Remembering Old Times

Authors Note: While this story includes some background on characters staring as early as high school, no underage characters engage in any sexual acts or sexual activities until they are of legal age.

*****

I sat and stared at the facebook message, somewhat startled. Oh it isn't that I haven't seen one before. In fact, I see a LOT of them on my other id, the one I use for my hobby as a science fiction author. My personal account, the one I was logged into now, rarely got comments or messages. Yeah, I know. Who doesn't have a ton of friends on facebook? The answer, a thirty year old computer and electronics geek with a job that doesn't let me talk about what I do.

I never had time for relationships in college. I was too busy with my nose in the books and doing my research for my PhD. Now that I'm out, I just don't have that many opportunities to meet nice women. Oh don't get me wrong. I've done the bar and club scene with some success, but a one night stand just isn't my thing. Maybe it's because I was spoiled in high school.

I met Laurie on my first day of class at the new high school, having just moved to the town. Not that I was trying to meet her, but I sorta fell over her, literally. I just wasn't watching where I was going and much to the amusement of everyone else in the room, I ended up on the floor with Laurie laying on top of me, both our stacks of books strewn around us. It started my label as a klutz, to which geek was soon added. Laurie was, pretty, sweet, nice, and most of all, not angry with me for what happened. Laurie and I dated "unofficially" the rest of the way through high school. I say unofficially because her dad was extremely strict and refused to let her date, therefore almost all of our dates were "group" dates, usually with her friend Sue tagging along. Sue was a perfect fit for Laurie. She too was sweet, kind, playful and fun to be around, which was good because it seemed like she always was. The one difference was size. Where Laurie was a willowy blonde with a bombshell body, Sue was a bit heavier set, a bit shorter than either of us. I wouldn't have ever called her fat, but there were boys that did. One thing that always struck me was that she was perfectly comfortable in her body, such as it was, never feeling the need to try to change herself for others.

With the two nearly inseparable, especially when I was around, it was unsurprising that we never quite got around to the sex scene, though the three of us had at various points dabbled. You know the kind of things. Truth or dare, spin the bottle, even a couple games of strip poker. I had, much to my pleasure, seen both of them naked on more than one occasion, and quite honestly found both of them to be equally beautiful in their own way. We just never quite had the opportunity to really have any sex beyond a little fondling and kissing in really good places as part of those games. It was hard to say which of the two I'd actually try and date exclusively if I had to choose, so choose I didn't. I dated the pair equally, practically never spending time with one alone over the other.

College ended all that. Her dad, convinced that college or not, I'd never amount to anything, made damn sure that Laurie went to a college a long damn way from where I went to school. I would have welcomed Sue coming along where I went, but it really wasn't a surprise when she chose to go where Laurie went. The end result was that after a few months we drifted apart, the three of us lost in our own studies with no time or money to make the trips to get together physically. So to see Laurie's name on my facebook messenger was, well a shock. I hadn't really thought about her to any extent in years. Not that I'd ever forgotten her, but after the first year at school I did my best to not think about the two of them daily.

"

Is this the same Scott that fell all over me the first day of high school?

" The message said when I clicked it open. "

If so, it'd be great to hear back from you.

"

I paused over my keyboard and clicked on her icon, taking me to her profile page. It was far more informative that mine was. The down side to working in a field with government secrets, advertising too much personal information could be a problem. So my facebook account was duly "sanitized" of anything that could identify where I lived or how I lived or how to get in contact with me. Laurie's page on the other hand quickly revealed that she was still single, not in a relationship, lived in St Louis, had two cats and, almost surprisingly, shared an apartment with her high school best friend. She was a nurse practitioner, a field that had required almost as much schooling as me, if not more. The only thing missing was a picture of her.

I flipped back to my account, opened the message and set down to write a reply that I hoped would sound right. "Laurie. It's been a long time since I had the opportunity to trip over anyone that meant as much to me as you did. I'm glad to see you are doing well. Yes, it would be nice to catch up. You probably don't realize it from my profile, but we actually live in the same city. How's that for coincidence? Write me back and we can arrange to meet for coffee or something. Scott."

