(California)
“Cole! I have to go or I’m gonna be late!” Twenty eight year old Alyssa Morgan impatiently glanced at her watch. He could be heard tromping around upstairs in the master bedroom with no regard to her time constraints.
Her husband came bounding down the stairs, dressed in a pair of casual shorts and a white tennis shirt for the tennis game that he always played on Saturdays. Cole looked slightly annoyed that she was rushing him.
“Where are you going again?” Cole asked, grabbing his racket and duffel bag from the hallway closet. Alyssa sighed.
“Book signing.” Right away, Cole’s distaste began to show. A prominent lawyer at a top California firm, Cole had no interest in his wife’s career, though sometimes she made more money.
“I’ll see you at seven, then.” Alyssa left the house without another word. It was times like these when Alyssa really wondered why she had married Cole. Some part of her told her she had to have been drunk or she never would have accepted the proposal, let alone marry the guy.
Cole Taylor was pushy, stubborn, and sometimes downright arrogant. But in the beginning, Cole had been sweet, kind, humorous. He had wooed her with roses and chocolate, candlelight dinners and moonlit walks on California beaches had made her fall head over heels in love with him.
They had been married for five years. It was three years after she met him at the Starbucks she often frequented after first coming to California. Then he had just been starting out, hadn’t become the pushy twenty nine year old man he was now.
As she got into her silver Lexus, Alyssa had a brief moment where she wondered what her old friends were doing. It had been so long since she had talked to any of her friends from Florida and she was saddened by the fact that she didn’t know anything about their lives. Sure, she had gotten cards and announcements of births. She had read about Julie’s accomplishments, watched her movies. But that was all she knew.
She threw her purse onto the passenger seat and drove to the Borders that was hosting her book signing. As usual, there was a line of people starting to form outside the store.
To Have Loved and Lost was her fifth book, yet another novel that had certain ties to her experiences with Ryan. It was always he who she modeled her male characters off of. They had his perception or his wit, sometimes his blue eyes or his amazing ability to read woman. There was not one book that didn’t have a little bit of Ryan in it.
Ryan. There had been at least one time every 30 seconds of every day in the past eight years that she had thought about him. She had finally gained back his friendship, only to leave for California and never come back. Not that friendship was on her mind much. It was the fact that she had lost something that had meant the world to her: his love. Being his best friend had been awesome, but it had been much better being his girlfriend and fiancée. That was when she had been truly loved, without fear or the threat of abuse if she didn’t follow his rules.
She pulled around to the back of the bookstore and was met by the manager of the store. Alyssa was escorted to a long rectangular table set up at the front of the store. Every time she did a book signing, she was amazed at how many people showed up.
Once she was seated at the long table, Sharpie marker in hand, the fans were let in. The bookstore was instantly flooded with people who were buying her new book for a chance to meet her and have her sign it.
“How are you doing?” Alyssa asked. The teen girl smiled and handed her the book she had purchased.
“Good. My name is Hailey.” Alyssa smiled and signed the book. It went well; Alyssa signed over two hundred books before the bookstore was closed by the manager. She shook her hand to get rid of the cramp as she headed to her car.
She had a couple of hours before she and Cole had to meet the O’Rileys for dinner, so she stopped to get a manicure. Alyssa signed a few autographs in the shop, and then headed home. The cleaning staff was bustling around her spacious Tudor style house when she pulled into her winding driveway.
As Alyssa entered the foyer, she picked her mail up from the small table by the door. She rifled through the usual bills before an address from Orlando caught her eye.
Careful not to mess up her manicure, Alyssa opened the envelope. For some reason, she was not surprised when she pulled out the invitation to her high school reunion. It was set for the following weekend, in a mere three days.
Great, Alyssa thought to herself. Cole was going to love that. He bristled whenever she so much as mentioned Florida. He loved her family and liked to visit them. Mainly, it had to do with Ryan. Everything had to do with Ryan.
Alyssa sighed as she headed to the master bedroom. She was glad that she was going to be going back to Florida, even if she did have to bring Cole with her. It would be good to see her friends again, especially since she hadn’t seen them in over eight years. The family would be excited to see Cole. They always were.
Her family loved him; Alyssa’s mother thought he was the perfect man for her. After all, he had money, prestige, and a supposedly great love for his family. Family values ranked high on Jane Morgan-Thomas’s list of things to look for in a man. But the Cole they saw wasn’t the Cole that Alyssa saw at home.
