Crossed Paths

A reunion of old friends leads to good times, great sex, and a wicked game.

This story is written for the "

Wicked Games

" writers' challenge, which asks the author to use the song "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak as the inspiration. If you're familiar with the song, I hope you'll notice certain elements of it as you read.

A big thank you to blackrandl1958 for the invitation to participate in the challenge. I hope readers will enjoy all of the stories in the event.

© SouthernCrossfire - 2024. All rights reserved.

________________

Like honey drawing flies, such was the attraction of the on-line social networks starting in the first decade of the Twenty-first Century. Millions, and eventually billions, of accounts were created across competing networks.

No one knew how many were actually real.

To some of us, though, those networks were like vinegar. We had no interest and didn't care to give them a try.

My teenage daughter, Suzie, on the other hand, couldn't wait to join, and my wife, Tricia, signed off on her request shortly after her 13th birthday. I wasn't too happy about it, but Tricia was a wonderful mother and generally made the right calls.

Several weeks passed before, at dinner one evening, Suzie asked if Tricia and I would like to join, too.

"Sure, sweetheart. That sounds like fun," said Tricia.

"Uhm, not me, thanks," I replied, hoping that would be the end of it.

Suzie wasn't done, pressing her case to get both of us involved. "It's loads of fun, Daddy. You can see what all your friends are doing and there's lots of games you can play."

"Sweetheart, I talk to my friends, either in person or on the phone. I don't need to go to a website for that. And we've got plenty of games here at the house if I want to play something."

"Daddy, what about Aunt Linda? When was the last time you spoke with her?"

"Oh," I said, stalling, trying to remember when. "I think it was a couple of weeks ago."

"Did you know she got a new car? Six weeks ago? It's red and looks really cool. Beth", her cousin, "will be getting Aunt Linda's old car when she gets her license in a few months."

"You're friends with Aunt Linda on there? And she got a new car?" I was a bit surprised, thinking her old one wasn't all that old. Tricia nodded, smirking at that surprise and my expression, though part of that had to do with the horrible thought of my niece driving on real roads rather than around their church parking lot.

"Yee-ah," Suzie replied, looking at me like I was crazy for not knowing. "Told ya' you should join."

Tricia and I talked about it that night. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when Tricia took Suzie's side, especially considering she'd already given our girl permission to join and agreed to her own account. Tricia told me, "She may be right. It might be a good way to keep in touch with our relatives and some of our old high school and college friends."

"Not sure I'd want to keep in touch with a lot of them," I groused. I already kept in touch with my better male friends.

The girls were a different story. Most of the girls in high school had treated me either like dirt or like a brother—usually an immature younger one, at that—and most of the thousands of coeds at college had just flat out ignored me. Of course, at such a large school, there were exceptions and it got better, at least to a degree, as my education advanced. I had a number of female friends from college and even a couple of ex-girlfriends from my junior and senior years.

Therefore, we decided to give it a try, though, secretly, my primary reason was to keep a close eye on Suzie's on-line activities. I'd heard there were a lot of people trying to take advantage of young girls, so I was determined to keep that from happening to my daughter.

I watched Suzie's account closely and, quite happily, I saw that she was every bit as level-headed as we'd raised her to be. Eventually, feeling better about her activities, I spent some time locating and reuniting with old friends, but I was very careful to avoid my old lovers in order to avoid upsetting my wife.

There weren't that many since, other than a couple of cases of being in the right place at the right time, they were all former girlfriends except for that one young lady in the adjacent building when I was in grad school. She'd be called a friend with benefits nowadays since we got together to drink wine, hang out, and make out and more a few times. I figured old crushes that were only crushes were okay as long as neither they nor Tricia knew about my former feelings.

