This was such a dumb idea! I had hated high school the first time around. What on earth compelled me to go to this 15-year high school reunion?
I guess I just needed a diversion...anything to keep me from thinking about my recent divorce and all of the wasted years of my life. However, I already had a feeling that this event was only going to add to my depression. Already, I had been here a half hour and was bored out of my skull.
Oh, well...at least they had booze here.
Ordering a glass of champagne from the makeshift bar, I looked around at the mass of people in the gussied-up gymnasium, complete with tons of tables, chairs, balloons and a dance floor. I didn't know what I had expected, but it wasn't this. There were a lot of people there that I didn't recognize talking about a lot of people that I didn't know.
"Hello..."
My heart stopped when an extremely attractive man joined my side, also ordering a glass of champagne.
With dark tanned skin, black hair and deep brown eyes, this beautiful stranger could have been Rudolph Valentino, come to sweep me away to some Arabian desert and do naughty things to me. He was foreign-looking, perhaps Greek. He was wearing a dark blue suit which appeared rather expensive-looking and a gold chain around his neck. His build was strong and wiry-looking, well filled out.
Suddenly, I felt like I could have been back in high school all over again, a gawky teenager again, hopelessly drooling over the cutest guy in class.
When I had been walking to the school through the parking lot, I knew that I had looked good in my strapless teal green gown and silver strap heels. My dark chestnut hair was perfectly styled at the local salon, cascading down in artful curls. The dress which clung to me mercilessly showed off my body to its best advantage. I don't know why I went to so much trouble to try to impress my old classmates. I guess it was just my way of telling all of those people to go fuck themselves. It was my way of saying that I survived high school, despite all of the insults and bullying and inevitable teenage garbage.
Still, there was the little geek girl inside of me, unable to believe that this hot guy could seriously want to talk to me.
"I was hoping to see you here..." the stranger said with an easy smile. He had a beautiful deep voice with a British-sounding accent.
I looked around nervously, wondering if he was talking to someone else. Nope, I was the only one there.
"Do I know you?" I asked, looking for a name tag. He wasn't wearing one.
"Dimitri..." he answered. "Dimitri Monaco."
I shook my head.
"I'm sorry," I confessed. "Um, what class were you in?"
"We were in biology together," he said. "You sat in front of me. We didn't know each other very long, I'm afraid. But you saved my life a few times. More than once, I copied the answers from your tests."
I covered my mouth with my hand, old memories taking over.
"Oh, my god!" I exclaimed. "I remember you now!"
"You do?" he asked, seeming pleased.
"Yes. How could I forget you? With an accent like that!"
Indeed, Dimitri was of Greek descent, but had been raised in England. He had seemed very exotic to me, just a boring kid from Texas.
"You had been very nice to me at a time that had been...very trying for me..." he said mysteriously.
"Glad I could help," I smiled, not sure what he was talking about. I didn't recall being all that nice to him in school. "And didn't you also go to the same college too?"
"Yes!" he nodded with a smile, pleased that I had remembered. "We'd see each other on campus every once in a while. Two ships in the night...scurrying past each other on the way to classes."
"That's right," I nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. You look so different now."
"For the better, I hope?"
I just shrugged nervously.
In short, the answer was 'hell, yeah!' The boy I remembered had been somewhat gawky and shy, still handsome but very withdrawn. He didn't talk much and nobody ever talked to him. Sometimes, I would turn around and chat with him from time to time. But he was always so shy that a conversation would ultimately be too much hard work. He seemed much more mature and confident now.
"Weren't you a senior?" I asked. "This isn't exactly your class, is it?"
"I'm here as a guest of another one of your classmates. She's around here somewhere, I suppose."
"Oh..."
I tried hard to hide my disappointment. Of course, he was dating someone. All of the good ones were always taken. What else was new?
Trying not to look as sullen as I felt, I took a sip of my champagne.
Why did I care anyway? The last thing I needed was another man in my life. I just escaped from the last suffocating relationship with a nasty divorce. Why was I so anxious to get in another mess?
"They Can Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS started to play on the loud speakers. Apparently, the high school reunion committee must have thought it would be cute to play a lot of old retro 80s songs, just to bring back more of those wonderful teenage days of yore. Most of the time, I preferred 80s songs much more than to the current junk of today. But at this party, all of these oldies just made me feel...old.
"I haven't heard this song in ages..." I said, straining to make conversation.
"Neither have I," he admitted. "I always liked it though. Would you like to dance?"
Looking longingly at the couples on the dance floor, I didn't dare say yes. This man was entirely too attractive, dangerously so. And I was never one to window shop for clothes that I couldn't afford. I had the same problem with unattainable men.
"Wouldn't your date object?" I asked.
"Since she's a lesbian, I wouldn't think so," he smiled. "She's just a friend."
"Oh..."
Suddenly, my mood lifted. And the dance floor was aglow with color and light. The gymnasium was now no longer dull but a glittering ballroom in one of the hottest nightclubs in Dallas!
"OK, sure." I nodded with a smile. "Let's dance..."
The song was a slow one, all the better to get close to this delicious piece of eye candy.
Immediately, I loved the way we fit together so perfectly. He was a little bit taller than I was, but I liked that. And even though he held me respectfully at arms' length, I was impressed with the feel of his muscular build underneath his jacket. His cologne was intoxicating. If only I knew him better, I would rest my head on his shoulders and close my eyes, swaying with the music...
"Weren't you seeing some guy on a motorbike in school?" Dimitri asked.
"Oh, yeah," I moaned, remembering Peter. "The rebel without a clue. He turned out to be a real winner...."
Peter had not been much of a boyfriend. All he had really done was take my virginity...and hadn't been all that spectacular with that either. At first, I thought he was so sexy with his beard and his earring, riding all over town wildly on his motorcycle. There was a look in his brown eyes that promised excitement and danger. But once we got to know each other, I realized that mischievous spark was simply immaturity. And his rebellious nature really just masked an annoyingly bad temperament. And his wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am method of fucking had turned me off of sex for several years after that.
"I thought he was my type," I chuckled. "But he wasn't."
"And you were so crazy about him in school. You used to talk about him all of the time..."
"I did?" I laughed. "Sorry, I must have bored you to tears."
"I was quite envious of him actually."
The confession made me horribly nervous all of a sudden. I had no idea that Dimitri Monaco had liked me in high school. How could I possibly know that when he would barely say two words to me?
"Well, how about you?" I asked. "Any long lost high school romance?"
"Only the girl that got away," he answered, looking at me with sultry invitation in his eyes. "You."
"I'll bet you say that to all your old high school girlfriends..." I flirted, trying to make light of the situation.