My heart was pounding when I sent the message. I wondered if she remembered just how much we cared for each other back then. I wondered what had happened to her in her life in the last ten years, realizing that the feeling in the pit of my stomach was very much the same as that first day I'd met her.

I was almost ready to close my laptop for the night and hit the sack when the chime sounded. I flipped open messenger and opened the new message waiting.

"

oh my god, Scott! Seriously? I had no idea you were in St Louis! We HAVE to get together! CALL ME! xxx-xxx-xxxx

"

I stared at the message for a long time before I picked up my cell and dialed her number.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi. Laurie? This is Scott."

"Oh my god! Scott! It's sooooo good to hear your voice. I saw your name on facebook and thought I'd just take a stab at it. Well, I didn't actually, Sue did, but how could I not try? I wasn't even sure it was you. I can't believe you live in St Louis too! How did you end up here? I mean, we both did, isn't that nuts? So what do you do? Why are you here? Oh never mind. It doesn't matter. It's just SOOOOO good to hear your voice again!" she said over the phone, speaking so fast I really didn't get a change to say anything.

"Um. Yeah. I work for Boeing."

"Boeing? So cool! You always said you wanted to work with airplanes. Is that what you're doing? I saw it says Doctor Stevens. Pretty fancy! We have to get together. Where are you? North or south side?" she said, again so fast I could barely keep up.

"I'm out west side a ways, I answered. "You? I could come into town and meet you one day if you have time."

"If I have time? Are you kidding? I'd love to get together with you. West side. Oh. Out 44 or 100?"

"I usually commute in on 44," I answered after a short pause.

"Oh nice. I'm up north. There's a White Castle just before you get to 270. Can't remember the name of the road, but I'm sure you know which one I mean."

"Yeah," I managed to wedge in between her words.

"It'll take me, oh gosh, twenty five or thirty minutes to get there. I'd love to see you again!"

"Tonight?" I asked looking at my watch, realizing it was already a quarter past ten.

"Oh. Gee. Yeah. I should have asked if you could. I mean your wife might not like you going out to meet a strange woman at this hour. Well not strange, even worse, and old flame. I know I'd be worried if my husband went late at night to meet an old girlfriend. But then I don't have a husband, so I guess that's a silly thing for me to say. She won't mind, will she? I mean I don't want to mess anything up for you."

"Oh. Not that at all. I'm not married," I answered.

"Seriously? Not married? I figured for sure someone would have snatched you up LONG ago! Girlfriend then? I don't want to step on any toes."

"Um. No. Just me," I answered. "I have an early meeting tomorrow morning though. But yeah, I could meet you there for a little while," I answered her a little apprehensively.

"Okay. I'll see you then. Oh god Scott. You don't know how good it is to hear your voice!" she said almost squeaking with happiness before the line clicked dead.

I knew exactly where she meant, and though I knew it was only fifteen minutes away, I didn't wait long to leave. I couldn't help but think back to high school and how in love we were, or at least we thought we were. I was pretty sure that we really didn't LOVE each other as much as we thought, but we sure as hell were attached to each other, despite her father's constant interference. I was so caught up in thought I almost drove past the exit, barely having time to slow down and get on the exit ramp. I wound around, through the few stop lights and into the parking lot.

I had a soda sitting in front of me, well, two actually, one for me and one that was what her favorite used to be. I'll admit I was hedging my bets a little, the butterflies in my stomach threatening to burst out and fly me right out of the building. When she walked in there was no doubt in my mind it was her. Her green eyes smiled almost as big as her lips, her curly blonde hair cascading down over her shoulders by at least half a foot. She was trim, but not overly thin, the sleeveless turtleneck shirt hugging her form and her surprisingly large breasts. I didn't remember them being quite that big in high school, not that I'm complaining. She looked spectacular in the black slacks and tight white shirt.

