by Lexi Archer
The question was how much did I want to tell him? I glanced over to Sarah again. This was dangerous territory, and I really wanted to talk to her before I said too much. I could get in a little tease though.
"Well there might’ve been more to the dare…"
"More? What more?" Todd asked. His mouth was open and he was breathing heavily. I also had no doubt that if I were to reach under the table and maybe gave a quick squeeze at the front of his pants I'd find something rock hard waiting for me there.
Not that I had any intention of doing that. Not here where anybody could see, at least. Not without talking about a few things in private with Sarah first.
That didn't mean I couldn't entice him more with stories from the past though.
"Well the bet took place at a party we were having down at the lake," I said.
I relished the way he leaned forward again. This really was fun! Sure I was throwing my best friend under the bus just a little, but it wouldn't be the first time we'd done something like this to one another.
Besides, she had to know when she brought him here that I'd start telling him about some of the fun we’d had together. If she really didn't want him to know any of it she'd break away from Tiffany and stop me. Plus I figured this was all stuff she should’ve told him about already if they were going to get married!
"I might’ve dared her to let him feel her up just a little bit too…"
Todd gasped. Yeah, his breath was definitely coming hot and heavy now. He seemed very interested in the story I was spinning. I leaned closer for dramatic effect.
"She might've even gotten a little carried away and felt his cock. Just a little bit," I said. "Think about that. Sarah getting so worked up by a guy getting turned on looking at her that she couldn't help herself and started feeling his cock."
"Damn," Todd whispered.
I was going to keep going, getting our respective boyfriends good and worked up was one of our favorite things to do when we were a terrible twosome and it was fun getting back into the game after a five year hiatus, even if I didn't exactly have a guy for Sarah to work her charms on, only I happened to glance over towards the entrance. The person standing there really caught my attention!
"Well that's interesting," I said.
"What's that?" Todd asked.
Todd looked very different from the guy I last saw that fateful night at the lake five years ago. I hadn't even seen his picture on the social media site they were using to organize the reunion because we definitely weren't friends considering how things went down that night. His profile was locked down to only show his name for anyone who wasn't in his immediate circle.
No, the muscular guy who walked through the door didn't look anything like the Eric Thomas I remembered, and yet at the same time there was no denying it was him. The face looked the same. There was something about the eyes.
Only even those eyes were slightly different even as they were the same. There was a confidence in the way he scanned the room. As though he owned the place. Everything about him was different even though he was obviously the same guy.
There was one thing that made me absolutely certain it was actually Eric I was talking about. The way his eyes flashed when they fell on Sarah. There was that hunger I'd seen so many times years ago. There was no mistaking that look. It was the same intense desire.
"Looks like Eric Thomas decided to show up after all," I said. "And he got fucking hot!"
10
Sarah
I was going to die if this conversation kept up for much longer. It amazed me that one woman could fit that much breath into her lungs, and yet she droned on about everything that’d happened to a bunch of people I didn't care about all that much considering I'd moved away from this place and hadn't looked back except for holiday visits.
"And so then they realized that JoBeth was pregnant, and I don't have to tell you what that meant!"
No, she didn't have to tell me what it meant that JoBeth was stupid enough to get knocked up. It was a delicious piece of irony considering she'd run around school lording her "purity" over everybody and condemning anyone who she even suspected of having sex before marriage as a sinner who was going to burn in hell for all eternity.
It was interesting that JoBeth got knocked up outside of wedlock, but the last person I wanted to hear it from was Tiffany. Much better to gloat over that with Kylie who seemed to be having one hell of a good time with Todd while I was stuck over here with the gossip machine.
That made me nervous. I looked over and they were laughing and getting along famously.
I knew from our conversations online that she thought the man I was about to marry was "one hell of a hottie" as she'd so eloquently put it, but I was also infinitely confident that he was well and truly snagged. Kylie was hot, I'd seen the way he looked at her, but he was mine.
Besides, even if he did decide he was interested in Kylie it's not like it would be the first time we'd shared something, though after five years of having Todd all to myself I wasn't sure how I felt about that. It's something I'd worried about when I was deciding whether or not to come to this reunion in the first place.
I still worried that this homecoming, and spending time with Kylie, might result in one hell of a relapse to my wilder days. Wilder days when Kylie was my partner in crime encouraging me to try newer and crazier things, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that.
I tried to smile and politely nod whenever it seemed like Tiffany was expecting it, not that she was ever one to really pay attention to the person she was supposedly conversing with. No, as long as her voice was running that was all she really cared about.
Other people passed us by and gave me sympathetic looks, but those sympathetic looks never extended to trying to rescue me from my predicament. For that matter, it seemed like Todd was more than content to hang out with Kylie and not rescue me from my predicament either.
