MADversary (4 page)

Still, though, that left her topless.  She continued scrutinizing the clothes in her closet.  It was early July and hot, and even though the reunion was going to be inside the Sedgwick Hotel where there would be plenty of air conditioning, she wanted to keep her cool getting there.  But then, she wondered, what if the hotel was one of those places where they kept it too cool and she’d be freezing because her arms were bare?

She gritted her teeth, angry because she’d let Lisa’s chatter get under her skin.  She was now making a big fucking deal out of this reunion when she hadn’t even planned to go.
  She shook her head and covered her eyes with one hand, then stuck the other hand out.  Whatever she pulled out of the blouse section would be what she’d wear…within reason.

When her hand grabbed something, she dropped her right hand from covering her eyes.  This was a long-sleeved shirt as well, but it was made of a light, satiny fabric and it was a pattern of flowers, but they were in muted reds, greens, and oranges.  It was simple and pretty but not over the top.  She nodded, happy, and wondered why she didn’t always dress this way.

She spent the next hour fretting over her hair and makeup.  She really didn’t remember the last time she’d spent so much time primping, and she hadn’t even spent that kind of time preparing for her last five dates…
combined
.

Lisa picked her up five minutes before the arrival time.  When Megan answered her door and walked out, she said to Lisa, “We’re going to be late.”

“Yeah, so?
  Who expects us to be on time anyway? 
Boring
.”

Megan laughed at the singsong didn’t-give-a-shit tone in Lisa’s voice.  Lisa had been stressing over this damned reunion for months and now she was happy and relaxed, seeming to be without a care in the world.  In fact, she almost acted like she didn’t even care about it anymore.  Megan hadn’t wanted to go, had protested in fact, so it should be no big deal.  Yet here she was, nervous and worried about what was going to happen that evening.

As they walked to Lisa’s car, Megan shook her hands out, trying to get the circulation to
speed
up
to normal
.  “Oh, my God,” Lisa said.  “Are you freaking out now?”

Megan lied.  “No.  I’m
cool.”  She knew her friend knew better, but she didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to dissect her reasons anymore.

So when they got in the car, Megan turned the radio up loud and sang along to
Disturbed’s
“Hell.”  It was short lived, though, because the station played a series of commercials after.  Megan didn’t care, though, as long as Lisa didn’t force her to talk about what was going to happen next.

When they got close to the hotel, Megan pulled down the visor and lifted the lid to the mirror.  She made sure her lipstick and hair looked okay.  She knew people like her friend would evaluate how the years had treated her.  Would they look at Megan and think she looked awful?  Would they think she looked older or younger than she should? 
Too fat or too thin?
  What would they think?

Did she care? 
When she thought about it, not really.
  This was going to be less than forty-eight hours of torture.  She could do it.  And
who knows?
she
thought.  Maybe she’d reconnect with some old friends and be glad she’d come.  She might find it interesting to discover what her old classmates had done with themselves.

Lisa parked her car and the two women exited and began walking across the parking lot together.  “Oh, my God,” Lisa said as they got closer to the entrance.

“What?” Megan asked, looking over at her friend.

“I forgot to tell you.”

“
What?
” Megan repeated, this time sounding more frustrated.

“Yeah…um…Penny called me yesterday with an update.”

“So?”  She probably had given Lisa an updated body count.  Last time fifty-five percent of their classmates were going to be there.  Megan doubted the count had grown much more, and she figured that was an impressive percentage.

“Well…” Lisa said, dragging it out.

The women approached the revolving glass door, and Lisa darted in, leaving Megan out
side
by herself.  She waited for the next opening and followed her friend inside.   By the time she caught up to Lisa, she was feeling frustrated.  Lisa liked to have Megan hanging on her every word, and she had once again succeeded.  Megan stood still, just staring at Lisa.  “I’m waiting.”

“I forgot to tell you that Tyler probably
is
going to be here.”

Megan felt the blood rush out of her head and blackness appeared at the corner of her eyes
as h
er heart started beating
faster
.  Then, as she regained control of herself, she felt ire rising from her gut.  “That’s a game changer,
Leese
.”

Lisa smiled, looking nervous.  “But you’re already
here
,” she whined and began pulling on her friend’s arm to drag her farther into the hotel.  Megan was angry but numb and let Lisa
continue
dragg
ing her through
the hotel, following the signs that led them to their high school reunion
.

Once they entered
a large ballroom packed with people, Megan let her eyes adjust.  There were clumps of men and women here and there and all seemed to be involved in intense conversation.

Lisa grabbed her friend’s arm.  “Hey…there’s the bar over there.  I think we should go the
re first.”  As she started haul
ing
a resistant
Megan
through the room
again, a woman at a table to the left said, “Can I get your names?”

Lisa asked, “Penny?  Is that you?”

The brown-haired woman at the table stood up, smiling. 
Aha
…Lisa had kept talking about a woman named Penny Austin who was coordinating the reunion, but Megan hadn’t registered her as the woman formerly known as Penny Carpenter.  She’d been the president of the Chess Club and she’d been in the National Honor Society and on the yearbook committee.  She’d been a friendly young lady, but her face had been plastered with a mixture of freckles and pimples throughout high school, and she hadn’t enjoyed the pleasure of braces, so she’d had buck teeth that always arrived in class before she did.  But Penny today looked fantastic.  She was wearing makeup (something her youthful self had avoided), and her hair cascaded down her back in soft curls.  Her smile showed that her teeth were now reined in, and her face was flawless.  Megan knew that she herself hadn’t changed this drastically.  In fact, she was pretty certain she still looked the same as she had back then, just a little older. 
But Penny?
  Wow.  She knew this gal was going to receive hundreds of compliments before the night was over.

