More Than Seven Minutes in Heaven

***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.

.....

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION AFTER PARTY

The reunion of the McElroy High School Class of 2013 was a smash hit. They estimated that nearly 90% of the graduating class had shown up, which was a big jump from previous years. Everyone was happy to see each other, reminiscing about the past and finding out what they'd been up to since high school. But, since it was being held at the gymnasium of their old high school, the reunion played out basically like any other event in high school. There was some alcohol and music, but it was limited to the whims of the faculty running the school.

Fortunately, the afterparty didn't have to adhere to the rules of the faculty. Suzy Grant, formerly known as Suzy Tomlin before she got married, offered up her family's lake house for the afterparty. It held a good degree of symmetry since the lake house was used for their graduation party ten years ago, and it was the last time most of the classmates had seen each other.

Andy Markel was hanging out with a few of his old classmates by the bar. His friends included his cousin Joey, his old best friend Matty and his wife Jessica, and Betty and her wife Zoe. They talked about everything they'd been to since high school. This included college, jobs, marriages, divorces (Matty was on his third wife), kids, and so on. They even gossiped about some of the things they heard about their other classmates who showed up and rumors about the reasons why some of the others didn't show up.

While a couple of them suddenly got into an argument about politics, Joey gave Andy a nudge with his elbow to get his attention.

"Dude, cute blonde in a red dress at six o'clock is checking you out."

"Six o'clock means right behind me, but I know what you're talking about," said Andy.

Of course, Andy noticed the cute blonde from across the room; it would be hard not to. She was a little shorter than him, with short blonde hair, and was wearing a tight red dress with the hem cut off at the knees, but she showed plenty of cleavage in her double-D breasts.

"Do you know who that is?"

"Not a clue; who is she?" Andy asked.

"I wasn't being rhetorical; I was asking if you knew who she was."

"I had seen her at the reunion, talking to a lot of people," said Betty. "She was wearing a name tag at the time, but I never got her name."

"That's because the only hot blonde you should be talking to is me," said Betty's wife.

The woman began walking across the room, moving past the dancing guests and making her way towards Andy.

"She's coming over, bro; get a drink ready for her," said Joey, always ready to be a wingman.

Andy thought it was a good idea; it would be a good conversation starter. He was hoping for the standard reunion hookup that he often heard about. So far, every woman he met tonight was involved with someone else or suddenly came out as being gay, like Betty. There were a few single women at the reunion, but he just hadn't had the time to converse with them at the time. He hoped to meet one of them at the afterparty.

He turned around and quickly poured two vodka-laced fruit punches into two cups for the both of them. As soon as he turned around, he realized she was too close to him, and he accidentally bumped one of the cups into her. Half the cup splashed out and hit her chest, with most of it flowing down the front of her dress. They both stood there in total shock about what just happened, while all of his friends were laughing.

"I'm so sorry," said Andy.

The woman didn't say a word; she just walked away. Andy just started drinking the one good cup he still had in his hand and began laughing with his friends about the situation. He learned a long time ago that if you laugh at yourself, it will make whatever embarrassing situation you find yourself in a lot less painful.

Later on, Andy tried to find that woman to apologize to her, but she was nowhere to be found. Matty convinced him to forget about what happened and focus on having fun with everyone. Over the next hour, he met up with other people he saw at the reunion and met others' he hadn't had the chance to talk with. He even ran into a couple of jocks who used to pick on him a lot in high school and apologized for the way they treated him. Andy was just happy they apologized; he never thought he would ever hear those jocks feel bad about picking on him.

He even danced with a few women from his old class, including a few girls who he used to have crushes on. He finally found a single woman at the party, Bethany Jenkins, the former captain of the high school volleyball team, and after dancing with her for a while, she took him aside and began making out with him on a couch. There were other people at the party hooking up with each other, so it wasn't unusual to see it. Everyone there was acting as if they were in high school again.

Eventually, Bethany took him upstairs to an empty room for them to fool around in private. Andy had just gotten her shirt off and was going for the bra when one of her friends alerted her that her husband had shown up. She pushed Andy away and apologized as she put her shirt back on.

