The Reunion 13

Author's note:

NOTE: The subjects of this story when they first met were legally minors, under 18, however this story does not cover any sexual activity during that time (mainly because there wasn't any!).

The time frame of this story is when both parties would be in their early 50s. Therefore there is no minor sex in this story.

While this story is not real, it is about real people and real prior happenings, the memories they bring up and the history is real, but meeting and everything else is not.

The names are changed, both have been changed to middle names. While I have no idea how the woman of my story would take the story I believe there is enough in the story to identify both parties.

This is a hypothesis of one possibility of what could happen should they ever meet, but of course anything is possible and maybe even some that would not be as pleasant as this, but it was a thought, one of many I've had, should this meet ever occur.)

It was a day that I just needed to get away and take a break. It wasn't really a bad day, I was just not too much interested in finding out why this particular program didn't want to work! It was too nice a day and my mind was wandering!

When this happens, I decide this is the time to do those errands that I put off because at that time they are more of an interruption and I'll lose my train of thought. Well today I kind of wanted to lose my train of thought.

It just so happened I had used up the last of my planner, and I had been back to post-um notes again. The instructor who introduced us to this particular planner would be very disappointed in me, for sure! So I knew this may be just the time to go and run to the mall and pick up a new refill.

The mall is of course in the middle of the city, right next to a large lake that also happens to have a nice park by it. So I figured maybe I'd get the refill then go out and get some lunch and eat it by the side of the lake. So I sent out all the pertinent messages; "I'll be out getting something for work, be back as soon as possible, expect me when it starts to rain again!" And off I went.

This mall is huge, but it has almost everything in it, plus you can even get a good amount of exercise in it since it is so huge. And I thought a walk might be nice also. I went in, the store I needed was on the third floor, so I walked in and took a series of escalators up to the floor I wanted. I went into the office supply store, and got what I needed. I came out and was immediately hit by the scent of fresh roasting coffee. Looking towards the source I discovered a gourmet coffee shop.

"Perfect" I thought and I strolled on over. I ordered a Café Vienna (with cinnamon) and an almond crescent.

Looking around I noticed a nice table out of the main traffic of the aisle, but yet still close enough to watch people, a favorite pastime of mine.

I moved to the table and was about to sit down while looking towards aisle I would be facing. Coming out of a clothing store about 5 doors down I recognized her immediately. It had been around 25 or 30 years since I had seen her. It isn't that I am vague about the time because I can't remember when, it's about a similar meeting only that never went very far.

Marie and I dated for only 6 months in my senior year of high school, yet the effect of those brief 6 months would live with me for many years. She was my first true love, and I feel head over heals for her, holding no caution or worry that I might get hurt, just kind of assuming that we would always be together, for it felt so good to be with her.

I remember the first few times seeing her, I was immediately attracted to her She was not too tall, just 5' 1", long dark, and thick hair. She had brilliant blue eyes that really seemed to stand out. Her eyes had a lot to do with captivating me, I'm sure. However she also had a very attractive figure that a guy of 17 would be sure to notice.

I pestered her for a long time before she finally broke down and went out with me, but when we did I think we both felt attracted to each other.

I got to know her family real well, she was one of a very large family, as was I. She also had a couple of cousins who lived with her. I knew her cousin first as he was an acquaintance from school and some activities I was in then.

Near the end of those 6 months her family moved away, about 30 or 40 miles from where I lived. I did not have a car, nor did she, so it was a significant move. Using my parents car, I still drove up to see her at least once a week. However that is when things started to change.

Some people started to joke with her about how attached she was to me, and I don't know if it was to prove them wrong or what but it was the first sign that things may not work out so well. Eventually she broke it off.

I really must say that the way I was at the time, extremely self-conscious and having no confidence did not help. I was afraid to meet her new friends for fear that she'd realize she was going out with a jerk. Which when I look back, I now know she was going out with a jerk, but no sense in describing how much of one, better to get on with the story.

Well at the end of the summer that was the last I saw of her. Or almost.

One other time about a year later I saw her with a girl friend while I was walking with who would one day be my wife and we said hi, but nothing else. Another time maybe 3 or 4 years later I was shopping during my lunch hour at a store that was near where I know she had relatives. But she had a cousin who looked almost just like her. I was shopping and this bin had a bunch of stuff in it.

This girl came over to me and gave me a coupon and said "maybe you can use this".

It wasn't any secret signal or anything, she just seemed to be nice, but I thought it probably might have been her, although I had expected if it was she would have said something more than that, and this person didn't, so I figured it must have been her cousin, but there was always a bit of doubt, that maybe it was her but she really didn't know what to say.

No matter what the case was, this time I was sure it was her, and it had been many years. Just about the same time I saw her she looked up, glanced along one or two storefronts and then looked straight at me. I could see a confused look appear on her face, and change to a hint of a smile. I stood back up straight again, and walked out into the aisle as I could see she was coming to meet me.

"Joe? Is that you?" she said.

I replied "I think so Marie! Last I checked anyway".

