Elijah, a trumpet player from Meg's high school days, lived in a one-story ranch with scruffy shrubs in the yard. A wooden fence separated the front yard from the back, and over the fence, Meg could see smoke and the tips of the bonfire flames.
She parked behind Alex and got out of her car, rubbing her palms on her jeans.
She'd been nervous to see Alex again, but that was because he was an ex. This was a different type of nervousness. Thinking of these people, she remembered what things had been like in high school- the bullying, the anxiety, the loneliness. She didn't miss it. And she knew that just like she would remember the penises boys drew on the back of chairs, the people who pulled up floor tiles in her English class, she knew they, too, would remember her for who she was and treat her accordingly.
"You all right?" Alex asked as he met Meg between their two cars and they walked towards the backyard.
"Fine," she said shortly.
He touched one hand to her back as he led her closer to the gate. "It'll be fun, you'll see," he promised.
As they walked through the gate and through the other side, Meg paused to take in the faces. Only a few glanced up as they entered, most engaged in conversation. She recognized faces from her youth, people she hadn't spoken to since she graduated. She realized she thought of them by their instrument, the trumpets, trombones, drummers.
A plastic table sat against the house with cups and sodas. Two coolers sat beside the table and Alex opened one as Meg looked around. There was a wooden porch with only room for a few chairs, all occupied. The rest of the party was scattered on the grass in mismatched chairs. There was no garden, just crabgrass and trees along the edge of the property, but it gave room for Elijah to have a large bonfire in the center of the yard. The flames were as tall as Meg, and she could feel the heat from the edge of the lawn.
"Drink?" Alex asked her, holding out a beer.
She took it and popped it open with a bottle opener on the table.
Elijah came to greet Alex.
"Hey man," Alex said. "Thanks for doing this. You remember Meg?"
Meg and Elijah nodded at each other. They knew each other in passing, but had never spoken much with each other.
"C'mon," Alex said, touching his hand to Meg's back again, as he led her into the midst of all the people. There were about thirty people there, and she recognized a flute player who had bullied her, a trombonist who she knew was studying to be a vet.
Alex led her to a small group of people sitting on the far side of the fire. "You remember Dean?" Alex asked her.
Dean looked up from his conversation with a very pretty girl Meg didn't recognize. He'd had long, shaggy hair in high school, but it was much shorter now. He didn't have the acne he'd had back then either.
"Hey Meg," Dean said.
"Hi," she said shyly.
"And this is Jasmine, his girlfriend," Alex said.
Alex offered an empty chair to Meg and she sat, trying to convince herself not to run far away. She knew it had been four years, that Dean was probably different, but she remembered him miming 69, the way he laughed as she fled to the far side of the band room.
Alex and Dean started talking about work, and Meg gathered that Dean was a mechanic now. Jasmine smiled shyly at Meg, and Meg realized that Jasmine must feel far more out of place than she did herself.
"So you were in band, too?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah, I played flute," Meg said.
"It's cool that your school had such a big band. I think the band at my school had six kids? Not many."
"Where did you grow up?" Meg asked. She sipped her beer as she looked at Jasmine. Jasmine was dark haired, with green eyes and perfect pink lips.
"New Hampshire," Jasmine said. "I came here for college and decided to stay - more job opportunities, you know? And then I met Dean a year ago, and he likes living close to home."
Meg glanced over at Alex and Dean. Back in high school, they couldn't have talked this long without a "that's what she said" joke, but they were talking about mundane things now, customers Dean had that day, how Alex's band was doing.
She talked to Jasmine about college and learned she had gone to school for education. She was an elementary school teacher now in Winchester.
Meg found Jasmine easy to talk to, and suddenly her beer was gone.
"I'll be right back," Meg said. "I want to grab a soda."
She moved to the table, pausing as she waited for a guy to open a beer. He turned then, and they both looked just as shocked to see the other.
"Hey," Mitch said. "Wow, it's been forever. What brings you around?"
"Alex invited me. How are you?"
"Really good. And you?"
"Good," she said.
Mitch was still as handsome as he'd been in high school, although he'd gained a little weight. He was tanned from the summer, golden hair falling in his sky blue eyes. Those eyes had turned her speechless in high school.
"So what are you up to these days?" he asked as she grabbed a can of Sprite from the cooler.
"I'm a web designer, right in Burlington actually. You?"
