This is an entry in the
Halloween Story Contest 2022
. Please vote!
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Leo Brown was surprised when he got the email. He didn't realize that it had been so long since he graduated high school. But, here it was his twenty year high school reunion. Would he go back or not? It was a long way back to the States from his current home here in Ireland. He had work and a life here. Not much of a life but still a life, so to speak.
Why were they having it in fall too? Shit, they probably wanted some donation from him. Laramie East always needed money for their sports teams. The jocks "needed" new uniforms, scoreboards...all the shit that the asked for in some hope that their sucky football team would miraculously get better. The football team had been asking for donations since he'd gone their. All the donations had never bought them a better team.
Besides.why should he leave his home? What was there for him at Laramie East High school. But, still he wanted to see everyone...well not everyone, he hated nearly everyone. He just wanted Laurie to see Laurie.
There had been alot of jerks and assholes in his class. But, Laurie was his high school sweetheart. He wanted to talk to her and see her again before he got any older. He didn't want to talk to her online either. He wanted to talk to her face to face and in person like they used to twenty years ago. Leo wanted to be with Laurie physically..well not physically physically. He wanted to be in the same room as her. Leo wanted to find his happiness.
Leo had several Guinesses as well as some fish and chips for lunch so he fell asleep at his desk. He was a manager at a Call Center in Cork and between robocalls and the telemarketers, the place mostly took care of itself. So Leo was able to take it easy. Leo fell asleep at his desk and dreamed.
He dreamed he was back in high school. His locker was right next to Laurie Greysmith's, if her locker hadn't been next to his they probably would have never met. His entire high school only had 300 students but she was a popular girl and a lawyer's daughter. She lived on the opposite side of town. Leo lived on the "wrong side of the tracks''. Leo and Laurie ran in different circles.
Still on the first day of school freshman year, he had been polite and introduced himself as she put on cherry flavored chapstick in her locker mirror. Leo had thought she was so pretty with her hair done up in a ponytail. This girl was definitely out of his league. Still Leo thought he might as well go for it. What did he have to lose? Leo asked her name. She had told him that her name was Laurie.
"Are you a Laura or a Lauren?" asked Leo. He didn't want her to stop talking. She was so entrancing in that way that only young high school girls can be. At the time he didn't realize it but he was as shy and trying to hard as only young high school boys could be.
Laurie said that she was a Lauren but hated that name so everyone called her Laurie. She wanted to know if Leo was short for anything. Leo told her that he was just Leo. Leo was disappointed that they had no classes together. They would just have to make small talk about nothing at their lockers. So Laurie and Leo talked about how much Algebra sucked and what the cafeteria had for lunch that day. Their friendship never really progressed beyond that. Until, Laurie told him she was joining the debate team.
Leo figured that would be a good way to spend more time with Laurie so he tried out for the debate team too. His father told him that the debate team was for losers and fags. No son of his was going to be a loser or a fag. Father and son didn't speak for three months. But, Leo didn't care what his alcoholic father said or did. Even though he was just a teenager, Leo knew that his father was a loser, it was why his mother had left. Leo wanted to be with Laurie. So he tried out and won a place on the team. Leo thanked God. Leo knew he was totally unqualified and no good at debate.
Still he, Laurie and the rest of the high school team, debated things that seemed important then but ultimately never mattered. High schoolers had no say in elections, or world decisions. Three years went by with just friendly chats about nothing between the two and time on the debate team.
Leo woke up from his dream. He wondered if dreams were lies to yourself or if it was something worse, a delusion perhaps. Either way, Leo decided to head back to Wyoming for his class reunion. After all, what was the worst that could happen? Perhaps something good might even happen for once. TPS reports at his office could wait.
So two months later, Leo found himself on a plane back to the United States. A mere twenty-four hours after that, on a cold autumn day, he found himself in Larmie. He had forgotten how flat it was. You could bowl on Main Street.