She laughed but had a bit of a surprised look on her face. The fact was that when we went out I was so self conscious I rarely joked and if I did usually blew it and either the joke wasn't funny anyway or it got lost in the delivery. I had changed a lot, I knew it but certainly did not think of it at the time.

She came up to me and both of us instinctively put our arms up to give each other a hug. I think we both realized that something just happened that neither of us expected.

The fact of the matter is I thought of this moment many times but I never knew how I would react. I never knew if I'd fall at her knees and beg her to take me back (yeah right after 30 years!), or if perhaps the anger that I had held all those years would re-surface even though I thought I was long past that.

I knew that there still was a little bit of hurt, and I knew that there was always hope. I also knew that no matter what would ever happen there would always be a place for her in my heart.

However a relapse of anger is probably always a possibility. But apparently my heart and mind didn't care, they were glad to see her, so up go the arms and a rush to embrace.

We both stood back and looked at each other. I knew I liked what I saw and I'm pretty sure that she liked what she saw. It was a comforting feeling to know that we were both glad to see each other. "I was just sitting down to have a cup of coffee, would you like to join me?" I asked.

She said "sure". I asked her what she would want and she said "surprise me! get what you are having it looks and smells good". I went up and ordered another and brought it to the table.

"I can't believe it's you" we both said at the same time.

"Funny I have thought of seeing you so many times, and yet I never have, I really thought maybe you had moved out of the area. But it's so great to see you" I said.

"I know I do not come down this way much, I don't really live that close, I live quite far up north and only get to come down this way once in a while" she said.

"Well I don't that much either too, in fact I rather don't like the city much. I actually live in the country now, out near where I used to have to pass to go to your house when you were living with your parents. I don't remember if you remember how much I loved where your family moved to, but I was quite envious, in fact really wasn't thinking all that much of what it would mean, not that I ever thought things out too well" I said.

"I do remember that" she said, "and at the time I hated it, it seemed so far from civilization".

"That is what I loved about it, the fact you could see a thousand stars in the sky at night, and the fact it was so far from civilization. With where I live now, I go out in my yard at night at times and I look up in the sky and I can't help but think of your parents house, except that even though I am in the country, I can never see as many stars" I said.

"So how has life treated you" I asked.

"Not bad" she said, "I have a couple of nice kids and a nice home, I'm really pretty happy. How about you?"

"I have a daughter who has special needs but she is very sweet, and she is really very funny, in fact her name is Marie too" I replied.

"So what do you do?" I asked.

"Well currently I'm just kind of taking it easy, I've done a number of things, as well as spent some time with my kids growing up, how about you?" she asked.

"Well currently I work in computers at that huge University that my father used to joke about owning half the city. Of course he was right! But I like working there, I like working around so many different people. However it was a while getting to that spot, I have worked in a factory and then for 7 years we moved South. We really did not care for it though, the weather was much different than what we thought and the entire culture was so much different, you really felt out of place" I said.

We then talked about our families and a little bit of what each of us had done in all those years. I noticed though that neither of us spoke too much of our marriages or our partners. But we talked about our kids, and a bit about how things are going in the world and what we felt about them.

It was funny really because we did not talk that much about things like that 30 years ago.

Both of us had lost a few loved ones, both had people who moved away, that we really wished hadn't yet we both were doing well.

Just about this time our coffee was running out. It was also getting later and the mall was getting louder and louder as time went on to the point where we were having trouble hearing each other.

"Do you have anywhere to go? Could you perhaps go out to a park somewhere with me and we could continue our talk, and maybe even hear each other? What do you think?" I asked.

She hesitated a bit but then smiled and said "yes that would be nice".

"You follow me in your car and we'll meet up in the park, it will be that one by the lake if you know where I mean, if not I'll just try to go slow so you can follow me" I said.

"Ok" she said as she headed to her car.

Both of us went to our cars. As I pulled out I was a little afraid that she would just turn off somewhere and that would be the last I would see her, but as I pulled into the parking lot for the park, I saw her pull in right behind me.

We had pulled into the park, and she pulled in right next to me. By this time, I had gotten out and managed to walk around and meet her by the driver's side door. As she shut off her car, she looked up and smiled that smile I had missed so much.

The park is on a place where the lake joins a canal that feeds it, and it's quite a scenic park for being right inside the city. So we walked out to a table that was almost to the peak but also kind of sheltered by a few willow trees.

"Funny isn't it, when we lived here we never really came here together, now neither of us live too near here and we come here" I said.

"Well back then this lake was known mostly as a big make out place, plus by the time it would have been bright enough later in the day my parents had moved, and that kind of put an end to the possibility, didn't it" she replied with a rather wistful expression on her face.

As it does with most people I love, the wistfulness brought on a certain feeling of caring with me towards her, kind of like the feeling that you want to make everything right, although we both knew that too much had happened to really make verything right. All we could do was start anew, keeping the memories of the best times we shared and chalking up the worst times to a learning experience, even though it truly cut a bit deeper than that.

"I like how you've aged" she said to me, I laughed and she said "No, I really, I mean it, your beard, your gold wire rims, you look quite nice and intelligent, and I can see the caring that was always in your eyes."

