I was raised believing that getting a college degree would open so many doors in my future, but here I am buying groceries for my mom. I had an engineering degree and nothing to show for it but piles of debt. I walked through the aisles, pondering my plight as a broke college grad and picking up the items on the list until I discovered that I was not the only person in this situation. I looked down the aisle to see someone who I thought I would never see again. I haven't seen Emma in years, but I would recognize my old high school crush no matter how many years separate us. Her hair was much longer than it was 4 years ago, but other than that her appearance was more or less the same. I pushed my cart down the aisle until I reached her, "Hey, Emma. It's been a while."
She looked up from her shopping list after I spoke, she stared at my face for a few seconds, "Hey? I guess it has been, since I don't recognize you at all."
She was clearly embarrassed, but I didn't really blame her for not recognizing me. The long hair from my high school days was gone, my clean shaven face evolved into a full beard, and I gained some weight. "You don't remember the guy who threw a chair in English class? I thought you guys would never forget that shit."
Emma's face lit up in a way that I would never expect it to. She dropped her list and gave me a hug half a second after realizing who I was. "Jeff! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you! You really have changed, and for the better too, that's quite a beard you have there."
I rubbed my hand through my beard and smiled, "Thanks, this is probably the most useful thing I gained from college."
Emma sighed, "Lucky, I don't even have a beard to show for those four years I practically wasted in college. I thought I would only come back to this town on holidays, but here I am living with my parents because I can't afford anything else."
"Looks like we're in the same boat than. I only majored in engineering because I thought I was basically guaranteed a job, so much for that."
Emma and I continued to talk for the next few minutes, about how much time we wasted in college, and a little bit of remembering our friendship in high school. After four years a part, I started to realize that my two year long crush on her was quickly coming back. I didn't want to say goodbye and then go our separate ways, possibly to not see her for another four years, "So are you doing anything after you're done shopping? If not, I'd love it for you to come by to my place so we can continue to reminisce."
Emma smiled that gorgeous smile that made me fall for her back in high school, "I have nowhere else to go but home, I'd love to continue this."
We shopped and talked together for another twenty minutes, checked out, and she followed me home. We pulled into my driveway and stepped out of our cars into the cool summer night. "It's fucking beautiful out, we have some chairs out in the back, want to just sit back there and talk?"
She smiled and nodded, as soon we made it behind the house her face lit up even more than when she remembered me, "You have a trampoline?! My parents got rid of mine right after I left for school, I miss it so much. Would you mind jumping around for a bit."
Of course I didn't, I was just happy to spend time doing anything with her. We took our shoes off and started jumping all over the place. Sometimes colliding with each other, sometimes falling, but always laughing, talking, and enjoying each other. All of a sudden she did something I could not imagine her doing four years ago, in mid-jump she quickly pulled off her shirt to reveal her nicely toned body and a plain white bra. In her next jump she threw down her shorts, leaving on her plain white panties. Emma noticed the look on my face and laughed, "I hope my body doesn't offend you, it's just that nothing beats feeling the air rushing past your bare skin while jumping on a trampoline."
"Oh, I'm not offended at all, just a little shocked. I couldn't imagine you just stripping in front of me before."