Chapter 3

  “How do I look?”

  Adam walked out of his bedroom and into the living room, where his sister was sitting comfortably on the sofa, petting Orpheus, whose eyes lazily opened, hearing the sound of Adam’s voice.

  “Look at you!” Stephanie whistled, impressed with what she was seeing. “I don’t think you made such an effort to look good like.. ever!”

  “Not funny,” he frowned, jokingly. “I’m serious.”

  “So, am I,” she nodded, “just look at you.”

  Adam walked over to the big, elongated mirror in the corner of the living room. He loved it. It used to belong to their late grandmother. A few weeks after she died, Stephanie and he went to her house. Their mother said she couldn’t join them, because it was just too painful, so the brother and sister, hand in hand, walked into the house which once brought them so much laughter and happiness as children, but which was now so huge and empty. Adam got the mirror and some of his old toys. Stephanie wanted the vanity table, where she, her mother and her grandmother used to spend afternoons together, putting on make up and trying out perfumes. The rest was left intact, and eventually their mother found the courage to go back. Now, years later, she was happily living there, that house becoming her home once again.

  Adam looked at his own reflection in the mirror. He had a haircut the previous week, so his hair was still formed as he wanted it to be, and some styling products never hurt either when one wanted to look extra nice. He freshly shaved this morning and did all the necessary grooming. It took him about two hours, but he didn’t mind. It was Saturday, a day he could spend any way he wanted.

  He always preferred the less is more approach, especially in his attire. His style was always understated, but classic and impeccable. A crisp white shirt and a black bow tie, with burgundy polka dots, and of course, plain black pants to boot.

  “Maybe I should have dressed more casually. I don’t even know what kind of an event it’s going to be,” Adam wondered aloud if he was overdressed for the occasion.

  “Does it matter?”

  His sister was making a good point. He shouldn’t be dressing for others. He should dress to make himself feel like a million bucks. And, he really was feeling that way. In polka dots.

  “You’re right,” he smiled.

  “Of course,” she grinned. “So, how do you feel?”

  “A little nervous,” he admitted, adjusting his bow tie more out of a need to do something while talking.

  “About Blair?”

  “Mhm,” he nodded, gazing at himself in the mirror, “he’s the only reason I’m going.”

  “Is he coming alone?”

  “No idea,” he shrugged his shoulders.

  “I read that he isn’t married, no kids, no girlfriend.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” he replied, “you know these guys sometimes like to keep their private lives …well, private.”

  “But, something would still leak to the press. And, nothing has, so far,” Stephanie added, “so, he’s good at hiding either because he really appreciates his privacy ...or?” she eyed him mysteriously.

  “Or?” he repeated.

  “He has something to hide.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Adam burst out laughing. “What could he have to hide?”

  “You never know,” she shrugged his shoulders.

  “You know,” he told her lovingly, “I envy your imagination. You always think someone is either a murderer or a mysterious lover, there is no in between for you.”

  They both laughed. Over the course of the years, Stephanie’s love for the written word really kept amusing him, especially when they were little kids, and she would invent stories to keep him entertained. With her, everything was a possible clue, anyone a possible suspect for a wrongdoing. Sometimes, he’d forget how lucky he was to have such a fun loving sister, who always stood by his side, no matter what. Not everyone was so lucky.

  Chapter 4

  The reunion took place at a cozy little restaurant, which was closed to the public for the purposes. Adam parked his car a little down the street, then slowly walked over to the restaurant. He stopped in front of the entrance, and glanced through the glass door. The place seemed packed. People were sitting at specially decorated tables. It looked like everyone was having fun. He even recognized a few faces. Then, he took a deep breath, adjusted his polka dot bow tie just a little, and took a bold step inside, pushing the glass door open like a cowboy in the Wild West. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of being an outcast, even after all these years. It was a feeling that would probably never go away.

  The hostess was sitting at her desk, right at the entrance. She smiled a row of pearly whites, framed by a fiery red lipstick. Her eyes revealed a cheerful person, of about Adam’s age, and her voice completely suited her sunny persona. She was definitely gorgeous, by any standards, and that was probably the reason why she got this job in the first place, as her smile was warm and welcoming.

  “Hi there,” she beamed, “here for the reunion?”

  She looked down at a piece of paper which had some writing, but Adam couldn’t distinguish what it was.

  “Yeah,” Adam confirmed, nodding slightly.

  “And you are?”

  “Adam Thompson,” he responded, waiting.

  “There you are,” she found his name easily on the list, then put a mark next to it, “feel free to go in. Almost everyone is here already.”

  He looked towards the place. It really looked like he was among the last ones to arrive. But, that was always a better option than arriving first.