At home, he was aggressive and rude. He ordered her around like she was one of their servants. Alyssa couldn’t remember the last time she had gone out with any of her male friends. Or friends at all. Cole was always with her. Cole told her a specific time to be home and so help her God, she was always on time.
Alyssa wrote from home, in an office he had built for her. When he wasn’t busy at the firm, he was watching over her shoulder as she typed. It made her jumpy, it made her nervous, but mostly it just pissed her off.
“God, Cole. Why don’t you just lay off?”
“You’re writing about him again, aren’t you?” Cole demanded, green eyes flashing in anger. “Your precious Ryan, the one who dumped you like yesterday’s trash.”
“Shut up, Cole.” Alyssa retorted. “You don’t know the first thing about Ryan and I.” Cole sneered.
“Except that you’re still pining for him. Don’t think I don’t know, Lyss. Everyone knows. I won’t have my wife constantly thinking about another man.”
“How this any different from your whore?”
“My ex wife is not a whore. Just drop the subject, Alyssa. And find something else to write about.”
The fairytale romance, that had once been so good in the beginning, had quickly gone downhill. Cole had even gone so far as to hit her for going out with some friends to a party. It had only been once, but it was one time too many.
Of course, he had promised to change and he had...for a while. Alyssa had quickly learned that it was just an act devised so that he could keep his “trophy” wife. Cole would never change.
She took a long, luxurious bubble bath, and then blow-dried and carefully curled her short brown hair. Alyssa pulled it up and secured it with some bobby pins, reminding her of when she had her senior pictures done in high school. It looked pretty good.
She walked over to her spacious walk in closet to comb through her wardrobe. After debating for a few minutes, Alyssa chose a long, sparkling red dress with spaghetti straps and a slit in one side that ran up to mid thigh. She slid her feet into red, rhinestone-accented stilettos.
Cole had used another bathroom in the wing to shower and had entered the bedroom to change into his tux. Little was said; that was the routine. Though they shared a house, it was as if they were strangers who slept in separate rooms. They had long since stopped talking to each other.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in a beautiful French restaurant making her wish, just for a moment, that she was back in France eating crepes with Ryan.
“Do you have any plans for the weekend?” Linda O’Riley inquired, delicately nibbling on her escargot. Alyssa looked at her in disgust. In all the time she had either lived in or studied in France, she neither tried nor wanted to try escargot. Alyssa figured this was as good a time as any to break the news about Florida.
“We’re going to Florida,” Alyssa replied. Cole’s green eyes grew wide as he attempted to cover up the fact that he knew nothing about this trip to Florida.
“Yeah...” Cole said. “Florida. We’re in need of another vacation.” He forced a smile and continued eating. That had gone over well. He didn’t make a scene until they had gotten home.
“Why did you just spring that on me?” Cole yelled, his voice echoing in the foyer.
“It just seemed like the right time,” Alyssa replied coolly, throwing her purse down on the dining room table. “Plus I was planning on going with or without you.”
“We’re not going.”
“Like hell we’re not,” Alyssa said, getting angry. “I’ve put up with a hell of a lot from you Cole. I’m going with or without your sorry ass.” She stalked up to the master bedroom, and locked the door.
It wasn’t anything new.
*********************
(New York)
“Trinitie Justice, you better get your butt downstairs or you’ll be in deep trouble!” Twenty-eight year old Julie Holland-Ridgely impatiently glanced at her watch. There was an audible sigh followed by the clomping of an eight year old thundering down the stairs.
“Mom--” Trinitie started. Julie quickly shushed her while hurriedly pulling the young girl’s blond hair into a ponytail.
“Go eat your breakfast,” Julie told her, giving her a gentle nudge toward the kitchen. Julie made a quick trip upstairs to retrieve her one-year-old son Scott from his crib. The bouncy little boy was sitting in his crib, playing with a stuffed rabbit Josh’s mom had gotten him for Christmas.
She picked him up and hurried downstairs. Her husband, Josh, was already at the table, enjoying some chocolate chip waffles and coffee. Julie had already decided she would stop at Starbucks on the way to the set to get her Chocolate Brownie Frappucino.
Another day of shooting.
