for some time, but I knew if I came I was going to be here for only one thing. I wanted to see an old flame, maybe rekindle some of the charred pieces if it was still hot. I was going to see Danny. That’s it.
I took the name tag that was given out. Ten years had changed a lot of people that I saw and recognized when I scanned the room. But everyone was recognizable. I knew that when I saw Danny, I would know that it was her. It didn’t matter how much she had changed, I would know her. I could still see her smiling face perfectly in my mind and the thought made me scan the room again.
“Who are you looking for?”
I forgot about Denise for a few moments and then she was next to me, wrapping her arms around mine. She was holding on too tight and I had to shake her a little bit. “Why don’t you go get us a couple of drinks while I find somewhere to put our coats?”
Offering to take hers off, Denise forgot what had given her the feeling to ask in the first place and she was heading for the bar, while I was walking towards the back where I hoped there would be a coat room of some kind. I was regretting bringing Denise here already. She wasn’t going to be easy to get rid of when and if I had to. If things went how I wanted them to go, I was going to have to ditch her, which may or may not be a good thing.
I was carrying our two coats and instead of looking for a place to leave them, I was still searching for that golden blonde hair that I had never seen the same shade of again. Everything about Danny was one of a kind and I was deflating quickly when I didn’t see her right away. She was the real reason I was here. Rubbing a few people’s noses in my success was just a bonus.
I spied Denise from across the room and she wasn’t paying attention to me. She was talking to someone that was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t put a name to the face. I should have been bothered that she was flirting with someone else, but because of my own secret intentions, it would be kind of silly to be the same.
Finding the coat closet, I put ours up and then turned back towards the main room. It was then that I saw a flash of gold that I knew well and my heart skipped a beat while my cock got hard. She’d always had that spell over me and after all of this time, it was still the same.<
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Chapter 4
Danielle
I saw him when I turned around. I don’t know why I did, but save for a sudden feeling that I needed to. I was in a conversation with someone and there was something that told me to turn around. Mack was in the back of the room and he was there, standing alone in a suit that looked like he had changed far more than I had.
Our eyes locked for a moment before I pulled my own away. I couldn’t look at him for long when he looked at me as he had so long ago. It was hard to hold my composure. It had been too long for me to feel this way now. It wasn’t natural and for once I was at a loss of words.
I should have known that he would single me out. He always did and that was one of the reasons that I’d gotten together with him in the first place. He approached me and for once I was unable to say no to a guy. At the time I’d wanted to stay single and just worry about school. It didn’t come all that naturally to me and I had to put in a lot of work to get marks that were above passable.
Mack had changed all that with one dance at one party that Mariss had dragged me to. Back then we were best friends like now and once again she’d dragged me out and Mack was here. I felt the same way now as I did then and that bothered me immensely. It had been ten years. We couldn’t play this same game one more time.
As he approached I excused myself from an old friend from school and I turned to meet him face to face.
“Wow, you look great Danny.”
I missed my name on his lips and the way his eyes lit up when he looked down to me.
“As you do, though you know that. You never have been the humble type Mack.”
Mack smiled and there was a flutter in my chest. I wanted him badly, right now, so suddenly that it took my breath away. I wanted to tell him that I was still his, craved his touch, but I got a grip on myself and pulled back. I knew that I was going to feel something, but not this. I wasn’t a teenager in love anymore. I was a grown woman and someone needed to remind my body of that fact.
