Page 9 of Sam & Justin
He must have gotten tired of the silence, because he spoke before I had a chance to decide my next words. “You’re looking good.”
I felt my cheeks burn. I wished I didn’t blush so easily. “Thanks,” I managed to choke out.
His smile grew bigger, and suddenly it was worth the embarrassment.
“Time’s been good to you, huh?”
I could feel his eyes move over my body, and I swallowed hard. My ears were burning now. I must have been redder than my beard. I probably looked like a human tomato. I didn’t know what to say to his comment, and I wasn’t sure if I should question him checking me out. Instead, I took a sip of my mango martini. After I swallowed down the liquid (and the spicy jalapeno after bite stopped burning my tongue), I felt a little more relaxed. “You look good, too.”
He didn’t blush, but he did look pleased. I’d take that as another mark in the win column. “Looks like you had a good turn out.”
Did that mean he knew that I’d planned the reunion? Maybe he remembered it was part of the class president’s job, but somehow, I doubted that. He hadn’t been the type to pay attention to that when we were younger. He must have noticed my name in the emailed invitation or maybe he’d asked around. Either way, I basked in the glow of his compliment. “I was surprised to see your name on the RSVP list.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, almost didn’t come. My buddy told me I should. Not really sure it was the right call.”
“Why not?”
He raised an eyebrow at me, and his smile was replaced by a smirk. That looked more familiar to me. I could see his teenageself behind the expression, almost distorted like I was viewing it through some kind of funhouse mirror. “I wasn’t much of a joiner back in the day,” he reminded me. “Hell, this wasn’t even my class til my second go of sophomore year.”
I chuckled. I should have expected that answer. It had been some of my first thoughts when I’d seen his name on the RSVP list. I took another small sip of my drink. “Why did your friend think you should come?”
I had to assume this friend was that Axel guy from his pictures. He didn’t have a lot of pictures with anyone else, which made me wonder if he had a lot of other friends where he lived now. I remembered that he had always hung out with the same group of guys in high school. He had been very different from me in that capacity. I hadn’t had a tight knit group of friends. Instead, I was friendly with our entire grade. I was pretty sure that even if someone had run against me for class president, I’d still have been the one elected, and I’d still have been the one responsible for this reunion.
Sam didn’t answer right away. He took a drink of his mojito. He swirled his straw around with a pensive look on his face. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. I was about to tell him that he didn’t have to answer when he spoke. “Honestly, he thought it might be good for me. I don’t come around here often, and he thought maybe I could use a good time.”
It was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “Does he know who you were in high school?”
“And who exactly was I?” The tone of the question made me wonder if I’d accidentally offended him. Maybe I shouldn’t have opened my mouth.
But I’d said it, and now I needed to dig myself out of the hole I’d found myself in. “Like you said, you weren’t a joiner.” He gave me a look that encouraged me to go on, to share the thoughts on who he used to be, or at least who I thought he’d been back when I knew him. “You weren’t into high school, and I remember you used to talk about graduating and leaving Gomillion in the dust.”
“Doesn’t say who I was in high school,” he pointed out.
For a moment, I thought I saw a dangerous glint in his gray eyes, but when I looked again, I saw the sparkle for what it was: amusement. He was teasing me. Two could play that game. I grinned. “You were the stereotypical bad boy. I remember seeing you and some of those guys you used to hang out with sneaking out of English class a few times.”
He laughed. “Yeah, Axel knows that shit. Doesn’t mean he didn’t still think I should come back here. He had some other motives, but I’m keeping those close to my chest.”
“Other motives?” I couldn’t even imagine what other motives someone might have with a high school reunion. Closure, maybe? Showing off that you’d made it far beyond what anyone ever thought possible? That seemed the most likely, and based on what I’d seen on his profile, he’d accomplished that.
I could still see the twinkle in his eye, and he smiled big enough that I learned he did still have that small chip in his front tooth. “Ain’t saying a thing.”
His refusal made me more curious, but even in high school, I’d only been his tutor. Now, I was someone he hadn’t spoken to in twenty years. I was practically a stranger. I couldn’t expect him to bare his secrets to sate my curiosity. But, god, I really wished that he would. Maybe I could wheedle it out of him. My younger sister always claimed that I was good at doing that. I might as well give it a try.
“Please?”
“Nope,” he replied as he brought his glass to his lips. I tried not to pay attention to the way his top lip shined with the liquor he’d just consumed.
“Then tell me something else,” I conceded.
He began to fidget with the stirrer again. “What do you want to know?”
“How have you been since high school?” God, I was a walking, talking cliche. Why couldn’t I come up with a more compelling question? I was cursing Vanessa for this icebreaker idea. Sure, it had given me the opportunity to talk to him, but now I had nothing to actually say.
Maybe the icebreaker should have included a list of potential questions to ask your partner.
I looked around at everyone else at the reunion. No one else seemed to be having this problem. People were laughing with their heads tossed back. Conversations were flowing. It seemed like Sam and I were the only two struggling to come up with a real connection. I hated it. I felt like I was failing a test I hadn’t even known to study for, and failure had never sat well with me.
“Been pretty good,” he answered. So at least he was humoring me and my pitiful attempts at making small talk. “Getting out of this place was the best thing for me.”