This was Julie’s third major film, with countless other independent films under her belt. Josh had decided not to work, but rather stay at home with Trinitie and Scott. She placed her son in his high chair, placing a handful of Cheerios in front of him. He happily grabbed a few and proceeded to throw them at his sister.
“Okay,” Julie said, grabbing her keys. “I don’t know what time I’ll be home so don’t wait up.”
“Mom!” Trinitie exclaimed. “You promised me that you would help me with my math homework.” Julie mentally slapped herself, before sighing...also internal.
“I know, sweetie, and I’m sorry. I have to be on the set all day today. Daddy will help you.” Josh shot her one of the dirtiest looks she had ever seen on a human being. She leaned in to kiss him on the lips and her heart plummeted when he turned his face so the kiss would land on his cheek.
She and Josh were not in a good place right now. Lately, Josh had wanted to go back to work. He said he would settle for anything as long as he could get out of the house. The problem was that if he did that, there would be no one to take care of the kids. Julie had taken them to her sets a few times, without much success. There was always the easy out: hire a nanny. Julie just wasn’t comfortable leaving her kids with strangers. Unfortunately, Josh would not budge.
They had had their share of problems over the past eight years. When Julie had first started out, there had been rumors of affairs with her co-stars. Josh had the common sense to know that they weren’t real, but it still put a gap between them.
Julie had thought that things would get better when she had Scott, but things had just continued to deteriorate. Now Josh had not only one kid to take care of, but also two. It left even less time for him to be by himself and he rarely saw Julie before the wee hours of the morning.
Josh thought that she wasn’t doing her fair share of parenting. The truth was, Julie was doing the best she could in order to make the situation work. Still a work in progress. She got into the Mercedes that she had bought herself for her birthday and proceeded to drive to the set.
Horror Revisited was one of those cheesy horror films. Julie had taken the part only because they offered her a good amount of money and she needed the exposure. A lot of people expected Julie to fade out of the scene after having her second child and she was having a hard time keeping her career afloat. Her agent viewed her son as a “career blunder.” Julie had promptly told him to take it and shove it up his British Channel.
Julie cursed under her breath when she saw that she was running late. The Starbucks run would have to wait. She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and got out of the car.
Her assistant, Channing, met her at the door with her mail, her script and her frappucino. Sometimes, she was a godsend. She headed to the set, sipping her iced coffee while sifting through her mail. There was an address from Orlando that caught her eye.
Using one perfectly manicured nail to tear the envelope open, she pulled out the invitation to her high school reunion. How fun. Julie quickly did some calculations and thanked the good Lord that she was almost done with her shooting. That meant that she could go to Florida.
Josh would love it, and so would Trinitie. She loved to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Ridgely. She took another sip of her coffee and almost ran into her uptight British agent.
“Hello Julie.” Julie smiled. Sure, he was uptight. But he was also funny and quite cute. She set down her coffee.
“Hey Will.” Will was short for William Edward Tyler III. He always sat in on her filming; he liked to know where his money was going. Of course, Will was always on the phone while he was there, but at least he was there.
“Is this your last day of shooting?” Julie nodded.
“I think so. Which works out perfectly because I’m going to be going to Florida.” Will raised an eyebrow.
“And, pray tell, are you going to Florida? You have commitments, you know.” Julie rolled her eyes.
“Yes Mr. Uptight British Man. I know. But I’m not scheduled to start shooting again for at least a month. I can go to my high school reunion, catch up with friends, spend some time with my family and be back in time to shoot the next big movie.”
“If you say so.”
She spent the better part of the day running through the woods screaming her head off. By the time she was ready to go home, her throat was raw and she had the worst headache in the world.
Channing was waiting with a cup of herbal tea when she stepped off the set and Julie gave her utmost thanks before heading home. It was after midnight.
Against all her wishes, Trinitie was up when she got home. She and Josh were watching The Learning Channel. She gave Josh a stern look when she entered the house before her daughter launched herself into her arms.
“Daddy said that I could stay up until you came home cause tomorrow there’s no school because there’s gonna be report cards coming out.” Julie smiled before placing her daughter back down on the floor.
“How bout you go get ready for bed and then Daddy and I will be up there to read you a story.” The little girl nodded before running up the stairs.
“You’re home early,” Josh commented.
“It’s been a long day, Josh. Don’t start.” Josh sneered.
