The Reunion

Gracie

 Welp here I am, going home for the 10 year high school reunion, after I talked myself into going just to rub my success in my old classmate faces, granted I only had a day to decide seeing as it's Friday night and it's currently Thursday, I packed my bags and bought a ticket for the next flight out to Alabama, I felt my IQ plummet the second the planes tires screeched along the tarmac, I grabbed my overnight bag out of the overhead compartment and dragged my feet off the plane and walked into the airport terminal.

My big brother Cash, who never left the state and his wife were the ones to come and pick me up seeing as our parents moved to the beach after I moved away leaving the house to Cash and his wife Ashlyn.

"So G, how is the big city?" his wife Ashlyn asks me as i toss my bag into the cab of their truck, it's been awhile since I been home and by a while I mean like 4-5 years and in that time not only have I lost some of my southern twang but I keep forgetting what my family sounds like and wow.

"It's a new adventure every day, I can't get enough of it." I tell her

"Cash, do you hear her my god she's lost her southern drawl and picked up a northern accent! You really need to come home more Gracie or at least call more." she says and Cash pulls away he just sits there nodding his head in agreement going mhmm as he spits his chew into the bottle.

"I will do just that when I have the time, work is crazy, I have so many books to read and decide if they are worth publishing. I hardly have time for anything else, I had to beg my boss to even let me come down here for a few days." I say as I pull out my ipad and skim over the latest manuscript of an up and coming romance author.

As we pull into the driveway of my childhood home I grab my bag and head in the house to my old room, Cash and Ashlyn boxed up my stuff and shoved it in the closet to make my old room into a spare when mom and dad come up to visit but the posters of New York on the walls, and the millions of pictures I took when the senior class trip went to Manhattan are still up.

That trip, that was it from the second I stepped onto the busy city street and smelt the ammonia filled subway. I knew that was where I wanted to be, where I belonged.

I toss my bag onto the bed and start to unpack my bag, hanging up the strappy V-neck Chanel dress before it wrinkles and setting my black Louboutin below it all ready to go tomorrow night.

I change into some jeans and a T and head out to the living room, and watch them for a little bit. Cash is working the computer seeing as he does some kind of online job and Ashlyn is getting ready for the night shift at the local nursing home. "I'll be back." I say as I steal the keys to my old car and head for town, it's been awhile since I been home but DAMN, after being in a city that never sleeps and going to a town that literally closes at 5 pm sucks, I wonder around town, its small but when i was little I thought it was huge but now this is small, as I wonder peering into some of the old shops I use to go to I can see that they have been closed up for some time also there is a thick layer of dust collected onto the glass, as I keep walking I'm waiting the the enviable shoe to stop and someone I went to school with or someone that has known me my entire life to recognize me and then word spreads like wildfire that I am here and I'm not ready for that.

not only have I changed emotionally but I have physically as well, I lost some weight, which I didn't have to work so hard at seeing as I live in a city that I walk everywhere in but I also changed the way i ate when i moved their, i tried every single place that was labeled as southern comfort food in the first year I was their and nothing compared to my mama's cooking but my taste has expanded now and I'm sure that I will not be able to find good fresh sushi here.

after touring the town I made my way up the the next major town for the world famous BBQ, after walking out with the few things I have been craving I manage to make it back home, I settle down in my room with my food and read some more of the newest novel I have been assigned to read over, after a few hours I finished the book and decide that it is worth publishing, I sit my iPad down and scan my old room, I rummage threw the closet and spot my old years book on the shelf and seeing as I have the reunion tomorrow it might be best if I figure out who is who again, I've kept up with some people when I moved thanks to social media, but it's sad looking back and seeing that almost 80% of the graduating class is all either married or have a few kids by now. Except me.

As I flip threw the book i happen to come across Elliot Rose, I use to help him pass English he was the high school heartthrob every girl wanted him including me and every girl was always trying to be my friend to try and get close to him but it never worked, I would often have the thought of what if, what if he asked me to prom or want if he asked me to go to homecoming, or even asked me out on a date and gave me a kiss, I mean the closest thing I ever came to what one would mistake for a date with him is when we went to the diner for a last minute english paper he needed help with.

I had the biggest crush on him I mean for christ sakes i was a bumbling idiot when he was around, always stumbling over my words, tripping over air and up stairs it was sad, I wonder what he's been up to since then, last time i saw him was the night of graduation after the ceremony, he hugged me and thanked me for all the help over the 4 years, the next day I was on my way to NYU for journalism, I occasionally would look him up over the last 10 year but people change so much that I wouldn't know if it was him or not. I wonder if he will be their tomorrow, I sure would like to know what he does now, I'm sure he maybe took over his family's ranch or maybe he works at the local store, who knows but I'm sure I will know more tomorrow, that is if he even shows up, no point in worrying about it time to get some sleep.