The last thing, the very last thing Gina wanted to be doing with her time was attending this blasted reunion. Yet here she was, feigning excitement and happiness at meeting people from primary school whom she’d last seen almost twenty years ago. God, she was old, with nothing to show for it but bone-deep fatigue and a bad knee. She was clearly going to be fun at this reunion.
Gina pasted a smile on her face and joined the rest as they hugged the new arrivals. Oh hell, she didn’t know at least 78% of the people present. Some of them had familiar-sounding names, but most could be fake plants or random gatecrashers and she’d never be the wiser. Her memory was yet another thing that had not survived the test of time, right next to hope and a zeal for life and living.
She needed a walk, that’s what she needed. Gina pulled her phone out and, under the guise of answering it, headed for the main entrance with a singularity of purpose. She took a deep breath once she was outside, taking in the fresh air. She sauntered along, with no destination in mind, just enjoying the leafy outdoors. Part of what ticked her off, she conceded, were little things like this. Like the fact that the grounds were green with huge canopied trees that kept it cool and there was not a single tree in her hot, dry neighbourhood. The unfairness of it all gnawed at her insides, choked her.
She was so jealous of people who got to just enjoy trees in their backyard on some random Saturday evening and so sad for people who didn’t. So angry about a system that made sure only a few people got to live like that.
She’d spent weeks talking herself into attending this event with the requisite energy levels. Clearly, it hadn’t worked. She’d even dressed up, hoping that would inject some life into her. Gina had on her favourite sundress, a short pineapple-yellow spaghetti-strap number that showed off her curves. She paired it with comfy, strappy sandals. It was one of those dresses she wore as rebellion. She’d grown up inundated with direct and indirect remarks about such looks not being appropriate for people of a certain size. Her size.
These acts of rebellion were usually enough to pump her up. Yet that hadn’t stopped her from glancing at the exit every few minutes. She wasn’t a quitter though, she just needed to psyche herself up a little more now that she was here. I mean, she was here, dammit. That was something.
They’d already had a late lunch and she could tell the energy was ramping up towards the alcohol bit of the hangout. She had mixed feelings about it. It would be great because alcohol loosened people’s tongues, so the drunks would talk and talk and talk, freeing her to just sit there and nod and laugh.
The problem was she wasn’t a fan of drunk men. They had a repulsive habit of just touching women and Lord knew she wasn’t in the frame of mind to deflect them with her usual calm. She had so much pent-up tension that anyone who so much as dared to invade her personal space was likely to be met with more aggression than they bargained for. She was getting worked up just thinking about the last time she’d been around drinking men.
********
She was muttering to herself, cussing men out when she realized she wasn’t alone. She turned to find Tommy, one of the few whose name was familiar. Evidently, just his name and nothing else, she realized as she combed through her mental archives. He was standing about a meter away from her, eyes on her.
“Hey,” Tommy said, an amused smile on his face like they were in on some kind of inside joke together.
“Hey,” Gina answered, smiling back with the awkwardness of the busted.
“Who pissed you off?” Tommy asked, voice light and playful.
“No one specific.” She answered.
“So, what, you ‘ve just become the angry-muttering-to-yourself type in the last twenty years?”
“Something like that, yeah. Are you one of those who became the happy-life-is-great types?”
He shook his head. “Uh-uh. I’m closer to angry-muttering than life-is-great.”
“Well, then. Here’s to us and all the other grumps.”
She thought she remembered him as this skinny kid. Most of the boys had been. He had really filled up in the intervening years. He was about her height, kinda stocky but in a cuddly way with a beard that looked like it had its own skincare regimen.
He shifted closer to her, and they stood staring at the sky and the trees surrounding the property. Occasional noise from their former classmates in the cabin behind them was all the noise piercing the night.
On one side were the cars they’d driven in. She’d gotten a ride from her best friend, Viv. If it wasn’t for said best friend, she would not have come.
“I’m really beat, so I’m going to get some chairs. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
She turned to go with him to get her own chair, but he stopped her with a raised hand. “It’s alright, I got you.”
Tommy disappeared, and Gina spent that time wondering if they were too far from the cabin for her to get help if he tried something. She turned to face the cabin and caught Viv’s eye. Tommy appeared, carrying four chairs. She let him untangle them as she waved and her best friend waved back. Good. At least one person knew where she was, who she was with, and if she was close enough to see and be seen, she was close enough.