  “Is there like a seating arrangement or something?” he wondered.

  “No, feel free to sit wherever you want. The menus are on the table, and when you’re ready to order, someone will be with you shortly,” she informed him sweetly.

  “Thanks,” Adam nodded once again, for good measure, then went in with a wobbly step.

  He heard about this restaurant a while ago, from a few friends who all recommended its good food and pleasant ambiance. Adam had to agree. The place was cozy, and very inviting. Almost like a good friend opened up a restaurant at his place, and just kept inviting people to come in. The interior design was a combination of several styles, rustic, modern, a few vintage items were lying around, too. At first glance, it somehow seemed wrong, as if none of those things agreed with each other. But, on second glance, harmony would set in. The music would align with the feel of the vision, and somehow, everything would fall into its rightful place. At least, that was the impression Adam got.

  He kept looking around, trying to find the least occupied table. Just as he thought, people were still separated into the same cliques as back in high school. Jocks were still sitting with jocks, cheerleaders with cheerleaders, nerds… there were only a few of them. Adam was surprised to see even that many of them came. He was still scanning the room for the least conspicuous position, which would allow him anonymity, unless he himself wanted a bit of the limelight. But, that was a rare occasion.

  “Adam!”

  Suddenly, Adam heard his name being called out. He froze in the same spot he was standing, cursing his luck. All he wanted to do was slither into the darkest corners of this restaurant, and here he was, being called out by name in front of everyone.

  “Over here! Adam!” the voice repeated, a little too eagerly for his taste.

  That someone was persistent. For a second, Adam thought of sitting down anywhere, and just pretend that he hadn’t heard Stella call out to him. But, before he could do anything, he already felt a cold hand on his elbow, tugging at him.

  “You came! Come, sit with me.”

  Without waiting for him to reply, she pulled him, and in less than a second, he was sitting at a table, surrounded by Stella and her weird friends from high school. He recognized all of them. They waved at him enthusiastically, and he just smiled back awkwardly, at what they giggled nervously, throwing serious glances at Stella, whose puffy cheeks were glowing red. It was like they were all back in high school.

  Adam felt uncomfortable. His palms were getting clammy, and that bow tie was a little too tight. Nothing felt right. He didn’t make the entrance he was hoping for, which was a silent and invisible one. Instead, he was sure that everyone noticed him. He wanted to just sit down and scan the room for any familiar faces which he liked, or at least, used to like. Now, he felt like all those prying eyes were already on him, devouring him with their unwanted curiosity, and all he could do was hope that Blair was late.

  “The salmon is very good,” Adam heard Stella speak into his ear, a little too close for his taste, showing him the menu.

  “Really?” he replied, clumsily, “I’ll have to check out the menu then, but I’m not really hungry honestly.”

  He reached out, and as he did so, he forced Stella to move to the side a little, leaving his personal space uncontaminated. He hoped it would remain like that, at least for a while. He opened the menu and pretended to be reading it, because that gave him a reason not to look in her direction or talk to her.

  “Oh, I think this wine is really getting to me,” she kept on talking.

  Adam didn’t want to be rude to her. After all, she didn’t do anything to him. But, she was becoming increasingly annoying, and he was frantically scanning the room for any other person he could use an an excuse to leave her side. It really was like back in high school. Stella was nice and all, but he wanted her as far away from him as possible, because she could be too much sometimes.

  At that moment, he saw him. Blair Mathis. Mr Irresistible. Mr Perfect Curls. Mr Everything. He was looking straight at Adam. Unapologetic. Hot as Hell. Eyes fixated on him beckoning him to come. Then, he raised his hand just a little, barely visible, for one second, only to fold his elongated fingers and place that very same hand down, back on the table.

  “Excuse me, Stella,” Adam spoke to her, without even looking at her, “I’ll be right back.”

  He didn’t care whether she would get upset or not. He got up, making sure not to make any sounds with his chair, not even giving her a chance to say anything, and he walked over to Blair’s table, with Stella’s eyes watching his every move like a hawk. He could almost feel her gaze burning a hole in the back of his head, but he couldn’t care less about that right now. He was mesmerized, called forward by an invisible force to come and take what he came for… if he had the guts.

  He stopped in front of him. The table was in the corner of the room, so the lamp lights barely shone on it, leaving it mysteriously in the dark, and Adam could see only the left, illuminated side of his face. There was a trace of a faint smile, and those dimples girls were ready to die for back in high school. Blair was sitting opposite him. To his left were two young men Adam recognized as Blair’s ex team mates. Now, they looked more like businessmen than athletes. And, it seemed like Blair wasn’t all that interested in talking to them. Besides, they were too busy catching up and paid no attention to anyone else. Adam was just fine with that.