He was going to hear about that later. Him chatting with my best friend I could deal with, even if she did think he was a hottie. What I couldn't stand was that I was obviously in distress over here, I was obviously looking over to both of them and making it clear I didn't want to be here, and yet neither one of them were leaping to my rescue.
No, they were still leaning in close, huge smiles on their faces, occasionally giggling. And occasionally glancing over to me.
What were they talking about? There were things I'd never told Todd. Things I'd deliberately held back. Things from my wilder past that I wasn't exactly embarrassed about, but that I probably should've been the one to tell him.
And now that he was over there with Kylie worry was worming its way through my mind. Were they talking about some of the old games we used to play? Were they talking about some of my past indiscretions? About one indiscretion in particular I'd tried my very best to forget?
I just didn't know, and not knowing was driving me crazy. I desperately needed to get away from my conversation with Tiffany. I desperately needed to get over to my future husband and my old best friend and figure out what the hell they were talking about. Try to do some damage control if she was bringing up some of the saltier stories from when I was young and dumb.
I glanced over and saw both of them looking over towards the entrance. I wondered what could possibly keep both of their attention like that. What could have Todd staring and licking his lips like that.
Was it another girl? If it was Madison Arthur then I was going to scream. That bitch was always trying to steal my boyfriends, and somehow I didn't think it was going to be any different now even if I was engaged rather than just dating Todd.
So I looked over to the entrance, but I didn't see Madison standing there.
Damn. Who was that guy? I figured I would've remembered someone like him. I definitely would've remembered those muscles. The way his shirt clung to his body showing off his yummy physique. It was obvious this guy had spent plenty of time in the gym since graduation. He was the opposite of the stereotypical image
you get of a jock getting a giant beer gut by the time the first reunion rolls around.
And yet there was something familiar about this guy. Something that was nagging in the back of my mind. A small voice that was telling me I should recognize him even though I had no idea who the hell he was.
He wore a tight fitting polo shirt that showed off his body nicely. I looked around and saw that other girls were staring. A couple of them started talking excitedly, all of them casting glances over to him.
What was so damn familiar about this guy?
Then his gaze fell on me for a moment before moving on. Okay, so maybe I didn’t know the guy even if he did look damn familiar. Then his gaze shot back to me. He stared with a surprising intensity that sent an shiver running down my spine.
Damn that gaze was so intense. It was pure lust. And then I recognized the eyes. I realized I knew that look even if I didn't know the body the look was attached to.
Holy shit. That was Eric Thomas. And he'd gotten fucking hot! Well, hotter than he’d been that night. Which is to say he’d gone from good looking but not quite my type to spending enough time in the gym that he’d gotten the muscles to become my type.
Damn.
No man had any business looking that good, and yet here he was stirring up all sorts of confusing feelings that would've been better left buried.
Immediately my face colored as I realized what Kylie and my husband might be talking about as they sat at that table giggling. If she was giving up some of our old secrets, particularly the secrets of the dare game we used to play, then there was a good chance my husband-to-be now knew exactly who Eric Thomas was and all about that night.
And as I thought back to that night the mental floodgates opened. If I'd gotten turned on by him that night, if I'd gotten good and revved up feeling his eyes and his surprisingly skilled hands on me, well that was nothing compared to how turned on I was getting imagining him working that skill on me with that body he was rocking in the here and now.
Holy shit! I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and let it out.
"Sarah?"
I was pulled back to reality by Tiffany shaking my shoulder. She looked more annoyed than worried. Of course she was annoyed. Someone's attention had been pulled away from her endless prattling. That was the biggest sin in the world as far as she was concerned.
"Yeah, great catching up to you Tiffany," I said.
I patted her on the shoulder and turned to head for safety. At least what I thought was safety. Todd sat next to Kylie looking across the room at Eric. And in that moment I knew that he knew. There was no way he didn't know. Kylie had obviously told him everything, or almost everything, and it was made all the more obvious from the way he turned and smiled at me as I moved to take a seat.
"You bitch," I said to Kylie as soon as I was seated, though surprisingly there was no heat to the words.
I suppose on some level I knew that some of this was going to come out as soon as I decided to come to this reunion. Maybe getting some of this out in the open was part of the reason I'd come in the first place.
I wanted to ask her how much she'd told him, but even asking would make it obvious that there was potentially more he didn't know, and in the middle of this reception area in a rundown bowling alley was the last place I wanted to have a conversation with my future husband about my past relations with nerdy Eric Thomas the night I let myself get a little carried away with the dare game.
"Fuck you too," Kylie said without missing a beat. We held each other's gaze for a moment and then devolved into a fit of giggles. Finally Todd turned his attention away from the door and back to me.
"So," he said. "It looks like you have an admirer…"
There was something about his voice. He sounded different somehow. A little more strangled than usual. I wondered what was going on here, because that definitely wasn't the annoyance or the anger I would've expected if he knew the full story of me and Eric.