"OH MY GOD SCOTT!" she practically shouted as she walked in, her arms almost immediately reaching out towards me as she walked across the tile floor. I stood up and let her wrap her arms around me, mine circling her waist almost as a reflex. She felt suddenly so good pressed against me, the warmth of her body, the softness of her chest, the floral scent in her hair. In many ways, it was like an instant teleportation back to high school and the last time we'd hugged before she left for Pennsylvania. I closed my eyes and let the distant memories of the past flow over me once again like warm water. The heat of her body pressing against mine pulled some of those more intimate times back to the front of my mind, including the last time the three of us had been naked together, the two giving me my special birthday present.

I have no idea how long she held me that way before stepping back, her arms sliding from around me, but it was more than long enough for me to end up with a raging hardon. Her hands slid down my arms to my hands and then she stepped back to look at me. "My god Scott. You look good!" she said with a huge smile.

"Not so bad yourself," I answered as I looked her up and down again, enjoying the view, my mind trying to fill in what she looked like under the top. "And practically a doctor! That was what you wanted to do last I heard."

"Yeah, not quite, but close enough," she agreed with a smile, making no move to sit in the booth.

"I got you a pepper. Still your favorite?" I said after a few awkward silent seconds.

"You remembered? That's sweet! Yeah, it's still my biggest vice," she said with a little girlish giggle, letting go of my hands to slip into the seat across from where I had been sitting. "Mmmmmm. That's good," she said after taking a sip from the straw, and watching me settle into the seat across from her.

"I was surprised when I saw your message. I mean it's been so long I pretty much figured you'd long forgotten me."

"Forgotten you? Not on your life! I just didn't know how to find you after I got done with school. Sue found you accidently. She was looking at some books online and started screaming 'I found him, I found him!'" she said enthusiastically, imitating how Sue had to be waving her arms and jumping around.

"Oh?" I asked, not sure exactly how she found me.

"Uh huh. Pretty clever name swap there, Sterling Scottman!" she said with a wink. "I don't think even Sue would have realized it was you if you hadn't told that story in your bio about how you got started writing in high school."

"Oh that," I said, blushing a little at the thought.

"Yeah, I would have never guessed writing that sexy little short story for Sue for class would get you into writing books."

"I had fun, and I needed something to do to get my mind off my research sometimes, so I started writing a book. Next thing I knew, I had four of them published and a pretty good following," I answered.

"Well, you have at least one more than you know. Sue's read all of them and is anxiously waiting for the next in the series."

"Well, I guess I better get back to work on it then. I'd hate to disappoint her."

"It'd be pretty hard for you to disappoint either of us. Damn, it's so good to see you."

"Same here," I said, letting my eyes wander down her front to settle on her hands. "No ring I see."

"No. Never quite found the right guy; I guess I don't see one there either," she said, reaching out and tapping the ring finger of my left hand.

"Naw. Not me. No time and now, well it's kinda hard to meet people. I'm not all that good at it to start with."

"I understand that. Kind of hard to keep tripping over people." She giggled. "Sue was for a while," she said after few moments, her face turning serious. "He was a real dickhead. Took me almost two years to get her to dump the bastard."

"That bad?"

"Oh yeah. When he wasn't messing with her head, he was hitting on her, and when he wasn't doing that, he was off cheating on her. She finally caught him in bed, in HER bed no less, with two chicks at once. That was the end of it. She'd had all she could take. Not that I could ever really see what she saw in him. All through college she jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend. Not ever sure if it was their idea to separate or hers, but she went through a lot of them."

"Some people really get into that sex scene in college."

"I don't think it was that. I got the impression she was looking for something in particular and just wasn't finding it. Actually, I'm not sure she had sex with most of them, which might be why she broke up so often. Too much pressure for sex."

"I'm sorry about her having to deal with a lousy husband."

"I'm not. She's waaaaay better off. Not to mention that I got her back for a roommate. We were roomies all through college. Well, until she finished and I still had more to go. She's a peeds nurse now. LOVES working with all those babies. Still thinks she wants one of her own, but I keep telling her she's gotta have a guy first," she said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, it does work better that way."

"So all this time and no one?"

"Like I said. Just couldn't find the right person. Oh I had a few attempts, but it didn't work out," I said, wrinkling my nose up at the thought of how those had ended. "I'm probably just going to end up a confirmed bachelor."

"I doubt that. Someone'll take you off the market."

