For background on this story, please see my story,
Accidental Sleepover -
theo
*****
I was standing in the middle of a crowd at the registration table for the Creative Design conference I was attending, when a woman's voice rang out above the din, calling my name.
"Jon! Jon!"
I looked around, but couldn't immediately locate the woman summoning me. Whoever it was, though, she didn't give up easily.
"Jon Nelson! Is that you?"
There she was. . . A dark-haired woman, who looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place how I'd have known her.
"It's me," she said, making her way next to me through the crowd, "Ellen."
"Ellen! My god, it's really you!"
Instantly, we wrapped each other in a warm embrace.
I hadn't seen Ellen in years. My god, she had been one of my closest friends back in my school days. We'd probably known each other from our grade school days, and in high school, we'd belonged to the same social group. Ellen, in particular, was probably my closest female friend in those days. We used to go for long drives out in the country, talking about deep questions, and 'solving the world's problems'. I felt like there was nothing I couldn't talk to her about.
But the biggest thing I remembered Ellen for was the delightful ruse she played on me when we were freshmen at different colleges, setting the two of us up to give each other our virginities. Ellen was the first woman I ever had sex with, and I was her first, as well. You never forget your first time, or the woman you did it with, and I found my mind wandering back to that wonderful first sexual experience.
"It's so good to see you, Jon," Ellen said, calling me back from my reverie. "What are you doing at a Creative Design conference?"
"I have an engineering consulting company," I explained, "and we often run into design 'blocks'. I'm looking for ways to 'think outside the box', and maybe find some solutions I hadn't thought of before."
"Well, this is the right place for you, then," she responded. "I've been coming here for years, and 'thinking outside the box' is what they do best."
"What about you, Ellen?" I asked. "What brings you here?"
"My husband and I run a home remodeling company. I do the interior design work, and I need to be creative. I always come away from this conference with fresh ideas."
She looked at the schedule sheet in my hand. "Which sessions are you signed up for?" Scanning my sheet, she looked disappointed. "We're not in any sessions together today, but it looks like we'll be in a couple of tomorrow's sessions together." Looking up at me, she said, "Maybe we could have dinner tonight - which hotel are you staying at?"
"The Essex. Just a couple blocks from here."
"I'm at the Essex, too!" she exclaimed. "Why don't we meet in the lobby, say 7 o'clock, and we can go from there?"
"Sounds good. Is your husband here?"
"No," she said, with a dismissive wave. "He takes care of the business and the nuts and bolts. I do all the creative stuff. And he hates crowds like this."
"Okay, then," I grinned. "It's a date! See you at 7!"
*****
At 7 o'clock, I took the elevator down to the lobby to wait for Ellen. A few minutes late, she jogged breathlessly through the main door to the street, still wearing the dress and heels she'd worn to the conference.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized. She hugged me, kissing my cheek. "I got into a long discussion with a couple of the presenters, and lost track of the time."
"No worries," I replied. "Where's a good place to eat?"
"Do you mind if we just go to the place here at the hotel? It's really pretty good, and I don't want to take the time to go up to my room and change."
"Sounds great to me" I agreed, with a wink. "I'm here to catch up with an old friend. Great food is only my second priority."
She smiled. "You're a dear." And we strolled back to the hotel restaurant.
We got seated, and both ordered gin-and-tonics.
"It's really great to see you, Ellen," I said. "The road can be a lonely place, so it's really nice to run into someone you know."
Ellen smiled. "It's good to see you, too, Jon. God, what's it been, twenty years?"
"Pretty close to that, I think." I looked across the table. Ellen looked great. She had seemed kind-of skinny in high school, but I had learned better in college, when we would get together for a weekend of sex every month or so. But here she was, a grown woman, with a husband, and probably kids. She had filled out nicely, and her mature self was confident and outgoing.
"You're married," I said.
"Fifteen years, last month."
"Kids?"
"Three of 'em - girl, boy, girl, twelve, nine and six." She reached into her purse and pulled out photos. I could see bits of her in all of them; the oldest girl was a dead ringer for her. One of the pictures had her husband in it - a big, husky guy who obviously was right at home swinging a hammer.
"Beautiful family," I smiled.
"Yes, they are," she agreed. "How about you? Are you married?"
"Uh-huh. About the same as you - next month is our fourteenth." I pulled out my wallet, and showed her pictures of my two boys. "Ten and seven."
"Sweet!" she said, smiling.