"Let's hope something fun comes out of this crap" she thought, while putting the finishing touch on her makeup. She took a step back to look at herself in the mirror. She just loved her black dress. THE black dress. She referred to it as the "Venus Dress" because of the lyrics from the song : "Black as the dark night she was". She loved how light it felt on her, lighter than air almost. She also loved to feel the breeze caressing her exposed back, neck and shoulders. It made her feel naked in some ways, which never failed to turn her on.
The only thing she knew about class reunion parties was what her friends told her, which sounded like a great way to laugh at how pathetic most of these fuckers turned out to be, and how sexy all the nerds had grown up to become. Life is such a bitch to some people.
Her past relation being a distant memory of indifference and awkwardness, she was thinking it would be great to hook up with some random guy she barely remembered for fuck's sake, literally.
The smell of this place got to her as soon as she walked through the door. Taken back several years, it put a slight smile on her face and she felt like a little girl again if only for a moment. This alone was worth coming and she was glad she did.
The actual party was in the cafeteria and she could hear the rumbling of dozens of people bouncing down the hall, a chaotic invitation to surprise and rediscovery. She felt a bit uneasy about it, but it was probably the same thing for most everyone there when they walked in.
Some people were having a chat in the hall and she recognized some of them. A guy waved at her, so she returned the favour with a smile, trying to figure out who he was but failing. As she walked down towards the cafeteria she suddenly remembered who he was, but more importantly that he was a complete jackass and that she actually never knew his name. She kept walking.
The cafeteria was filled with people wearing suits and fancy dresses. She was greeted by one of her early high school classmates that had not changed much. They exchanged a few laughs and she left to get a drink and find a place to sit down.
While making her way to the table where all the drinks had been set, she noticed this guy sitting at a table with a long sleeve white shirt and plain blue jeans that caught her eye. Amidst the chaos and the color black, he was calm and white. He was leaning back on his chair, having a chat with a gorgeous woman about some teacher they both had back in the day.
She came back, champagne in hand and decided to sit with these two. He had a rough 3 day beard, and an amusing demeanour to his personality.
"Hey! Isn't your name Tanya?" he said. "I think I remember you but we were not really friends so please go away."
"Right, and you are Jay and were never serious about anything, so I'm sitting here anyway" she responded, "how's that?".
It was true that they barely knew each other, but he always made her laugh and she knew the kind of guy he was. He seemed a lot more poised than he was back in the day though...
"Confidence! I like it!" Then he turned to the other girl. "See? That's how most people remember me, I love it" nodding at her.
Tanya kept going. "You are really clashing with your shirt and jeans, what's up with that?" She stabbed at him, "Didn't you know every one of your old classmates his now a millionaire?"
His face lit up and he laughed.
"Good one, but unlike you, I did not see the point of dressing like I was going to a funeral" he responded with a friendly smile, still chucking at her come back.
"Well, do I look like I'm going to bury someone?" she asked, trying to look serious.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Frankly, yes." He retorted, merciless. "But with that said, you are beautiful and if you were going to bury me, it's a shame that I could not look at you on my way down."
The other girl gasped and laughed at this grotesque response.
"I guess that's flattering" Tanya joked, having a sip of her drink. "Got anymore deadly compliments like that one?"
"I got plenty, some even worse" he said. Then he leaned back again and crossed his arms. "But I'd like to meet your mother before we go any further with this relationship. I always build everything on solid ground"
She almost spit out her drink, he smirked like a kid. His eyes were invitingly green.
The other girl, apparently unable to cope with them, got wierded out and left, but Jay did not pay any attention to it.
He continued : "Actually, I'd be more interested in knowing what you do now. Did you pursue in arts?"
"Well I did try, but things were not exactly how I imagined them and I had to be honest with myself and get out of there. I still paint as a hobby, and I think it's better that way. I work in the health industry now. By the way, we barely know each other, how did you even know I was into arts?"
"I was always interested in what catches my eye, I used to pay visits to the arts teacher and she would show me what her students did. Your work was often there. You were kind of intriguing to me, anyways I liked what you did back then."
"Thanks! But you know, my stuff hasn't changed much, I just often try the same techniques applied to different themes if that makes any sense to you..."
"No, it doesn't make any sense. In fact you're creeping me out. I think I'm gonna go get another drink. You want anything?"
"More of the same." she said with a smile.
He smiled back and promptly got up, leaving his jacket on the chair. She caught a whiff of his scent as he passed by, something spicy but delicate.
While Jay was away she looked around, taking one last sip of her glass, a bit jaded already. She could recognize a lot of faces but her initial interest died down quickly. She was not still in contact with a lot of people from high school, and she still felt like an outsider. In fact she felt most comfortable having a flirty chat with this guy, whom she never really knew in the first place, than getting up and trying to meet people again.
"I'm actually glad to be talking to you." She turned around; Jay was sitting back down in his chair, Jack and coke in one hand, Champagne in the other. "Here's your champagne....this party feels kinda stale, I dunno."
"You know, I don't even feel like getting up my chair" Tanya said. "I came here hoping to have fun and you're the most fun I've had so far. Maybe the party will pick up later when everyone is wasted...anyways, what are you up to these days?"
"I studied in computer science, I also work in the health industry on support and clinical assistance, it's pretty repetitive but it gets me enough money to make music and other hobbies"
"I see that, I can relate..." she replied.
They kept talking for several minutes, he made her feel comfortable, They were in this bubble, isolated from the noisy chatter of people trying to show off, protected from nonsense and mundane smiles of disguised contempt. His low voice and relaxed behaviour ringing true to her ears, she found herself drawn to him but this place was not exactly the perfect occasion to engage in something more...
They were interrupted by a voice going through speakers, blabbering some incomprehensible words, blurred by the echo of the room. The rumble died down and everyone took a seat.
"What did he say?" Jay asked?
"No idea, I couldn't understand anything" she responded laughing.
The lights turned down and the usual video presentation started, displaying embarrassing pictures of everyone, prompting hysterical laughs and lame jokes at one another. It was quite amusing, but she had other things in mind.
Every few minutes, she would take a quick peek at him during the video, the lighting of the screen playing on his calm smirking face...then he would look at her too. They exchanged several smiles, and it was clear they both liked each other's company.
She felt something touching her arm, it was Jay reaching over and motioning her to get close. His perfume flooded her senses as he whispered in her ear...
"I don't know about you, but this is too long for my taste." he started. "If that's what memory lane is made of, I'm taking the next exit. Why don't we go upstairs to the classrooms and labs. I miss them a lot more than videos and photos of what I looked like when I started jerking off."
"Great idea, I'm looking for another kind of souvenir" she responded with a playful smile.