MADversary (3 page)

“You didn’t end it on bad terms.  What’s the big deal?”

The big deal was Megan had thought Tyler was
the
guy.  He had really rocked her world the short time they’d been together.  He was sweet and sensitive but cute.  And even though she’d tried to avoid following his career, it had been unavoidable.  At least, that’s what she told herself.  But Megan knew that if Tyler had asked her to come with him that summer, she would have.  She would’ve abandoned the notion of school along with the scholarship and work study job, would’ve easily said goodbye to friends and family to follow him.  She was pretty sure he’d known that too but he hadn’t asked.  That was all she’d needed to know.  So, no, she didn’t want to chance running into him.  There were too many
what ifs
she didn’t even want to consider.  “It’s no big deal.  I just don’t want to see him.”

Lisa slapped her hands on the picnic table.  “That’s just messed up.  You really cared about Tyler, and I can’t believe you want to miss the chance to reconnect with him.  And, besides…I really doubt he’d show up anyway.  I know
I
wouldn’t want to attend a high school reunion if I was famous.  What a cluster.”

“So why do you even care?”

“Because, Meg…I want some support there.  What if everyone’s a bunch of jerks or they
are
all rich and just want to rub everyone’s noses in it?  What if no one remembers me?  I need a friend there, Meg.  Come on. 
Please
?”

There were those damned
blue
puppy dog eyes Lisa managed to
play
up when she wanted people to feel sympathy for her, and even though Megan had long been aware of their powers, she still
fell
victim to them.
  Lisa was probably right.  Of course, Tyler wouldn’t be there.  His first band might not have made it and he’d faltered in the beginning, but the last five years, he’d been a solid rock god.  Why would someone with that level of fame attend a high school reunion? 
There would be no good reason. 
“All right.
 
Fine.
  But…”  Megan needed to cover her b
ases.  She couldn’t take a chanc
e.  “…
if
, for some strange reason, Tyler
does
show, then all bets are off.”

Lisa took a deep breath and scrutinized her friend.  Slowly, she offered her hand across the table for a handshake.  “It’s a deal.”

And that’s how Megan
Walker
got s
uckered into attending her ten-year
high school reunion.

Chapter Three

MEGAN HAD DISCOVERED
throughout the years that, while first impressions were often accurate, some of them were dead wrong.  Take the case of Dylan Costa. 
Oh, yes, he was still striking—short blond hair, simmering brown eyes, cheekbones that made him look
somehow
exotic, and a muscular body.  But, sitting across the table from her tonight
,
he didn’t seem friendly and approachable like he had at the concert.  Tonight he seemed egotistical and full of himself.  He didn’
t seem interested in hearing what Megan had to say, which was fine by her, but it wasn’t the point.

Maybe it was
, though
.  Ever since her lunch conversation with Lisa, Megan’s mind had drifted back to high school…
and
to Tyler.  She knew after a day or so that her mind would be back on track, but
the memories were
probably putting a lens over her eyes, coloring her opinions about her date.  Maybe Dylan
had
been like this at the concert and she just hadn’t picked up on it, but after thinking about Tyler, Dylan
wouldn’t
stand a chance
with her
.

And Megan felt some anger at herself.  She’d put this behind her a long time ago, hadn’t she? 
So big deal.
  Tyler had been the ideal boyfriend, but they’d been together for a few short months
…in
high school
, for God’s sake.
  Even if she added in the time they considered themselves a pair although they were separated by distance, it still added up to
way
less than a year.  They’d only actually been together in person for three months.  It didn’t mean anything, especially in high school when relationships seemed to move a lot more slowly because they were tempered with parental control.  It didn’t matter that he’d been the first guy she’d ever
had sex
with.  That just didn’t matter.  It made him
special
, perhaps, but it didn’t make him the center of her universe.

So why the hell was she even thinking about him again?  She tried to clear her thoughts so she could concentrate on Dylan’s drone.
  “He didn’t even want to negotiate points.  Can you believe that?”

Megan maintained eye contact, but she was trying to remember what he was talking about.  She forced a smile and shook her head, then dug in her brain,
prodding for information. 
It was coming back to her
…Dylan was a realtor, thought he was a hotshot.  Oh, yeah, he was talking about the house he’d sold to the mayor last year.  “That had to be the biggest commission I’ve earned so far.”  He stabbed his steak with his fork and used his other hand to slice himself a bite.  “What did you say you do again?”

“I’m an Assistant Librarian.”

“Oh, yeah…at the Public Library, right?”

She nodded.
 
“Yep.
  I like books.”  She felt silly now.  What else could she say really, and after his long monologue about one of his great sales, she didn’t know what she had to say that could be considered interesting.  She loved working at the library, enjoyed keeping her finger on new books, helping patrons find things to read, and even hosting the weekly book club
on
Thursday evenings (something she did without pay), but she doubted anything she did would sound exciting to her date.  Not that she felt the need to impress him, but she didn’t want to talk about herself.  She would rather talk about things
they
enjoyed, things they had in common—like they had the other night when he’d asked her out to begin with.
  But maybe she could take the plunge anyway.  “There’s not much to it really.  I only have a bachelor’s degree, so I’ll never be
the
librarian unless I go back to school, but I don’t care about that.  I’ve always had a deep love of books, and I’m surrounded by them there.”

Dylan nodded.  “What made you decide to go into the field?”