“Right. Why should I bother to tell you what’s been going on with our kids while you spend your days at your precious movie sets. By the way, Trinitie’s math homework got done and I think Scott is coming down with a cold.” Julie put a hand to her forehead. “Oh no. I’m sorry Jules. Are you trying to figure out how you can take care of a sick kid and film at the same time?”
“Shut up Josh.” She threw the invitation at him. “I’m thinking about whether or not to go to Florida now.”
“Our reunion.”
“Duh. I think we can still go as long as we watch him closely to make sure he doesn’t get any more sick.” Josh nodded. “I’m going to bed. I’ll call the airport in the morning.”
After she changed clothes and choked down three Tylenol, Julie crawled into bed. Josh would have to read Trinitie her story. She was so exhausted that she did not notice that she slept alone that night.
Just as she did every night.
*******************
(Tallahassee)
Words were starting to blur together as twenty nine year old Ryan Brennon stared at his laptop screen. He was working on the next news piece that he would be reporting on and had been at it for hours.
He took off his small silver spectacles and rubbed his tired eyes. As much as he didn’t want to leave the news office, he knew that his wife, Aimee, would be wondering where he was at.
But God he didn’t want to go home.
Home had become a place where he didn’t want to be anymore. After everything that had happened, home was the last place that he wanted to be. One would have thought that after six years of marriage, fidelity would be something that was important.
Apparently not.
Over the past two years, Aimee had been seeing several other guys on the side. The various phone numbers deposited around the house were the first clue, and then the strange phone calls that showed up on the caller ID and her cell phone made him question whether or not she was faithful.
The clincher came when he saw her in bed with another man, someone he knew pretty well from reporting with him. He even moved out for awhile, but came back for Garrett’s sake.
Garrett. His six year old son was the only reason that he hadn’t left Aimee years ago. Garrett needed a good male influence in his life. He didn’t want his son to grow up in a broken home.
But the more he thought about it, how good was it for his son to see Ryan and Aimee fight so often? There was always so much yelling, so many hateful things said. He called her names, she threw things at him, and Garrett was witness to it all. It gave him a sort of sick feeling in the pit of his stomach to think about that.
For a moment Ryan thought, This never would have happened with Alyssa. It wasn’t the first time that he had thought like that and it wouldn’t be the last. Alyssa was always on his mind.
He read her books, laughing each time some aspect of his personality or his looks got mentioned in her book. Alyssa had the knack of putting him exactly down on paper, down the last minuscule detail. Ryan even had an autographed book: Alyssa had sent one to all her friends, exclaiming “I finally did it!”
Ryan had read an announcement about her engagement and wedding as well. But, like many of the friends in their group, he heard little from each of the others. Announcements here and there, some photos or quick emails. That’s what they had been reduced to. Friends who had once known each other so well...now strangers.
Ryan’s journalism career took him all over the world. He had been everywhere, seen a lot things. But he wasn’t happy. Not with the crap going on with Aimee. Not with any of that.
As he drove home, Ryan hoped that Alyssa was happy. If she hadn’t been so afraid or so deep in her shell, maybe they would have gotten married and he wouldn’t be stuck in the hell hole that he was calling a marriage.
Aimee was dishing up takeout when he got home. She wordlessly handed him a plate, loaded with his favorite Chinese food. Then she returned to doing the laundry.
Aimee was a former model with blond hair, blue eyes, and an amazing body that allowed her to be a swimsuit model until she got pregnant. After Garrett was born, she quit modeling to stay home.
She had been bitchy ever since.
After the incident, they had gone to marriage counseling. It was a good idea in the beginning, but it didn’t take the two of them long to realize that there wasn’t much left to save. Whatever trust he had had in her was now shattered, unable to be repaired.
“So, Ryan, tell me why you guys are here.” Ryan looked at the attractive therapist, not sure if he wanted to spill the sordid details of his troubled marriage with her.
“We’re here because we’re having some problems in our marriage,” Ryan replied, not looking at Aimee.
“Okay,” Dr. Richardson said. “Let’s explain it a little bit more, shall we?”
“She cheated on me,” Ryan replied angrily. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“You were never home!” Aimee exclaimed. “Always gallivanting off to another country to do your stupid reports. It’s not like family means anything to you.”