I eventually found Hallie, one of my relatively few female friends from freshman and sophomore years. She was a good friend as well as being an unknowing and unrequited crush, but I'd been really careful to always maintain our relationship as "just friends" rather than straying into an attempt at romance that would, based on my past experience, result in our friendship being ended forever. Therefore, she played my heartstrings repeatedly without even knowing it until we eventually started drifting apart during the latter part of our junior year. By then, I'd started to have more success with other girls and Hallie's slow drift away wasn't too noticeable until it was too late.

With neither of us having ever entered into the danger zone, I felt a renewed friendship with her, as the mature adults we now were rather, wouldn't be a problem so I sent her a hello note and a friend request, and then looked forward to her reply.

When it came several days later, I was quite surprised.

Tom Jarrett? I'm sorry but I don't remember ever knowing anyone by that name. You must have your wires crossed and be confusing me with someone else.

She had a very good sense of humor in college, so, after the initial surprise, I realized she was playing a joke on me.

Good one, Hallie! You had me believing you for a second! How've you been?

The next time I came back to the computer, there was a response.

Sorry, I'm not joking. I really don't remember you. You have the wrong person.

Talk about a kick in the teeth. While we hadn't spent much time together during senior year, we'd had a couple of classes together freshman and sophomore years before she switched majors. I wasn't sure but thought it might have taken her an extra semester or two to graduate as a result. Maybe she really wasn't thinking about our years together, so I decided to send a little reminder.

Remember that time we went to the Delta Lam party with Mark and Christie (Kristy? Something like that)? You twisted your ankle when you stepped off the front porch at the house and I carried you piggyback all the way back to your dorm? We iced your ankle and you promised me a back massage when you felt better. By the way, I don't think I ever got to collect on that.

It was a whole week before she responded that time.

Sorry, you have me confused with someone else. I've never hurt my ankle like that and I wouldn't promise a back massage to anyone other than a very close boyfriend because of what it almost always leads to. Please don't contact me again.

Well, that hurt, probably a lot more than it should have. I spent the next couple of days stewing and then decided that since she sent a final message, I deserved one, too. Figuring that it might be pushing the bounds of creepiness or even stalker-hood, I'd make it clear in my message that it would be my last and I wouldn't bother her again. Therefore, I spent the next couple of days writing and refining my message to convey exactly what I wanted to say while I searched through some boxes in the basement for something I thought I remembered.

Dear Hallie,

It's probably for the best that you don't remember me and that we won't be friends again because, in truth, it would probably violate the agreement I have with my wife about avoiding those who were once special to me. While you never knew of the crush I had on you, I do and it would feel strange lying to my wife if she were to ask the nature of our friendship. Or, maybe you do and that explains your reluctance to say hello. Either way, I understand and won't contact you again, but I pray that you have a long lifetime of happiness and good health.

Your friend at a distance forever,

Tom

I attached a photo I'd found in my college photo album of the two of us with a couple of friends at a party when we were sophomores. She could deny it, but that picture was absolute proof that we knew each other and, as close and relaxed as we were together, that we'd been friends.

After I sent that final message, Hallie never responded and I was true to my word, never sending her anything else. I put the photo album back in the basement and resolved to be more careful about reaching out to anyone who Tricia might find objectionable due to anything that might have happened in our past, whether it really had or not.

Despite the care I took to avoid re-entangling myself with former romantic partners, my wife didn't. She ran into one of her ex-lovers the following summer while on a business trip to Chicago and they "reconnected" then and more frequently in the months that followed. Perhaps she meant for me to find proof of the game she was playing or maybe she just got sloppy, but the trust built up over nearly seventeen years together was shattered, with our marriage along with it.

Suzie was saddened by the breakup of our family, but she still loved us both and came to accept it eventually as she split her time between Tricia and me. We still did daddy-daughter things together quite often and I was happy to see her becoming an intelligent and beautiful young woman with great opportunities ahead of her.

With Suzie actually living with Tricia most of the time and with me eventually recovering from the initial shock of Tricia's infidelity and the pain that followed, I'd gone through a period where I'd sown a good bit of winter wheat or whatever the hell the term is for a hopefully somewhat more mature individual than those typically associated with wild oats. I'd even had a couple of girlfriends over the years that followed, but it wasn't long before I decided that clingy was better with plastic wrap than with girlfriends trying to wrap up a new husband.