"Maybe."

"So! You write," she said, obviously changing the subject. "But I know you. That's not what you do for a living. Boeing? Sounds exciting. What do you do?"

I was silent a moment, trying to decide if I should tell her the truth, which was that I couldn't tell her, or use my well-practiced cover story which was almost true, but not quite. "I work with avionics on some new aircraft," I finally answered, deciding to use my cover story.

"Oooooo. That sounds pretty geeky."

"Yeah. It is."

"So what do you do? Program them? Design them?"

"A little of everything," I answered.

"So you're not going to tell me?"

"I just did," I answered a little defensively.

"No you didn't. That was... I don't know what. Now tell me the truth."

"I did," I answered, a bit surprised.

"Scott. You're lying all the way. You forget I KNOW you! You're ears turn pink when you're lying! Didn't you wonder how all those years I knew when you weren't being honest with me?"

"Actually, I did wonder."

"So?"

"I still can't tell you," I said quietly. "This time for real. Government stuff. That's part of what makes it hard to have any kind of a relationship. I can't even talk about what I do."

"Ohhhhhh. That explains a lot," she said with a knowing nod. "That would be hard for you."

"Pretty much. So let's change the subject."

"Sounds good to me. So, I have a question. Way back when, when we kinda drifted apart and stopped talking. I kinda felt like you had a new girlfriend or something. Did you? I mean it's okay if you did. I just wondered."

"I wish," I said with a snort. "No. My main squeeze at the time were books. I had a girl I was studying with, but I wouldn't call her a girlfriend."

"Uh huh. I've heard that before. Kinda like you studied with me but I wasn't your girlfriend?"

"Well."

"Uh huh. Well. Everyone else knew we were boyfriend and girlfriend. How come you'd never admit it?"

"Partly your dad. He scared the crap out of me."

"Bull. You made it perfectly clear that you didn't care what my dad thought when you were taking my shirt off for the first time. So tell me another whopper."

"That wasn't until we'd been seeing each other for almost four years. Besides. It's kinda hard to explain," I mumbled.

"My god Scott! It's been over ten years! What can be so hard to say?"

"Fine. It was Sue," I almost snapped out.

"Sue? What about Sue?" she asked curiously, leaning closer to me over the table as if that would somehow make it easier for me to tell her.

"She went everywhere with us. I mean every time we went out, it was the three of us, not the two of us. If we did anything you father most definitely wouldn't approve of, she was there, in it just as much as you and me. I mean think about it!" I said with a frown. "You had to know I loved you."

"I know we thought we loved each other. Not really sure if it was really love, but it was most certainly infatuation."

"Well, call it what you will," I answered, suddenly wondering if this had really been a good idea.

"Okay. So she was what, in the way? A third wheel? I never saw you do or say anything that would indicate you were unhappy that she was around."

"I didn't say I was. Maybe at first, but not later," I answered.

She sat looking at me curiously for long seconds. "Scott Sterling! Are you trying to tell me that you and she. I mean you had feelings for her and didn't tell me? I mean if you had, I would have bowed out. I just thought that you loved me and I loved you and having her along let us be together."

"It did and we did love each other," I answered, just barely above a whisper.

"So I don't understand. What was the problem with Sue?"

"NOTHING! That's what the problem was!" I said louder in frustration.

She stared at me. One, two, three, four thousand million seconds. At least that's what it felt like. "Oh god. Scott? Are you trying to say that you had feelings for BOTH of us?"

I rolled my eyes. As good as women are at puzzling things out, it's amazing that over the years she never put that together before this.

"Oh my god. SCOTT! Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Say what? That I found both of you attractive? That I liked being with you, both of you? That I'd do damn near anything either of you asked? What would I have said?"

She chuckled for a few moments. "Yeah. Good point. Not that I would have been all that understanding, you wanting my best friend at the same time as me. Yeah, I can see why you kept that to yourself."

"Well, there you have it," I said with finality, the two of us sitting across from each other silently for long seconds. "It's been really nice catching up though. I mean it's not like I ever forgot you. Hell, I still keep your birthday marked on the calendar."