"What? Are you seriously married?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry; he said he had to work late and couldn't come with me," she told him. "Please don't say anything."

She ran out of the room, and after sulking for a couple of minutes, Andy went back to the party. His friends saw him go upstairs with Bethany and asked about it. He told them everything and joined them in as they had a good laugh about it. They all remembered how Bethany always cheated on her boyfriends in high school, so it was no surprise that she was still doing that.

Needing some air, Andy grabbed another drink and walked out onto the porch. It was a good, warm night, and there were a good number of people on the porch, all of them taking a break from the loud music and crowd. The porch overlooked a large lake, and he walked over to the edge to get a better look at it. He then saw the blonde woman on whom he spilled the drink, all by herself, leaning on the railing and looking out on the lake.

He wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but he approached her in hopes of making an apology for what happened earlier.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention.

"Hey," she replied, smiling back at him.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's OK," she assured him. "I got too close, so I was partly responsible. I found a bathroom to clean myself up pretty well, and at least I don't smell like fruit punch anymore."

"I tried to find you earlier to say sorry, but I couldn't find you."

"I tried to find you too, to talk about it, but then I saw you go upstairs with Bethany," she replied. "I figured I'd catch up with you afterwards, if there was time."

Andy told her about what happened, and it made the woman laugh hysterically. She said that it didn't surprise her because of what Bethany was like back in high school.

"By the way, I'm Andy," he said.

"I know who you are, Andy Markel," she replied.

"Oh, did we have any classes together?" he asked.

She laughed. "Do you really not recognize me?"

Andy gave her a good look and tried really hard to remember who she might be. He hated being in this situation where he couldn't recognize someone who already knew him.

"I can see how much your brain is hurting trying to remember me, so I'll tell you. I'm Kelly McGowan."

That revelation took Andy completely by surprise. Kelly was one of the popular girls in middle school, someone he hadn't thought about in a very long time.

"Wow, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you," said Andy. "Wow, you've changed a lot. I'm surprised you recognized me."

"You look kind of the same, but an older and taller version of that guy I once knew."

"Anyway, is that why you were approaching me earlier?" he asked. "To say hello and reminisce."

"Not exactly," she said. "There was something I always wanted to talk to you about, and I've kept putting it off ever since I came to this reunion. I wanted to talk to you to apologize to you about an incident that happened between us."

"What incident?"

Kelly took a deep breath and said, "The incident took place here, ten years ago, at the graduation party that Suzy used this lake house for."

"I don't remember... Oh, wait," he said as he suddenly realized what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I thought you might remember."

Andy suddenly remembered an incident that had occurred between them when they were eighteen-year-old high school seniors.

TEN YEARS AGO

On the night they all graduated, many students from the class of 2013 showed up at Mia Tomlin's family lake house for a post-graduation party. For many of them, it would be the last time they could see each other for a very long time.

Andy was there with several of his friends, which included Joey, Matty with his girlfriend and future first ex-wife Mia, and Betty with her then boyfriend, Jerry, whom she dated before she came out of the closet.

Back then, Andy was your typical nerd, pretty much encompassing every stereotype of the word. He was a scrawny guy, virtually no muscles. Messy hair, big glasses, and a small case of acne to finish off the whole look Besides being incredibly smart and a bookworm, he was very much into video games, roleplaying card games, and sci-fi and fantasy films and TV shows. He was even a co-founder of a Doctor Who fan club at his school.

He originally wasn't going to go to the party, but his friends insisted on it. They convinced him that he spent most of his high school life staying away from these events, and this may be his last time having some kind of high school fun.

Despite his misgivings about going to the party, he did find himself having a little fun and getting to hang out with kids from school that he wouldn't normally hang out with. Some of them were even surprised at how much fun he had at the party.

The incident between Andy and Kelly happened later in the party, when Joey took him upstairs in Suzy's house to the guest bedroom, where several other guests were having a private get-together.

"Ever play spin the bottle?" Joey asked.