I didn't know quite what to say to that, so I said "you still look as beautiful as you did back in high school, your eyes still have that magic, you still seem to have an inner energy and age has only made you more beautiful".

She blushed and laughed and said "You always had a way of making me feel like I was adored".

"Well that's about it" I said, "I loved your looks and beauty from the minute I saw you, and then when I got to know you, I just went head over heals, you have that power over me". We were sitting close to each other overlooking the water.

Down a ways from us we both noticed at once a young couple who seemed to be enjoying each other's company and almost completely unaware of anyone or anything around them.

After watching them, we both looked at each other and I imagine my own expression was probably a mirror of hers.

We both laughed, I said "are you thinking the same thing I am?"

"Do you mean that at one time, quite a while back we were like them?"

"Exactly" I said. We sat quietly watching the young couple and it seemed to me that she was thinking fondly of the memories as much as I was.

She turned to me and looked me in the eyes "you know that was nice, it was fun, the kissing part and it was a glorious feeling to feel so wanted and loved, its strange how as you get older and your life takes a different path that you seem to lose a part of the wonder of love at that age. Your love is deeper in many ways, yet it is a very different feeling."

"You feel like you kind of miss that time too, you want it with your present life, but you've experienced so many other things, many very difficult and painful, and some maybe more wondrous, yet none the same, so you wind up missing it".

She leaned in to me, "I'm sorry" she whispered very quietly.

"Me too" I said, because I know that in reality even though she broke it off, we were not ready for that at the time.

"It's really too bad we hadn't met maybe 3 years later, I think that our lives could have been so much different, and yet I'm sure you are like me, I wouldn't give up my children for anything, and our spouses certainly were instrumental in that and the way our kids grew up" I said.

She looked up into my eyes, she was always shorter than I so I knew the look well. It spoke to me of a longing and a love that I don't think either of us have tasted since those 30 years past.

I could tell by the way she was looking at me that a kiss would seal the moment, I leaned closer to her, slowly making sure that if I was wrong she had the opportunity to back out, but instead she moved towards me and our lips met for the first time in 30 years.

In my head and heart emotions burst forth that had lied dormant for 30 years.

I placed my arms around her at the same time that her arms encircled me. We kissed briefly then she moved and rested her head against my chest as I rested my head against the top of her head. Her hair felt the same and still seemed to smell the same as it had 30 years ago.

"That was nice, you know you always had a comfortable shoulder" she said.

"And I always loved it when you did and I love the feeling of your hair against my face" I replied. We both moved towards each other for another kiss that deepened as though we couldn't break it if we wanted.

Finally we came up for air, "I never knew how much I missed you" she said.

"I wish that certain things would not get in your head and screw things up. I remember when my mother had said to me how I couldn't live without you and I felt so defiant, like I had to prove that I could. I have no idea why, but it was really what ruined everything. She meant it lovingly, I could tell that. She liked the idea of us being together, that she saw our love and she knew the value and comfort of it, but some damn stubborn thing had to get into my head. Listen to me, I don't even swear!"

I really didn't have a reply to that, although I guess I know how it felt, I've certainly had times myself that I've thought things that would completely screw my life up and then it becomes an obsession to you.

We kissed again and as we let it prolong, I felt I wanted it to go so much further. We were kissing, and being in public I really didn't want to embarrass her by roving hands, but to my surprise she took my hand and guided it to her breast under her coat.

We kissed for a long time and then we finally broke apart. "let's pretend we are husband and wife and that we're traveling" she said.

"and we really need some rest, right?" I asked.

"Close enough" she said.

We went back to the cars and we decided to take my car, no one would have any problem with her car being left there as many people jogged here, so there were always a bunch of cars with no one in them and far too few people in the picnic area.

I knew of a motel not far from there and we pulled in, we both went in together. We signed the registry as husband and wife. The check in clerk looked at us and asked "trouble at home?"

Then it occurred to me that he saw from our identification that we were local.

"Yes plumbing is backed up and they aren't going to be able to fix it until tomorrow" I said.

"So you want it tonight only probably" he said.

"yes that should be enough, if not we'll come up and sign in for another day".

He gave us the keys, we left. When we got out she let out a small laugh "Plumbing backed up huh?"

"Well lets just say it's been backed up for 30 years!" I replied laughing.

We went into the room and immediately fell into another embrace. I broke us apart and said, "I've waited for 30 years for this, may I undress you?"

She shook her head yes, slightly embarrassed by my request, but she came over and stood in front of me and placed her hands on my shoulders. She was wearing a white blouse and a dark form fitting skirt.

I undid each button on her blouse until it opened to show an off-white lace bra against her pale skin.

"You know, I knew you'd be beautiful, but I never quite knew how beautiful you are" I said.

I ran my hands up her sides, around her, hugged her to me, then while kissing her ran my hand over her breasts, still covered by the lace bra. I ran my fingers towards the top of the bra, feeling the softness of her skin and the slow rising and falling of her breast against my hand.

I kissed her softly in the recess between her breasts and heard her catch her breath.