“Now my job is stupid?” Ryan inquired. “At least I’m not some has been model who’s bitter because she chose to quit. And don’t tell me that my family doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the only reason I’ve stayed in this God forsaken marriage.”
“I hate you, Ryan.” Aimee said, somewhat more subdued. “God, do I hate you.”
“I’m not the one who cheated on you, Aimee.”
“I know.”
“Good,” Dr. Richardson replied. “I think we’ve made some progress.”
“No,” Ryan said softly, looking out the window. “We haven’t made any progress at all.”
That had been months ago. Nothing had truly changed, except they had finally voiced what it was that they were keeping inside. Maybe Aimee really did hate him; she really did act like it. But as angry as Ryan was with her, he didn’t hate her. He stayed with her because of Garrett.
But he wasn’t in love with her anymore.
Ryan finished his dinner and grabbed the mail that was lying on the table. He ripped open the envelopes, not even bothering to look at who sent them. He was surprised when an invitation fell into his lap.
The reunion.
This weekend. This could be it. A chance to get away, maybe gain back at least some of the friendship that he once had with Aimee. And he could see his old friends in the process.
“Aimee?” He called out to her in the laundry room. She came out, an annoyed look on her face.
“What?”
“How would you like to go to Orlando this weekend?” Despite the angry front she was trying to put on, a smile slowly started to creep into her beautiful features.
“What for?”
“My high school reunion.” That definitely made a scowl come to her face. She knew about Alyssa, about the drama, the pain and the fighting.
“Okay.” Ryan looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Okay?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“Cool. Garrett will love it.” Satisfied that she had done her part as his wife, she went back to folding laundry. Ryan went upstairs to change his clothes, excited about going back to Orlando. It would be a chance to catch up with his friends, see his family, relax.
His friends.
What would happen when he saw Alyssa again? What would happen when she met his wife and he her husband? How would both of them react? It had been them heading that way once.
It would definitely be interesting. Perhaps interesting wasn’t the word. More like painful, awkward, completely heartbreaking. Those would be better words.
After all, eight years hadn’t changed a single feeling.
****************
(Arizona)
She was frantically scribbling in a worn cloth covered notebook, pouring her soul out onto the paper to a beat and melody only she could hear. Twenty nine year old Lynn Michaels was in the middle of composing her new song and if she didn’t get it down now, she thought her head was going to explode. There various members of her band sitting around the luxurious house that she and her husband shared.
Christian Foster was her manager and husband. They had met after a night when Lynn had been singing at open mike night in a dingy bar in Los Angeles. He had stopped for a drink and had turned out to be a hot manager in the music world.
Christian said that he liked what he had heard and was interested in hearing more. He helped her get signed, and though they swore up and down that they would never date each other, they ended up falling in love. A year after that, they were married.
Things had been good...at first. Christian had seemed like the perfect guy who had come along at the perfect time and had made Lynn’s life...well, perfect. Of course, it had to be too good to be true.
Christian, it had turned out, was using her in order to get more money. She got less royalties, he got more money. It was the perfect scam to pull on a naive girl from Florida. And yet she still stayed.
Christian held her life, and her career, in his hands.
There was nothing that she could do. Nothing that she would do until the day he slapped her. It was supposed to be playful, or so he said but Lynn would have none of it. He invaded her privacy, what little bit she had left, and gave her as little respect as he could.
She filed for divorce the next day.
It was still pending, and her career was hanging in the balance after she ticked Christian off. But that was the price that she was going to have to pay if she wanted to keep her rights, her dignity, and most of all, her sanity.
“Here’s what I’ve been thinking guys...” She said, showing the song to her band mates. They looked it over, decided it was definitely playable and got to work trying to sort out the melodies, rhythms, and chords that would go with the song.
Lynn was playing a show that night in Tucson, right near her home. Arizona had been home for a while in high school so it was the obvious choice when the group split up for good.
She felt a slight twinge of regret when she thought about her friends. Lynn had thought that she, Alyssa and Lynn would be best friends up into little old ladyhood. They would cheat at bingo and forget to take their pills.
Not anymore. They had all gotten the announcements that told them that Alyssa and Julie had gotten married, but none of them had been invited. Lynn didn’t even invite any of her old friends to her wedding. What a great group of friends that were turning out to be.
She missed them so much sometimes. When things got really bad with Christian, or when fans kept interfering in her life, she just wished that her friends were there.