***

About seven years later...

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tom! It's Andy Rhiner. How are you?"

"Hi, Andy! Great to hear from you. I'm doing well, and you?" Andy and I hadn't talked much in recent years, but we swapped cards and a few notes to catch up every Christmas.

"Never better, my friend. Say, have you heard about our upcoming class reunion? Twenty-five years, can you believe it? Gloria and I are thinking about attending but we're trying to see if any of our old friends are coming. We don't want to get stuck at a table by ourselves with a group of virtual strangers if none of our closer friends show up. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I skipped our twenty-year reunion for that very reason," I admitted, though that wasn't the only reason. It was shortly after the divorce was finalized and I really didn't feel like talking about it if I ran into any friends and definitely not with strangers. "You have a list of people attending?"

"Well, right now, in addition to Gloria and me, we've got yeses from Mark Savone, Keith and Gabby Schilling—"

He named off about ten or twelve people I was friends with including Mark, who'd been my best friend and best man, and three couples, some of whom were definites with the rest considering it but not yet sure. That was enough for me though, so by the time he was done, I'd made up my mind.

"Sounds like a great group and I look forward to seeing everybody. Put me down as a yes. I'll go register after we hang up."

"It's in October at homecoming, so we've still got three months, but Gloria and I look forward to seeing you there."

"Please tell her I said hello, my friend. Look forward to talking to you again soon."

Twenty minutes later, I was signed up to attend, including some of the special activities and the homecoming game versus the Cats. I stepped on the scale later that evening and set a goal to work off 10 pounds by the reunion. That would still put me about 15 pounds or so above my college weight, but should make me look pretty good.

***

Reunion weekend arrived and there were ten of us in our group that had promised to attend. Mark and I were the only ones who were single, though Mark did it legitimately, having never married. Larry and Nina were both on their second marriage after bailing out of their first within just a few years of tying the knot the first time. Keith and Gabby had married right after graduation, showing everyone else who was still on their first and only marriage, the way to do it. It was depressing to me that I wasn't, too, despite my plans.

There were a number of activities on Friday, so I flew in on Thursday afternoon and several of us got together for dinner that evening and then drinks later that night in the hotel bar. Mark and I had been suitemates during our sophomore year and had remained good friends, so we hung out together while talking with members of our group and a number of other people who came and went as the evening progressed.

We attended some of the campus tours and seminars on Friday with some of our couple friends. Campus had changed a lot, with some new buildings, new artworks, and was, in many ways, still the same, with the plaza still filled with pretty young coeds flirting with the young men while many others, of both sexes, rushed by, trying to make it to class on time.

"I remember those days," said Mark. "Talk to the girl until the last second and then run to class."

"Yeah, they'd talk to you," I laughed.

"Did you see the note in the reunion brochure about the pizza place next to campus? Still there, but under new ownership. I wonder if they've redecorated?"

"Redecorated? I wonder if the pizza still tastes the same."

We texted everyone in our group and met there for pizza and beer. Some of the photos in the front lobby dated from before our years at school, but many others, including athletes and the famous who'd visited campus but stopped by for a slice and a beer, were new.

Unfortunately, it seemed that about half of the reunion crowd had the same idea so the wait was long, but that gave everyone a chance to talk and relax. Josh and Stephanie told us about their recent European tour after selling their firm, and Gloria told us about her new book that was being published. Mark was just starting into a story when someone caught his eye and he excused himself, going to catch up with her.

It was Jane Mealer, Mark's old crush from freshman and sophomore year. The rest of us watched from a distance as about twenty-nine years after their first meeting, they finally hit it off. After pizza that was good but not quite as good as we remembered, I went to a couple of the afternoon activities by myself.