"Are you serious?" Andy asked. "We're 18 now; who plays spin the bottle at our age?"

"It'll be fun," said Matty. "Mia and I are playing, and so are Betty and Jerry."

"The people you two are dating don't mind you all kissing other people for a childish game?" Andy asked.

"It's just a goofy thing we're doing," said Matty.

"Yeah, I can't wait to..." Betty had a disturbed look on her face. "Kiss more guys."

There were ten of them in that room. Besides Andy and his friends, there was Suzy, who had the idea for the game; Mike from Andy's history class; and Bethany, whose boyfriend is out of town, and now she was looking to fool around behind his back. And finally, there was Kelly, whom Andy didn't really care for. Andy was sort of friendly with all the others, but he always found Kelly to be very stuck-up and obnoxious. Suzy was one of the nicest girls in school, so Andy had no idea why she put up with being friends with someone like Kelly. He figured they must've been friends for so long because she had learned to overlook Kelly's faults.

They went over the rules of the game, which were very basic. They sat in a circle in the order of boy, then girl, of course. When you spin the bottle, you have to kiss whoever it lands on, and then that person gets to spin the bottle next. To make things more interesting, they added the rule that the kiss has to last at least ten seconds; it would make it more exciting for the participants, and it would be better than a simple peck on the lips, which would be lame.

Suzy went first, since it was her party and the game was her idea. The bedroom floor was carpeted, which wasn't good to spin the bottle on, so they got a plastic tray from the kitchen to use as a flat surface. Suzy gave the bottle a good spin; it went around several times and landed on Andy.

He was really doing his best to play it cool, but he always had a little crush on Suzy, so some of his shyness was beginning to show. Fortunately for him, it didn't seem to bother Suzy as she leaned in, puckering her lips. Andy leaned in and kissed her, holding it there for the ten seconds they all agreed upon while everyone gave a little holler for them.

It was one of the best experiences of his life. But that experience would soon be tainted when he took his turn to spin the bottle and it landed on Kelly. She immediately got a disgusted look on her face when she saw that she had to kiss Andy.

"Do I really have to?" Kelly asked everyone.

"Yes, that's the game," said Suzy.

Kelly did even look at Andy as she just held out her hand towards him.

"He can kiss my hand; that's it," she said.

Andy didn't know what to do. Everyone was looking at him, waiting to see what was going to happen next. He figured to keep the peace, he might as well kiss her hand only. He kissed her hand for ten awkward seconds before they moved on. Kelly spun the bottle, and she got to kiss Mike.

As the bottle kept spinning around, everyone was having a lot of fun kissing and poking fun at each other. Everyone had their turn with someone else; sometimes it kept landing back and forth on the same two people, causing some laughter. Matty and Mia didn't seem to mind that they were kissing other people at the game; they thought it was just some casual fun. Betty and Jerry also didn't seem to mind kissing other people, but Andy couldn't help noticing the weird look that Betty had on her face whenever she kissed a guy.

Looking back at all of this, Andy should've seen the signs that Matty and Mia were never going to make it together and that Betty was totally in the closet.

Andy got to kiss Mia and Betty three times and Bethany four times, but more importantly, he got to kiss Suzy five more times. He guessed there was something there between them because every time they kissed, they seemed to give it more passion than before.

But it wasn't all fun, because several times Andy and Kelly spun the bottle on each other, and that's when the fun momentarily stopped. Each time it happened, she gave him a disgusted look and stuck out her hand for Andy to kiss. The last few times, he didn't even kiss the hand for the whole ten seconds; he just gave it a quick peck and moved on. Nobody called him out for breaking that ten-second rule because they didn't blame him for it.

When the game started becoming a little boring, Suzy decided to shake things up a bit.

"Ok, guys, let's take this to the next level," said Suzy. "Who wants to play seven minutes in heaven?"

Everyone got excited by that idea, especially Andy. He already felt very lucky that he got to kiss several beautiful women tonight; now he was going to make out with one of them. He really hoped it would be Suzy, but he would be happy with Bethany. He would go for Betty too; it may be weird because they're friends, but it would be less awkward to make out with Mia when she was dating Matty. He was really praying that he didn't get Kelly; he didn't know what he would do if he ended up with her in the closet.