They each sat on one chair and rested their feet on the other, facing the glass-walled cabin where their friends looked like they were having the time of their lives.
“Look at them. They look so happy like they’re literally having the time of their lives.” He said, echoing her internal observation.
“At least one or two of them are the guy pretending to have a good time and a great life when they’re obviously not.” She said.
“Oh, that’s definitely Simon and Davidson.”
Gina burst out laughing. “Holy fuck, you’re right. Like that’s so fucking true.”
He laughed beside her.
“Let’s do everyone else.” She said, excited.
Tommy laughed again, his voice a deep baritone that she felt deep in her chest. She ignored it and focused on finding some joy on this dreary day.
He pulled out his cell phone, a beat-up Android phone, and then pulled up his browser. “Okay, so here are the types of people you’re guaranteed to meet at your high school reunion. It will just have to do.”
“I know one,” she said.
“The guy who was always against a reunion, but now that he’s bought a car, we can and must have a reunion.”
They burst out laughing and high-fived each other when they yelled the same person’s name.
He kept reading them out, and they hollered, collapsing in laughter at each of their guesses, arguing playfully when they differed and high-fiving each other when they had a similar guess.
By the time they got to the end of the list, their moods had shifted so completely. They were relaxed. One could even say happy.
They sat in silence, again, eyes on their revelling classmates.
******************
“I didn’t want to come for this thing,” he said, voice so soft, it was more like a whisper.
“Me too.”
They let the silence linger some more.
“Why’d you come?” he asked.
“Viv kinda made me. Every excuse I had, she had some kind of counter to it. First, I said I didn’t have the money, she said she’d pay. Then I said I wasn’t feeling it and she made it her personal mission to show me why it was a good idea to come. It’s only a few hours. You haven’t seen them in 20 years. You’re always saying how difficult it is to make friends as an adult. We’ll leave when you want. And so on, and so on.” She said, gesturing lightly. “Why did you come?”
“I didn’t want to feel like some coward.”
“Damn. So, you just bullied yourself into coming?”
“I guess so.”
He dropped his feet from the resting seat and she saw his brief twitches.
“Why didn’t you wanna come?” She asked.
“Reunion-type hangouts are about saying ‘look how well I’m doing’ and I am not doing well. I have a job I hate with every fibre of my being that pays me what amounts to poverty wages, but I can’t quit. It’s not exactly reunion material. Why didn’t you want to come?”
“More of the same. Plus, I just didn’t want to see how great everyone’s life is. I mean from my house I can say my poverty is a product of capitalism and I can say capitalism needs and creates an underclass and that this generation has it worse than our parents but when I meet people of said generation, living their best lives under capitalism, I’m like, am I wrong? Like, am I just the fuck up blaming some amorphous thing, you know?”
“Yeah. I still can’t believe the cars parked here. Where are these people getting money?”
They both laughed, but it was hollow and mirthless, lacking the joy that their earlier laughter had.
“Fuck if I know.” She finally said.
They sat in silence, listening to the music from the cabin where their classmates were dancing.
“Let’s go dance,” Tommy said, standing up.
Gina remained seated.
“Sorry, would you like to dance specifically with me?”
She shook her head no. “I’m not exactly rhythmically gifted.”
“That’s okay, I got you.” He answered, relieved she wasn’t outright rejecting him.
She smiled and took his hand as he pulled her up. He held on to her hand and she clasped her fingers around his, enjoying the feel of his hand as they moved closer to the cabin. They slipped in through the back of the room and she slipped her arms around his waist as they swayed to the music.
“I’m so glad I came,” he whispered into her ear.
“Me too,” she whispered, her head on his chest. She looked up to him. Their smouldering gazes held and the rest of the room disappeared. He lowered his lips, and she raised hers to meet him halfway. His hands gently nuzzled her cheeks, and his beard gently grazed her.
She was so glad she’d come.
So damn glad.
Check out
The Unexpected Love Of My Life
The Burden Of The Past Unexpectedly Poses A Dilemma On A Budding Love
The Unexpected Love Of My Life
Lonely Eyes: A Searching For Love Romance
Not Even Cabo: Will Their First Vacation Together Also Be Their Last?