There was no backing out now. I was already on the freeway, headed for Orange County, my nerves wrought though I did not fully understand the reason. After all, I had never dated Chris in high school when I knew him. We had been nothing more than good friends thrown together because our parents were friends. At the time, I was taller than the cute little surfer boy, I had a boyfriend, and even if I hadn't had one, I doubt that Chris would have ever made a pass at me.
Ten years later, our parents had arranged for us to hook up at a bar when I came to visit from out of state. It had been a pleasant surprise, for I had always liked Chris and gotten along with him, but now, I was having second thoughts about all of this, and I felt inexplicably nervous about the way I looked.
Not that I had changed all that much since high school. A tad plumper, a little more matured, but for the most part, I was still the same girl he knew. Clad now in black skin tight pants, a top to match, and a simple gray sweater jacket thrown over the ensemble, I knew that I looked good, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if he would think I had become a heifer.
Why I should have cared was lost on me. Chris and I had never considered romance, and with one day left in town, I was not about to start considering it, even if both of us were unattached and from all I had heard, he had grown up nice.
I found the parking garage all too quickly, and checking my hair in the rear view of the yellow PT Cruiser, I got out and hurried toward the bar.
He was waiting for me outside.
Taller than me now, and more filled out, Chris looked good. He was dressed in a hooded sweatshirt that hid most of the sleeve tattoos, jeans, and a cap on his closely cropped brown hair, he still had the sweet smile and the cute little face that I remembered so well. His greeting hug was tight and warm, and I found myself giggling as we immediately began to talk about old times.
The bar was almost empty at this hour, for it was a week night, and we sat near the entrance, ordering a couple of beers as we began to catch up.
I was immediately happy that I showed up. It was as though we had never missed a beat, when in fact we had missed a decade. We talked of old times, what we did after high school, and how we were doing now, discovering along the way that we still had a whole lot in common. We were through our second beer when he suddenly paused mid-sentence and stared at me in a manner that can only be described as appreciative.
"You really look great," he finally said, adding quickly, "I have run into girls from high school here and there, and it seems that they all let themselves go. What's your secret?"
I laughed, going a little red. "Thanks. I think the key is to pretend you are still eighteen. Obviously, you're doing the same."
He smirked, shrugging at the compliment, looking unsure of how he should respond. "I don't know about that, though I am pretty sure that I haven't grown up yet."
"Do we really ever?" I asked him. "Neither of us married or had kids. We're hanging out in a bar on a week night, and we're still trying to figure out whether or not our parents were smoking weed together."
He laughed. "I don't think that they were."
"They sent us outside way too often for me to be convinced," I replied.
"I have a good nose for it. I never once smelled it in the house," he insisted, his eyes warm as he gave me a discreet looking over that I would not have noticed had I been a little more buzzed. I had not eaten much earlier, due to nerves, and now two beers had me feeling a tad tipsier than I normally might have, though I was by no means, drunk.
"I'm still not convinced. They were too stuck in the 60s at the time."
Chris finished his beer, ordering us both another round. "So you are leaving tomorrow?" He changed the subject knowing we would never agree on that fine point regarding our parents.
I nodded. "I wish I had more time, but I have to get back to the daily grind in three days," I told him. "Too bad we didn't hook up on your day off. You look beat."
He nodded. "I am. I pulled twelve hours today, and I have to do it all over again tomorrow. Such is life."
"Well, I won't keep you, even though I told my parents that I might not return with their car until tomorrow," I winked, not sure if that would be construed as outright flirting or not. "I'll let you go home after this beer."
"You'll let me? How generous."
"I'm nice that way sometimes," I replied with a little grin.
And so we worked through the last beer, chatting away about the dumb little things that people talk about when they haven't seen one another in a decade. I did not want to leave, but I knew that Chris needed to make it an early night.
The three beers seemed to wash away enough of my initial worry about his thinking I was bovine, and though I was not drunk, I had imbibed just enough to let loose a bit and allow my confidence to show through. I don't know if it was purposeful or not, but when I rose to go to the ladies' room right before we left, I made sure he saw me strut in a way that I knew would get his attention. I was giggling to myself in the bathroom as I told myself that Chris had grown up all too nice, and that it was unfair that I should have to leave tomorrow without having a chance to see him again.
We continued to chat casually as we walked out into the parking garage. As a gentleman would, he accompanied me to my car, which by now, was alone on this level save for his own vehicle, four spots away. I unlocked the door.
"Chris, I can't tell you how glad I am to have seen you. Thank you." I gave him a tight hug.