After practicing and trying to write the music for the new song, the band left. Christian probably wouldn’t be home tonight. He was managing another three acts, and it wouldn’t have surprised Lynn if he was screwing all three. He had an apartment now anyway. She went to get the mail from the mailbox, contemplating going for a swim in her Olympic size pool.
Lynn immediately knew what was in the envelope that came from Orlando. Her high school reunion. She was grateful that she was in the process of getting divorced but was not happy to be returning to Florida. There had been so much drama, so much pain.
Yet she knew that she had to see her friends again. She had to see Trinitie and Scott, and the numerous other children that the friends had had over the years. Lynn wanted to see Alyssa and Julie and Josh. Sam.
Wow.
What would she say to Sam?
She and Sam had fallen prey to the nasty break up bug that had been going around after various members of the group left. Ryan, too, had broken up with Emma before moving to Tallahassee. There was a lot of stuff that could go on in this scenario.
Lynn called Christian’s cell phone and left a message telling him that she would be going out of town for a couple of weeks. She knew he would be angry, but he would have to deal with it.
She headed upstairs to her ornate bedroom to pack a few suitcases. She wasn’t sure how long she was going to stay so she packed a few extra clothes just in case and called the airline to reserve a ticket for later that night. After all, it was safer for her to fly at night.
Lynn was going home again.
********************
(North Carolina)
“Just leave me alone, Sam.” Charlotte demanded. Her husband laughed bitterly.
“Who is he this time?” Sam asked, sneering in contempt. “Do I know him? Is he someone at the school?”
“If you must know,” Charlotte retorted. “His name is Roberto and he is my masseur. He’s tall, dark and handsome and I’ve had better sex with him than I’ve had with you in all the years we’ve been married.”
“This is great,” Sam said, shaking his head. “Just fuckin’ great.”
“Maybe if you were home a little more often…” Charlotte suggested.
“Don’t EVEN try to pin this on me!” Sam exclaimed angrily. “I’ve been nothing but faithful to you. I’ve helped take care of the kids. In return you act like a whore and sleep with all the men in town.”
“Don’t call me a whore.”
“Then stop acting like one.” She looked away. “God, why did I marry you?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte replied honestly.
“I’m out of here,” Sam said.
He grabbed his keys and drove until he saw the neon lights of the bar that he and some friend like to frequent, especially when their wives were pissing them off.
Once inside, he ordered a couple shots of tequila and wondered how the hell his life had ended up this way. He had to be the saddest motherfucker on this planet.
Once he had left Florida, Sam had decided to pursue a career in teaching. It was definitely an odd choice for Sam, who had hated school as a kid. He chose to teach science to kids in elementary school.
He had met Charlotte one day while he had been walking his dog in the park. Sam had been hooked by her dark brown hair and gray colored eyes. They had flirted, exchanged phone numbers and were married the next year. She, too, was a teacher at the elementary school where Sam worked.
They had twins, Kyle and William, who were now two years old. Charlotte had started cheating less than a year after the twins were born. She seemed to have an affinity for the teachers at the school as she had already slept with three of Sam’s friends.
Sam had stayed for his kids, but had started looking into getting a divorce. The little stunt that Charlotte had pulled this week might have proved to be the deciding factor.
After about eight shots, Sam felt smashed enough to want to go home. He had to be drunk to want to return to that hellhole. When he got there, Kyle and William were in bed and he passed out on the couch.
He woke up the next morning with a killer headache. Charlotte had taken Kyle and William to day care. Sam was supposed to have been at work…three hours ago.
Shit.
He stumbled to the bathroom to grab some Tylenol. After taking about six, he headed to the kitchen. With red, bloodshot eyes, Sam sorted through the enormous pile of mail that was addressed to him.
That was interesting. The invitation to his high school reunion. With a dry mouth that felt like it was full of cotton, same dialed the airport and bought four tickets.
This was a chance to catch up with all the old friends that had sort of faded away over the years. Alyssa, Ryan, Trista. Lynn.
Lynn.
Out of all of his friends, he missed Lynn the most. She had been the one that he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. But the stress of their friends leaving had taken a toll on their relationship.
She had broken up with him, and left for Arizona. He left for North Carolina. This could be a chance to reconcile those old friendships and see if they were still the same people.
Obviously they weren’t.