Well, maybe he wasn’t such a boor after all, Megan thought.  This was the first time he’d actually acted interested in what she had to say.  She warmed a little.  “Well, I got a degree in English Literature…again, because I love to read, but it turned out to be a stupid idea because I didn’t really think about what I could
do
with that degree.  I could have become an English teacher, but no thanks. 
So I came back home from college, degree in hand and no job.  And one day I was at the library to check out some books, and I felt like I was Isaac Newton and the apple had just fallen on my head.  ‘I should
work
here,’ I thought, and the rest is history.”

After her little speech, Dylan seemed more interested in his baked potato.  So she took another sip of the red wine in her glass and pondered if she should ask a question or keep talking.  She didn’t want to bore the shit out of him like he had her.  Question it was.  “Do you have any favorite books?”

Dylan stuck out his chin and shook his head.  “No.  I’m not a big fan of reading.”

Wham!
  Any chance there had been for a relationship with this man ended right there.  If he didn’t like to read, the two of them didn’t have enough in common to bother with.
  Books were her
life
, for heaven’s sake, and if he hated reading, they didn’t have enough in common to make it worth her while.  And then she remembered what Lisa had told her one time.  Her friend had said, “You’re too picky, Megan.  You’ll never find a guy who meets your high standards.”  When she felt lonely, she thought Lisa was maybe right, but when she had a guy like Dylan in front of her, she realized she’d rather be alone than with someone who didn’t value the same things she did.

And so much for talking anymore about her job.
  So they fumbled through the rest of dinner, and Megan wandered back to a safe subject:  talking about bands they liked.  After all, they’d struck up a conversation at a concert, so at least they had one thing in common.  Or so Megan had thought.  She loved heavy metal music, had since the first time she’d heard
Korn’s
song
“Blind
.
”  Her parents
had always had their radios tu
ned to pop stations, and she’d been fed a steady diet of Madonna, Mariah Carey,
Michael Bolton,
and Paula Abdul as a kid, but she’d never forget when she discovered music she loved.  She thought she liked the
pablum
her parents listened to on the radio, but nothing compared to heavy guitars, a soul-moving bass drum beat, and screaming vocals.  Her grandparents had given her a silver boom
box for her birthday one year.  She didn’t have any CDs,
so
her parents told her she could borrow theirs.  But she spent her first week turning the dial, listening to radio stations
, and she paused when she heard silence, followed by a distinctive
, repetitive
guitar riff
, then another
.  She took her fingers off the dial and
lay
down on the twin bed in her bedroom and fell in love
, listening to what would become one of her favorite songs ever.  Over the next two years, she discovered more musicians that she loved, bands like
Godsmack
,
Soundgarden
, Rage
Against
the Machine, and Limp
Bizkit
, and her babysitting jobs paid for her growing collection of music.  Her love of music was the only thing that could rival her love of books.

So, Megan thought, at least she and Dylan could talk about the music they loved.  But as she went down that primrose path, she discovered that Dylan wasn’t a huge metal fan.  He liked some hard rock, but he’d gone to The Black Sheep that night with a friend who had an extra ticket.  He wasn’t an avid lover like she was.

Talk about awkward.  So when he started talking about himself again, she gladly let him and also tuned him out.  At least he was good looking so she could continue eye contact even if she wasn’t paying any attention to his words.

After dinner, he asked if he could walk her up to her apartment, and she agreed it was fine.  She even let him stay a while and even had sex with him.  Why, she didn’t know, and when he left, she prayed he didn’t call her again.  There wasn’t any connection, no spark, and the sex hadn’t been magical, so she was sure he wouldn’t.  But there was always that possibility.

Once he was out the door, Megan grabbed a favorite book off the shelves in her room and curled up in bed, trying to push the failure of the evening out of her mind.  No, that wasn’t true.  The evening’s events weren’t flooding her mind; instead, they led her to think about the one thing that had been on her mind since lunch:  Tyler Green.  And that’s why she had a hard time getting to sleep.

Chapter Four

MEGAN TUGG
ED THE
long-sleeved black
silk
shirt off and pulled a short-sleeved pink t-shirt with a sequined heart design on the front over her head.  She sighed, staring at herself in her full-length mirror.  Why the hell had she allowed Lisa to talk her into going to their high school reunion?

The time since she’d agreed to
go
had flown
by
.
  She kept pretending she’d forgotten, but Lisa wouldn’t let her.  When it was time to mail her money to Penny Austin, the lead coordinator of the Reunion Committee, Lisa was hovering over Megan at her kitchen table, waiting patiently for her friend to write out her check.

Then, three weeks ago, Lisa had made Megan go shopping with her to pick out clothes.  Megan had purchased a few things, but not with the reunion in mind.  She hated the idea of spending money on clothes meant to be worn one time.  So she’d plunked down money on items of clothes she’d wear time and time again.

Now, though, rifling through her closet, she wished she’d been less practical.  And not only did she have to dress for tonight, she also had a brunch tomorrow, followed by a hike on a popular moderate trail just a few miles outside of Winchester, and a formal dinner.  Sunday was an early breakfast and time to say goodbye.

Megan was starting to panic.  The pink shirt looked too casual.  She took a deep breath and stood back from her closet doors, trying to reassess.  She didn’t want to wear a dress, because she’d have to wear one Saturday night.  Her eyes scanned her slacks and landed on a pair of simple black ones.  They were on the long side and flared a little at the bottom, making them look dressy and classic without seeming too casual or business-like.  She could wear a pair of black heels with them to add a little more class.