  Blair didn’t take his eyes off of him. His head tilted slightly to the side, as if wondering what Adam’s next move would be. Adam felt like he was teasing him to do something, calling him out, so he didn’t think. He just acted.

  “Hey, Blair, long time no see,” Adam walked over as confidently as he could, and sat down on the empty chair next to Blair.

  Blair waited a second, even raised his eyebrow, as if he was surprised by this bold step.

  “You, too man,” Blair replied finally, with a hint of a mysterious smile.

  Adam wasn’t sure, but for a second he thought Blair had checked him out, and not in a friendly way either, but in a way a wolf checks out his prey to see if the meat was tender enough. But, he immediately pushed that thought away. He was just overwhelmed by seeing Blair after all this time, and he was just reading into things a little too much. He hoped it’d pass before he made a fool of himself.

  “Something to drink?” Blair asked, seeing there was no glass in front of Adam.

  “Oh, yeah,” Adam smiled, “I haven’t ordered yet. I just arrived.”

  “I saw,” Blair nodded,and Adam swallowed heavily. “I also saw that Stella stuck her claws into you deep.”

  “Stella?” Adam turned around, and then saw that Stella was still sitting at the same place where he left, saying he’d be right back.

  She was staring at him, her look a mixture of sadness and annoyance. Adam waved nervously, then quickly turned around.

  “I forgot to reply to her email, and she called me,” Adam explained, “almost forcing me to come.”

  “Well, I for one am glad to see you here,” Blair flashed a row of pearly whites, “let’s drink to that.”

  He raised his hand and politely called for the waiter.

  “I’ll have another scotch on the rocks. My friend here will have…” he waited for Adam to make up his mind.

  “Oh, I’ll just have a beer.”

  “A beer?” Blair laughed. “What are we, back in high school? Have a man’s drink.”

  “I don’t really drink…”

  “You should,” Blair confided, “it makes life more fun.”

  Adam grinned nervously. He figured Blair must have already had a few shots himself. He was never so… open. Adam didn’t know what to make of all this. Ten years was a long time and maybe some of them did change, hopefully for the better.

  “You know what?” Blair shuffled in his chair, “scratch that scotch. Get us two snake bites.”

  “Right away,” the waiter rushed and a minute later, came back with two yellow looking drinks, served in a shot glass, decorated with a slice of lemon.

  “Is this tequila?” Adam looked at the shot glasses, then Blair.

  “Nope,” Blair grinned. “It’s a man’s drink.”

  He took one of the glasses and pushed the other one to Adam, spilling only a little on the table.

  “It’s Canadian whiskey with just a dash of lime juice. Bitter, but worth it,” he raised his glass, and Adam immediately did the same. “Bottoms up!”

  Blair downed it in a second, and Adam did the same, coughing a little once he was done. Blair laughed.

  “Manly, right?”

  “Mhm,” Adam could only nod, wiping his mouth a little.

  Throughout the rest of the night, drinks just kept coming, but Adam could barely remember ordering any of those. He stayed at Blair’s table, and at one point, he realized that they were sitting there alone. Others seemed to mingle, or dance, or sit at the bar and chat. Everyone was actually having a great time, including Adam, leading him to the happy conclusion that he was glad he came, despite his initial animosity towards this whole idea.

  “So, you got a family?” Blair asked, among other things.

  “No, no one. You?” Adam quickly asked back, really curious about his old friend and his new habits.

  “There’s someone I’ve been seeing,” Blair admitted, “but we’re very open about our relationship.”

  “Well, you were always the ladies’ man,” Adam smiled, not surprised that his friend wasn’t single.

  “Yeah…” Blair replied, with a facial expression Adam couldn’t read. “You know, I’m kinda done with this place. You wanna get outta here?”

  “You mean, go, with you?” Adam asked, clumsily, cursing his own nerves.

  “Yeah,” Blair laughed.

  “Sure!”

  Adam was already up, grabbing his jacket. But, as soon as he did so, he felt someone’s warm breath a little too close on his neck.

  “Going so soon?” Stella asked him, eyeing Adam, then Blair, then Adam again.

  “Yeah, we had fun, thanks for organizing this, Stella,” Blair replied instead of Adam.

  “Oh…” Stella didn’t know what to say, so she went in for an awkward hug with both of them, clinging a little too long and too tight on Adam.

  Outside, in front of the restaurant, Blair got his key from the valet, and led Adam to his fancy, new car.

  “Where are we going?” Adam asked, before getting into the car.

  “What?” Blair grinned. “Afraid I’ll take advantage of you?”

  “No, just… asking,” Adam replied, laughing.

 

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