I am Julie. I am 39 years old, very happily married, three children, good career, wonderful husband. I was never one of the popular girls in high school. I never developed beyond an A cup and the rest of my figure would never win the bathing suit contest. Still, I keep myself fit and at 5'3" am still only 121 pounds.
If you do the math, you will know last year was my 20th high school reunion. I grew up in Santa Clara and ended up in Vancouver, WA after marrying my husband right out of college. He is the same age as me and we met during our sophomore years.
I was really looking forward to this reunion. I had not seen a couple of my best girl friends since I got married and the Christmas cards and letters did not make up for that. On the other hand, I also dreaded the reunion because my high school boy friend would most likely be there. After the way he dumped me right after spring break our senior year, I did not want to see him again.
My desire to see old friends won out.
The next two problems were that I did not want to leave the children alone, the oldest was only 12, and my husband, Brian, could not get away. On top of that, I would be the only one there he even knew. We finally decided I would go by myself.
So, on Thursday afternoon in mid June I was off to catch my flight for four nights away. I was thankful Brian was able to get away from work to take me to the airport.
The flight to San Jose Airport was uneventful and I took a taxi to the hotel to avoid traffic. I checked into a brand new hotel, Element Santa Clara, very close to my old high school.
A lot of events were planned for the weekend. For Friday evening there was a very informal get together in the school cafeteria. This would include other classes, although ours was the featured one. On Saturday, there was a class softball game at a local park and in the evening our main class reunion with dinner, dancing and drinks at another motel ballroom.
It was early enough when I checked in that the pool looked very inviting and I changed into a one piece swim suit and headed down to the there. I was thrilled to see five other classmates at the pool already, although I confess I only recognized three of them. That was more embarrassing since all five recognized me right off. I got some teasing about my one piece suit, but actually they were very nice. Four of them had spouses with them.
All ten of us decided to have dinner together. We headed up to our rooms to shower and get dressed. Since part of the idea of a high school reunion is to impress our classmates, I wore a nice, sleeveless, off white dress that only came to mid thigh. It is not see through at all so under it I wore light pink panties and matching bra. With silver sandals I felt great about how I looked.
Dinner was real nice, with beer and then wine. I think between us we went through six bottle of wine. The conversation was continuous and at the end of the evening I had ten new good friends.
Back at my hotel I called Brian to check in on him and the kids and then went to bed.
Friday I called my best girl friend from school, Heather, who still lived in Santa Clara. She agreed to pick me up and go to the local mall. I took my time getting ready and after my shower I put fresh polish on both my fingers and toes. I dressed in shorts and a short sleeved top, some tan sandals and headed down to meet Heather.
We had a great day together. Heather is divorced, two kids. By chance, the kids were with their father, so Heather had the day completely free. We shopped for hours, gossiped and I bought both of us dresses for Saturday evening.
I invited Heather over to the motel to enjoy the pool. We stopped back by her house so she could get a swim suit and a dress for the evening and we headed back to my hotel. When Heather and I got to the pool the same group was there from the day before and we had another chance to renew acquaintances. They also kidded me about my one piece bathing suit again.
After showering and dressing we all went to dinner again, but kept the drinking down. The evening at the school cafeteria turned out to be a crashing bore. Too many boring speeches and too many people there who were not part of our graduating class. We left early and went to Heather's house. I got back to my hotel room, talked to Brian and went to bed.
The next day, Saturday, the softball game was at 11:00 with hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and beer on the menu. Since I did not plan to play, I wore a short sleeved sundress that came to my knees. Heather picked me up. I should have worn something else since everyone got talked into playing softball and running bases in sandals is not easy, not to mention running, swinging a bat and all will make a full skirt fly up. However, I was having too good a time to worry about it.
It was 1:00 when I looked up from the table I was sitting at with Heather and other friends and saw Eric arriving. Eric, the high school boy friend who broke my 18 year old heart by breaking up with me three weeks before the prom he was supposed to take me to. Eric, the boy who during a heavy make out session during spring break reached under my skirt and tried to take my panties off. Eric, the boy who broke up with me when I would not let him. Eric, the boy who I wished I had given in to. I looked away.
It was not that easy. Eric got a hamburger, chips and a beer and came over and sat next to me. All I wanted was for him to go away. He sat quietly eating and drinking his beer.
"Julie, I came over to apologize for the horrible was I treated you."
"What?" While I said it out loud, I was actually screaming it in my mind.
"I came to apologize."
I turned away. Even over twenty years later I had not forgotten the hurt.
"Julie, please, let's talk."
I had to admit, he was being very polite. "Okay, talk."
"Not here, let's go for a walk."
I gave in and got up. We started down a path along the lake.
"Julie, the biggest mistake I ever made was breaking up with you. I was such a complete jerk."
I admit, that was certainly a step in the right direction. "Eric, I am happily married to a wonderful man, I have three wonderful children, I have a successful career as a Certified Public Accountant and I think I have you to thank for all of that. I could not see it then, even when my mother assured me it was for the best, but it was."
"Well, it was certainly not what was best for me. I put pressure on you that I never should have put on you. In fact, I think I put pressure on you to do things that you really did not want to do."
"Yes, Eric, you did. Still, I do not blame you for that. It is not like I would argue I did not enjoy the things we did together, even if I did feel guilty."
Memories flooded back of Eric and me. The first time we kissed, the first time he touched my breasts, the first time he got his hand inside my bra. Most of all I remembered the make out sessions when he would be on top of me, I would spread my legs and I would have a climax. The first time I did that while wearing a dress made me sure I loved him.
Eric told me, "I am glad your life is turning out so well. I feel like mine is a mess."
"What? I heard you are a successful attorney?"
"After I dumped you I asked Debby out. I asked her out because I heard stories about her getting naked for other boys. My main goal was getting into her panties. Actually, I thought we got along well."
I said, "I remember hearing she was your date for the prom as I sat at home being miserable."
"How can I say I am sorry again? I thought about you a lot even as I got away with things with her you would never let me do. She never went to college and during summer vacation after my sophomore year of college I got her pregnant. We got married and ended up with two children."