Alyssa, Julie and Trista were famous. They made loads of money. Ryan was famous too, with his journalism career. Sam was the only one, aside from Josh, who wasn’t famous and making a lot of money.
It didn’t matter.
This could be his reprieve.
*****************
(New York)
“Mom! Rachel keeps hitting me!” Twenty seven year old Trista Morgan sighed.
“Rachel, quit hitting your sister.”
“She’s trying to get into my nail polish!” Ten year old Rachel whined.
“She’s four. Leave her alone.” The four year old stuck her tongue out at her older sister.
“Christiana, stop making faces at your sister.” Trista put a hand to her forehead, a massive headache already starting. She was in the middle of drawing some sketches to be included in a major fashion show later this year while trying to play referee to two children who couldn’t get along.
As everyone else was leaving Florida, Trista decided to stay and get her college degree in fashion design. It was something she had always been interested in.
She had married Michael the year after she graduated, and had been married to him for the past four years. They had Christiana the year they got married and weren’t ruling out more. But right now, Trista’s rising career took precedent over any more children.
Michael owned his own auto shop where he serviced and restored cars. Over the past few years, it had grown into a really prosperous business. Between the two of their careers, they made a decent amount of money.
Not as much as Alyssa, with her books and her fancy lawyer husband. Trista sighed as she caught herself comparing herself to her sister yet again.
For the first time in her life, Trista was not in Alyssa’s shadow. Their parents saw them as equals, even their formerly uptight mother.
Ever since Mrs. Morgan had gotten remarried, she had started treating Trista a lot better. Trista imagined that George was a good influence on her. They talked several times a week and she visited often.
Trista had to admit that it felt pretty good to be doing her own thing. Even if she did have a headache the entire time that she was doing it.
“Stop it Christi!” Rachel yelled. There were a couple of thuds and a crash.
“Get off, Rachel!”
“STOP!”
“Alright,” Trista yelled over the noisy kids. “Both of you, time out for ten minutes.”
While the children took themselves to their respective corners, Trista went out to get the mail. The address from Orlando surprised her.
Of course, the reunion. She had been so caught up in her career and her family to notice that it really had been ten years since she had been in high school.
“Rachel, Christiana, come here.” The two young girls came into the room. “How would you guys like to go on a little vacation?” Both girls cheered, as Trista dialed the number for the airport.
“Yes, I’d like four tickets to Orlando please…”
******************
(Orlando)
Alyssa and Cole arrived in Orlando on Thursday. Mr. Morgan met them at the airport to give them a ride and help with their bags.
“Daddy!” Alyssa said, giving him a big hug. Mr. Morgan smiled.
“Hello Mr. Morgan.” Cole said, so politely Alyssa wanted to knock his teeth out.
“Hello Alyssa, Cole.” He grabbed Alyssa’s bags and started toward the car. “Your friends have been coming to stay at my house. Apparently, my house is a hotel.”
“Sorry Daddy,” Alyssa replied. “So everyone’s here?”
“Everyone except Trista but she said she’d be here within the next two hours.” He smiled at her. “It’s good to see you Alyssa.”
As they drove to Tampa from Orlando, there was complete silence. Even Mr. Morgan, usually chatty, seemed to sense the tension between Cole and Alyssa.
Mr. Morgan’s house hadn’t changed one bit, except for the group of kids running around his spacious, green yard.
Alyssa took a deep breath as she and Cole got out of the car. At the sound of the car pulling into the driveway, her friends came out of the house. Julie, Josh, Sam, Lynn, and finally Ryan.
God, she hated the way her heart sped up when she saw Ryan. It was like eight years had done nothing to squelch those feelings that she had for him. It really sucked. She cleared her throat.
“Guys, this is my husband Cole. Cole, this is Julie, Josh, Lynn, Sam, and Ryan.” Hellos were exchanged before everyone else was introduced to the various husbands and wives. Lynn explained that she and Christian were in the middle of getting a divorce, explaining his absence.
Alyssa did not like the dirty looks that Ryan’s wife Aimee was giving her or the looks that Cole was shooting Ryan’s way. Her heart gave a little pitter patter when a little boy came running up to Ryan.
“Alyssa, this is my son Garrett.” The little boy looked at her from wide blue eyes the exact same color as Ryan’s.
“Hi there,” Alyssa said. “I’m Alyssa.”