Mark never showed up for dinner, and none of us saw Jane either. I smiled at the thought of them running into each other and actually connecting after so many years and briefly crossed my fingers for them for luck.

We had a nice meal and talked, only taking a break to sort of pay attention when the class bigwigs got up to give their speeches. There were all the usual ones, welcoming us, recognizing special guests, making a fundraising pitch, reflecting on our class, making another fundraising pitch, and so on. The people at most tables started whispering during the second or maybe third request for funds and most of us ignored the speakers for the rest of the time. They eventually got the hint and shut up, allowing the music to start.

With that I got up for another drink and circulated around the big ballroom, stopping to speak with a few old friends along the way.

When I eventually got back to the table, I danced with Gabby a couple of times when Keith, who'd put on way too much weight, complained of being tired. There was a turn with Nina and one with Steph as the rest looked on. A little later, Gloria came over and gave me a turn when Andy propped his feet up on the table and said, laughingly, "Enough, woman!" and sent her my way.

A slow dance started after the first one finished and I was about to take her back to the table when she set up and we did a waltz with a little space between us. She asked me how I was doing as we danced. Her questions were pointed, but she said that she and Andy had been worried about me and wanted to make sure that I was okay.

I appreciated my friends' concerns, but to be quite honest, answering the questions truthfully was a little depressing so I walked her back to the table and thanked her and Andy before heading to the bar for a drink. I got in line and was looking out across the dance floor behind me when I saw Hallie coming toward the line.

My heart raced more than it should have for a crush from twenty-eight or twenty-nine years earlier, but she was still as pretty as before, though obviously older. When she saw me, I waved and she smiled and waved back before her face went slack.

I approached and said, "Hi, Hallie. Remember me?"

Her eyes dropped to the floor for a few moments before she looked up and nodded her head. "Hi, Tom. Of course I remember you," she said, opening her arms inviting a hug.

I wasn't about to miss that opportunity so I stepped in and hugged my old friend for the first time in ages. She felt good in my arms and I leaned my head against hers, enjoying the smell of her hair. Our hug lasted for several seconds before she squeezed tighter for a moment and relaxed.

I took the hint and let go in return.

"How are you?" I asked.

She glanced around before turning back to look at me. "Tom, can we get a drink and go sit somewhere to talk? In private?"

We got our drinks and went out in the lobby, wandering until we found an empty sofa.

"This okay?"

"Sure, this is good," she replied, smiling. "It's so loud in the ballroom that it's hard to think. And, Tom, I'm sorry, I need to think. First, I owe you an apology, and an explanation."

"The wrong person routine you ran? What was that, seven or eight years ago?"

She nodded. "I'm so sorry, Tom. I was so thrilled when I got your first message that I started typing immediately but stopped as soon as I finished typing your name." She laughed. "Three letters, T-o-m, was as far as I got before I realized what it would mean if my incredibly jealous husband found out. Delete, delete, delete, with each one hurting, and my heart hurting nonstop over the next couple of days until I finally replied to say that you had the wrong person. Then it hurt even worse."

"I'm sorry, Hallie, and I'm sorry I pressed you." I sighed before adding, "I actually wondered—later on, mind you—if you really remembered but just didn't want to reconnect because of your marriage. I'd have understood that and let it go."

"I should have, Tom, just admitted it, and said we can't be friends right now, but I needed—oh, what's that term?"

"Plausible deniability?"

"Yes, that's it. Plausible deniability, in case Vince found out. We were going through a rough patch at the time."

"Are things good between you now?"

She took a deep breath and shook her head slowly. "Things aren't anything between us now. We divorced three years ago after our son was in college. It's like we're in separate worlds; we don't talk except when there's something happening in Vinnie's life. If he ever gets married, they may have to do two ceremonies, so Vince and I can each attend one."

"Ouch, I'm sorry. Tricia and I don't talk all that much these days either, but we still try to present a united front when it comes to Suzie. She's a junior in college this year and is planning to continue on to become a veterinarian."