The Reunion

CHAPTER 1: A Reunion full of strangers

RAYNIE

I was looking for my keys all over my apartment when I heard the front door shut. I turned around and saw my best friend and assistant manager at the salon I work at, Jane. 

"You're not ready yet?" She asks me. 

"Almost. Just trying to find my keys." I tell her. 

"Why don't you go finish getting ready and i'll look for them." She offers. 

"Thanks." I tell her. 

I then head into my bedroom and finish getting ready. Right as soon as I finish up, I hear my cell phone going off. I answer it after I see it's my brother, Elijah. 

"Hey Elijah." I answer. 

"Hey sis. I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to pick me up. I'm gonna ride with a buddy of mine that I recently hired as my new artist, you know, the one that I told you about last week?" He says. 

"Oh yeah. Okay then, I'll see ya then." I tell him. 

"See ya there." He says. "Love you."

"Love you too." I reply. 

The moment I open up my door, I see Jane standing in front of me with a huge grin on her face as she's dangling the keys in front of me. 

"I found them." She smiles. 

"Thank you. I'm ready." I tell her as I grab the keys from her hand and grab my purse as we head out the door. 

"Is your brother ready?" She asks. 

"Yeah but but he's getting a ride from a friend of his that he recently just hired." I tell her. 

"Okay." She says as we begin heading out. 

"We're running a little late already so we need to get going anyways." I tell her. 

"You still nervous about the reunion?" She asks me. 

"Nah. Just a bunch of family members that I either never met or ones I have met and don't remember. For the most part, I can't wait to see our Aunt Leanne. She was always cool. She's the one that owns that cool beauty shop in that small town in Tennessee." 

"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to meet her." Jane says excitedly. 

I haven't seen my aunt in five years and she doesn't do social media so it's been really hard to keep in touch. 

Personally, I hate reunions and being around a lot of people. I have social anxiety I guess you can call it. 

To make matters worse and more awkward, mine and my brother's grandparents had recently died from a car wreck and I'm not ready to talk about it. 

Our grandparents raised us since both mine and Elijah's parents chose drugs and alcohol over taking care of us. But it's cool because me and Elijah always had each other. We're like best friends. 

Elijah and Jane are the only reasons why I am going. Well them and the hopes of seeing Aunt Leanne. 

Forty-five minutes later, we pulled up to this huge park that seemed to be full, guess I don't need to ask if everyone showed up. 

The sunbeams poured through narrow openings of the pale clouds as it outlined the fringes of the lazy drifting clouds. The calm relaxing shade of blue in the background supported the clouds and sun. The colorful swings grew wings as it merrily jumped up and down accompanied by kids with smiles from ear to ear while others are standing and sitting around, laughing, grilling, tossing a football and talking to each other but unfortunately, no Aunt Leanne. 

Jane and I both started walking towards everyone and so far, haven't noticed Elijah, so hopefully he'll be here soon. 

"You alright?" I hear Jane ask me. 

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Thanks again for coming with me." I tell her. 

"You're welcome." She smiles. 

We continue working towards the crowd of people and it seemed as though everyone all knew who I was by the looks they were giving me. 

I took in a deep breath and continued walking up to them and began introducing both me and Jane also. Everyone was very welcoming and down-to-earth which helped me relax even more. 

I felt so comfortable and got caught up in conversations with a few people that I didn't know until I heard someone scream out in excitement my brother's name. 

"Elijah!" One of our family members shouted out as she quickly walked over and hugged him. 

"Finally!" I say. 

"Ooooo. His friend looks hot." I hear Jane say. 

There's several people saying hi to my brother and his friend and I can't get a good look at them so both Jane and I walk towards them. 

I hug Elijah and tease him a little for being late. He just laughs it off and then I notice a group of people around someone behind Elijah and as soon as some people moved out the way, me and the last person I ever wanted to see were locking eyes on each other. 

"Blaze." I say under my breath. 

Then just as if everything became in slow motion, he began walking towards me and for some reason I felt like I couldn't move and all these feelings of pain came back. 

Blaze and my brother had been best friends since they were five and he came over everyday. He had always been as protective as my brother is of me and would tease me a lot. Then a few weeks before I turned eighteen, we both realized we liked each other and wanted to be together. Of course, we kept it from Elijah. 

It wasn't until a week before my eighteenth birthday that he started acting weird and distant. Then the day before my birthday, he left without telling any of us anything. Not even a goodbye. All I remember was texting him to see what was going on and it took a week before he texted me back. I had heard different things on what happened to him but I didn't want to believe any of them. Then after my third text, demanding an explanation, he texts me back to let me know that he had to leave. He needed to get over me and that it never would have worked out because he would never have risked his friendship with my brother over me. After reading that, my world shattered around me. He was my first love and it was more than a crush. 

I swear if he thinks he can just come back here to torture me some more, he has another thing coming. In fact, I will NOT let him get to me. So I take in a deep breath and let it out as I notice him standing beside Elijah. 

"Raynie, this is my new employee." He smiles. 

"Hi Ray." He says. 

"It's Raynie." I shot back at him. 

Man am I glad that I came here. (note the sarcasm)

Next chapter will be posted soon! :)