I remembered James O'Malley well. My 13 year old self had fallen hard for him, although I knew he didn't want to know. Now scanning Friends Re-united, my heart was beating a mile a minute. The J. O'Malley here - could he be my James? I called up his profile and there was no mistaking it. There were the clock-spring lashes that framed his soft blue eyes. There were the wavy curls, cropped short now, with the strong arms that had once embraced me on the final day of school. And the legs... I wanted to caress them, kissing his full, shapely lips. There was an e-mail address at the bottom of the screen. Dare I? Even just for old times sake?
Oh, yeah. I wrote the standard shit in the email, the whole, 'long time no see', and the 'can we meet up?' It was a short one, and one he would probably ignore. Two days later, he replied. He had invited me over on the Saturday, to his house in the rich part of town. He had obviously done well for himself. From what I could remember, he had done some parts in made-for-TV movies, but he must have done more that I didn't know about.
Outside the house, I drew a deep breath and rang the doorbell. He greeted me with a warm embrace in strong, protective arms. It occurred to me then that I had used James, my first love, as a benchmark for all my past boyfriends. Facing him once again, I could see why. He had blossomed into a lean, rugged, heartbreaker of a man, and had grown to stand at 6 feet tall, towering above my 5' 5" stature.
"Oh James, it's so good to see you!", I exclaimed, taking it all in.
"You too, Hugs. You too," he smiled. I smiled back. Hugs was my nickname at school, due to my sympathetic, shoulder-to-cry-on nature. "Come through to the kitchen. Celebratory drink?" he asked.
"But of course. You should of said, I'd have brought some wine." I answered.
"Ah no, I'm far too unsophisticated to be drinking wine. White, red or rosΓ©?" he grinned.
"RosΓ© for me, please," I said. "So, how have you been? I've seen you on the telly..."
"I've done well for myself, I guess," he said, indicating the house around him. "And you?"