Did he know the full story? I glanced at Kylie, but she had her poker face up so there was no help there. There was nothing for it but to ask, even though in the middle of the bowling alley reception room surrounded by a bunch of gossips I hadn't thought about for half a decade was the last place I wanted to even start having this conversation.
I looked at Kylie and sighed. "What did you tell him?"
She held her hands up in a defensive gesture. "I was just telling him about the dare game. That's all.”
I fixed her with my best flat stare, but I was relieved. The dare game I could deal with. The particulars of what happened with Eric Thomas were a little more complicated. I interrupted her before she could say anything more.
"I know exactly what you were thinking."
Something told me she was trying to pull a repeat of the old days by reminding me of some old fun. That would be just the kind of thing she'd try. Having fun like the old days was all she'd talked about online, and that singular obsession should've worried me more than it did leading up to this reunion.
Too late to do anything about it now. If the cat wasn't completely out of the bag then at the very least it was clawing its way through.
I looked over my shoulder, following Todd's gaze, and I saw that Eric was still staring across the room at us. At me. Damn. It sent chills running through me. Damn did he look good!
I turned back to Kylie who was grinning. "Grin all you want, but nothing's happening."
That got Todd's attention. He turned back to me and smiled, though there was still that catch in his voice when he spoke. "I would hope nothing's happening!"
I turned back to Kylie. "See? Now you have my future husband questioning my fidelity!"
There was a pause where I tried my best to look pissed off at my friend, but then we devolved into giggles as Todd looked between the two of us plainly confused. I had a feeling the giggles were only going to get worse as the night wore on and we had more to drink.
I opened a beer that Todd had obligingly set out for me before I got trapped by Tiffany and took a drink.
We were giggling, but I couldn't help but turn and have another look at Eric standing there at the entrance. He was smiling and talking to someone I didn't recognize up by the entrance, but every once in a while he’d glance over to me.
I wondered why the hell I got so worked up every time his eyes fell across me. He sent a small fire coursing through my body as I thought of the last time he'd looked at me like that. It sent shame running through me in equal measure as I thought of what happened after.
Well there was nothing I could do about Eric and his smoldering stare. What I could do was have more to drink and try to figure out exactly how much Kylie had blabbed while I was stuck in the never-ending conversation black hole that was Tiffany.
11
Eric
I was an idiot.
I was an idiot coming here. All my plans for staying the hell away from this town, I'd even gone to the trouble of flying my parents out for the holidays rather than being forced to come back here, had all gone out the window as soon as I saw her name on the attendee list.
The girl I'd crushed on hardcore ever since the first time I laid eyes on her. The most beautiful creature in the world, or at the very least the most beautiful creature in the world when I was going through puberty and her name had been forever imprinted on my psyche and my erotic imagination in equal measure.
I hadn't thought about her in a couple of years when I saw that name. I'd studiously avoided friending anybody from home so I wouldn't see an update by chance.
That was easy enough. This place had nothing to offer me. Nothing except for her, and even that was just a crazy dream that was better forgotten. A crazy dream I had forgotten up until the moment I saw her name and picture on that invite list.
She was still Sarah Burke, but not for long if that guy she was with and that giant rock on her ring finger reflecting light clear across the room was any indication. Still, despite that she was still the same
girl I'd fallen for. She still had that same elegant look to her. She still filled out a pair of shorts and a T-shirt quite nicely thank you very much.
In short, she was still gorgeous.
Pity she was even more unattainable now than she'd been back when I was a dorky kid with no idea how to interact with women.
That had changed. A strict workout regimen after getting out of school and time spent with girls in my nursing program who took a liking to me and showed me the ropes, even going so far as to set me up with their friends and teaching me the ways of the force when it came to interacting with women, had taken care of that.
Which meant I could look back on how I’d acted in high school and realize what an asshole and idiot I’d been. That still didn’t excuse what she’d done to me, but I could look back now and see that I hadn’t been a saint when it came to my dance with Sarah Burke.
It was a mistake to come here. I was stupid for making the trip. More than anything it was stupid for me to come out here just because of a name on a screen. Still, I was here, and I figured I might as well make the most of it.
I still had friends here, and the least I could do was mingle for a little bit. Catch up with people I’d never see again after this weekend.
Only something odd was happening as I mingled. It seemed that every time I made a surreptitious glance over towards Sarah she was creeping on me, which would be a weird reversal from how things went back in school.
At first I thought it was wishful thinking, but as music started up and a couple of people started dancing on a tiny makeshift dance floor in front of the DJ equipment I couldn't deny those looks.
It wasn't wishful thinking. I’d look over and maybe she'd be staring, maybe she'd just be glancing quickly, but it never failed that as soon as I caught her looking she turned away.
Like the roles we'd played so many years ago were reversed. I could hardly believe it. It was impossible. Especially considering how we'd parted. Especially considering that ring on her finger.