“My name is Garrett,” The little boy said proudly. “I’m six.” He was so cute, Alyssa just fell in love.
“Okay, Garrett. Go play.” Ryan looked at her. “It’s really good to see you Alyssa.”
“So,” Julie said. “How’s life been for ya?”
“Good. I have a new book. You?” Julie smiled.
“I just finished shooting a new movie.”
“I just got back from China,” Ryan added.
“I just finished a world tour,” Lynn said, adding her accomplishments.
Sam said, “This is stupid.” His friends looked at him. “What? We’re gonna stand here and compare our accomplishments? Is Julie better because she’s famous? Or Alyssa? Lynn? I think it’s stupid to stand here and list everything we’ve done.” Julie looked like she was going to reply but she was interrupted.
“Rachel, I said stop hitting your sister.” Trista noticed her friends in the middle of scolding the young girl. “Hey all!” She exchanged hugs and kisses before letting her children go play. It was then that she picked up on the tense silence.
Alyssa took in her sister’s flared jean skirt and form fitting peasant top. Her seemed so comfortable with her life, with everything.
Alyssa envied her.
There was so much tension, you could cut it with a knife. The wives were glaring at the ex girlfriends with looks that could kill. It was making Alyssa nervous.
Sam’s wife Charlotte and Ryan’s wife Aimee said they had headaches and went to lie down. Stubbornly, Cole stayed by Alyssa’s side, keeping a wary eye on Ryan.
Both Alyssa and Ryan were aware of the way that they kept looking at each other, but neither could really help it. Ryan was also looking at Cole, as if he was sizing him up. It was giving Alyssa a headache.
Cole’s grip on her arm was getting to be painful and she wrenched her arm out of his grip. She didn’t notice the deep read mark his hand had left on her arm. Mr. Morgan, noting how Alyssa was attempting to get rid of Cole, enlisted his help to start barbequing some hamburgers and hotdogs.
Ryan’s hand was on her arm, on the mark Cole had left. She moved away when she noticed Cole still watching them but Ryan pulled her aside.
“What’s going on Alyssa?”
“Nothing Ryan.” She sat down next to the pool, slipping off her sandals and dipping her feet into the water.
“Right,” Ryan said, sitting down next to her. Together, they sat on the edge of the pool, in deep meaningful silence.
“Serious,” Alyssa said, attempting to sound confident. “Cole is great. We live in a great house, we make a decent amount of money, so all in all I think we have a pretty good life.”
“Said with so much enthusiasm,” Ryan said. “So how has your life been? Obviously, you’re finally doing the writing thing. The books are awesome.”
“Great,” Alyssa replied. “I’m married, doing what I love and getting paid for it. What about you? You didn’t look so happy with your wife.”
“I’m not. But good,” Ryan replied. “Journalism is great, I love my son, and Aimee...I really don’t want to comment on her. So much crap has gone on, it would take months to tell it all.”
“Don’t I know it,” Alyssa muttered. She switched tones and exclaimed, “I love your son! He’s so adorable.” Ryan laughed, smiling wistfully as he watched his son running around Mr. Morgan’s yard.
“So no little Alyssas or Coles running around?” Ryan asked playfully.
“No,” Alyssa said, shaking her head. “I’ve always wanted a big family, but Cole doesn’t want kids.”
“That’s too bad,” Ryan said. “Garrett’s the best thing in my life. Why did you marry him if his values didn’t match with yours?”
“There were a lot of things that I didn’t know about Cole when I married him,” Alyssa said, a slight bitterness tinging her tone. “That just happened to be one of them.”
They sat together at the edge of the pool, attraction and pain palpable in the air. So much had changed, yet so much still remained the same. They were at the same house, yet they were completely different people.
Soon, their other friends join them until the core group was sitting around the pool, free of husbands and wives. Of course, that was excluding Julie and Josh since they were married. No one said a word.
Each of them had a deep need to prove that they had gone out there and done something with their lives. But wasn’t it like Sam had said? Did they really need to be naming off their accomplishments, trying to outdo each other? That wasn’t what best friends did.
That’s right.
They weren’t best friends anymore. They were complete strangers. They had grown up, started families. The group wasn’t the same. So how could they expect to act the same? So they sat in silence, not sure what to say to one another.
Not how a reunion should have gone at all.
Chapter Two
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