They went over the rules, which were again simple enough. Suzy got a small bag and put each of the guys' names in it. One girl would pick a name from the bag, and whoever she picks, she has to take them to the closet, where they get to make out with each other for seven whole minutes.

Suzy decided she didn't want to go first this time and let someone volunteer. Betty got Mike first, and the whole group teased them as they went to the closet. Seven minutes later, they came out, and Mike looked very happy, and Betty was faking a smile.

Next, Bethany picked Matty's name, and after that, Mia picked Jerry's name. Each couple looked very happy when they left the closet.

It was now down to Kelly and Suzy. Kelly decided to go next; if she picked either Andy or Joey, that meant Suzy would go to the closet with whoever was left. There was a 50/50 shot that she would pick Andy, and he was really praying hard in his head for it not to be him. But apparently, he did pray hard enough because Kelly pulled his name from the bag, and they both looked very disappointed. Even the rest of the participants suddenly looked unsettled because they had seen how Kelly had been treating Andy all evening.

"Oh, come on!" Kelly cried out. "I knew I should've gone last."

She stomped over to the closet but stopped when she saw that Andy wasn't following her.

"OK, let's get this over with," she said to him.

"No," Andy replied.

"What?" she asked angrily.

"I said no. I'm not going to the closet with you."

Nobody else said a word; they just sat there silently, seeing how this was going to play out.

"Are you saying you don't want to make out with me?" she asked.

"It's probably not going to happen anyway," he told her. "With the way you've been treating me, you'll probably make me sit in the corner of the closet for the whole seven minutes until we leave. That's not heaven; that's seven minutes of hell. Why would I go through with that?"

"Can you guys believe this jerk?" she said to the others.

"Actually, yes, I do," said Suzy. "You were being a total bitch to him all evening."

"Do you all really think he has the right to do this?" Suzy asked.

"Why? Because he's defending himself?" asked Joey. "He doesn't have to sit there and be mistreated like this."

Soon everyone was saying something to take Andy's side in the whole situation. Kelly got angrier by the second, and her face was turning bright red.

"You all suck!" she yelled before storming out of the room.

As soon as she left, Suzy grabbed Andy by the hand and took him to the closet.

"You don't have to do this because you feel bad for me," said Andy.

"I don't feel bad for you; I'm impressed by you," said Suzy. "That took a lot of guts to stand up to Kelly like that."

Everyone agreed how cool it was for Andy to stand up to Kelly the way he did.

"Also, out of all the guys here, you were the best kisser," she said before turning back at the other boys in the room. "No offense, guys."

The other boys didn't say anything; they were just astonished to hear that Suzy thought that Andy was the best kisser. Even the other girls couldn't help nodding to each other in agreement about what Suzy said, especially Betty.

Suzy and Andy had their seven minutes in heaven. It was one of the best experiences of his young life. When they came out of the closet, Andy had a little lipstick smeared on his lips, and the group teased him for it. He didn't care because he really enjoyed himself just now.

After they left the closet, Joey and Bethany went in. Even though Bethany already went to the closet with Tom, the girls thought it was unfair that Joey had nobody to make out with, so this time they put their names in a bag and let Joey pick one to make out in the closet with.

PRESENT

"I'm surprised you forgot what a total bitch I was," said Kelly.

"Yeah, it kind of slipped my mind when I remembered you," said Andy.

Andy couldn't help thinking how a lot has changed--not just from that night but from all of high school. Matty and Mia did not last long, and he guessed he should've seen that coming. Betty was an open lesbian, and thinking about it, he definitely should've seen that coming. Bethany was still fooling around with the guys she's with, so not everything has changed.

Andy also changed a lot. He was still kind of nerdy, but he looked a lot better than he did ten years ago. His hair was better kept, he had some muscles now, and he no longer needed glasses thanks to Lasik surgery. He can still be very awkward with people, but he is far less of an introvert than he was in high school.