Suddenly, Megan felt inadequate, underdressed, and nervous. 
Well, the nervous feeling
had been with her for quite some time
, and now, knowing Tyler might show up after all…she would definitely have to have a drink or two.

Penny gave Lisa a nametag and a sheet of paper,
then
turned to Megan.  “Megan Walker?  It’s been so long!  You look terrific, girl.”

Megan’s mouth curled up in a smile on one side.  “I was just thinking the same about you.”

As Penny checked Megan’s name off her list, she found her nametag and handed it to Megan to stick to her blouse.  “Lisa tells me you work at the library.  I don’t make it down there very often, or I guess I would have seen you once in a while.”

“You still live around here?”

“Well, kind of.  I live up the mountain a ways.  My grandparents passed away and willed me their land, so I live up there and do some freelance writing.”  Sounded like a dream to Megan.  “That gives me plenty of time to organize events like this.”

Megan smiled.  “So far, it looks like you’ve done a great job.”

“Thanks.”  She turned her attention to the door where more people were arriving.  “I hope I get to mingle more tomorrow.  Enjoy yourselves, ladies!”

Megan thought there was zero chance of enjoyment here tonight, but she smiled just the same and took a deep breath.  It was
gonna
be a long night.

Chapter Five

LISA GRABBED MEGAN’S
arm
once more
and brought her lips close to her friend’s ear.  “I was looking at the list, and Tyler’s name wasn’t checked off, so he’s not here. 
Happy now?”

Megan grimaced.  “Should I be?  His
name’s
on the list, and maybe he likes being fashionably late even more than you do.”

Lisa frowned.  “Come on, Meg.  I don’t know what the big deal is.  Don’t you think
it’s
cool seeing how people have changed?  You’ll feel the same way about Tyler.  I promise.”  They got to the bar
and stood for a few seconds.  Lisa looked to her side and spotted someone she recognized. 
“Oh, my God.
  Randy Butler—is that
you
?”
  The man drawing Lisa’s attention was stocky.  He had dishwater blonde hair and green eyes.  He was tall but, now that Megan was remembering what he
’d
looked like ten years ago, not as wiry as he’d been in high school.  He’d filled out and was dangerously close to becoming doughy.

Great.
  Now Megan knew she was in it for the long haul, and she
would be
completely alone.  Lisa had already found one of her unrequited crushes, and Megan noticed he
wasn’t wearing
a wedding band.  So while Lisa ordered a beer and flirted with Randy (after Megan got
in a
cursory
hi
), Megan decided
to drink
something a little
stronger
.

Now she felt jumpy and alone, but maybe she could steal Lisa back from Randy
after
the girl had
had an opportunity to flirt for a few minutes
. 
Megan looked up, relieved to discover the bartender was a hotel employee, not someone she went to high school with. 
“What’ll it be?” he asked.

“Um…I think maybe I’ll have a
Sex on the Beach
.”  She hadn’t had o
ne of them in a long time and wondered if she’d still like it as much as she used to.  She’d almost avoided ordering the drink because she hated the name.  It didn’t help that she wasn’t a huge fan of drinking to begin with.  But the flavor of this particular
concoction
was sweet and went down
more
easi
ly
than other alcoholic beverages.  As she watched the bartender mix the drink, she decided that if she wasn’t enjoying herself by the time she finished it, she would call a cab…unless, of course, Lisa needed her.  But, at the moment, she appeared to be doing just fine without Megan.

She sipped the drink.  It was exactly what she needed
.  She paid the bartender and gave him a nice tip, then turned around.  She stood next to Lisa and Randy, but it was obvious they weren’t much interested in her presence. 
In fact, she doubted they even knew she was still nearby.  That hadn’t taken long. 
Megan remembered that Lisa had had a hardcore crush on Randy their junior
year,
and Lisa had dragged Megan to basketball games back then just to watch him play.  She was happy that Lisa was having a good time but regretting that she’d agreed to come along.  She felt like a third wheel in a place where everyone should have felt that way.

But as she surveyed the landscape, everyone else appeared to be having a great time.  She
did
spy one guy across the room
who
looked familiar, a guy named Mike Hardy.  He had been a nice enough guy and had been in FBLA with Megan (she now thought being in a business leader club was the furthest thing from what she’d ever wanted to do with her life, but it
had been
nice belonging to a group of people who liked playing with o
ffice machines as much as she ha
d at
the time).  The problem was Mike ha
d had a crush on her and hadn’t ever taken any of her subtle hints that she wasn’t interested.  He’d never actually made any moves on her, so she couldn’t even turn him down; instead, he’d been like a puppy dog following her around.  And his eyes zeroed in on her now.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself that people change.  Maybe someone like Mike
would
now
be
confident and
sure of himself, something that Megan would find appealing.
  If nothing else, he might be someone to spend the evening talking to.
  He waved and she smiled.  It was nice to recognize someone.  Actually, lots of faces looked familiar and if she’d seen their nametags, she would have remembered, but most people were already engaged in conversation.  Now she knew why Lisa had scoured through yearbooks la
st week—she’d wanted to recognize
people easily.  Megan wondered if maybe she should have done that as well.