I was awakened by the sound of pounding on my bedroom door. “Magenta! The college reunion starts in an hour. You’d better be completely dressed and have everything together or I’m leaving you behind!”
I heaved myself up and rubbed my eyes. “Leave me. I hate people.”
“You don’t hate people. You’re a nurse.” Alison’s voice said through the door.
I sighed, and opened the door. As I threw my outfit on my bed, I watched as Alison applied her lipstick looking at herself through her phone camera. She looked back at me.
“You know, Javonte’s gonna be there,” Alison said with a mischievous grin.
My heart skipped a beat, but I faked indifference. “Why do I need to know that?”
“Oh come on, Magenta! You and Javonte were a thing in college! Y’all was just too scary to make it official.
I knew better than to reply with “We were just friends,” because even I didn’t believe that at this point in my life.
Somehow, someway, Alison talked me into putting on a dress and doing my hair, and then we were in her car driving to our alma mater.
Truth be told, me and Javonte were SUPER close in college. I missed his infections smile and velvety brown eyes.
After school ended, we promised to stay in touch but like ice, that promise melted away. He moved to Chicago with a new girlfriend and a high-paying job in architecture. He didn’t know I was still in Raleigh as a nurse. Nobody except my best friend (Alison) knew.
But my parents looked at me as if I were a stain on their shirt: an embarrassment. And my brother jabbed me with “weren’t you supposed to be a doctor?” Whenever he wanted to make me mad. I couldn’t let anybody know about my profession, not even Javonte.
The reunion was hosted in the university’s grand ballroom. The chandeliers' golden glow lit the whole room up, and made the white-clothed tables and red plush carpets look royal. The place smelled strongly of wine, and the room hummed with conversation with sprinkles of laughter here and there.
Alison quickly found some of our old friends and started chatting with them. I didn’t want to talk and risk them learning I wasn’t a doctor. Instead I leaned on the desserts table and surveyed everyone’s outfits. The women wore sparkly, colorful dresses and the men wore dark-colored, crisp suits.
And then I saw him. He was across the room, slapping a classmate’s back in laughter. He was still six foot one. Still had a smooth and infectious laugh, only deeper now. And then his eyes met mine.
I quickly looked away, but he was making his way towards me. My heart was pounding in my chest, and even though I didn’t want a cookie, I grabbed one for the sake of appearances.
“Hey Genny.”
He’d been calling me by this nickname since sophomore year. Ten years later and nothing had changed.
I took a breath and said “Hi Javonte. How’s Chicago been treating you?”
“Good, good,” he scratched his head. “How have you been?”
“Eh,” I groaned. “I can’t complain.”
Javonte laughed. Then he held out his hand. “Dance with me?”
Before I could process anything, I said “Yes!” a little too eagerly.
Javonte guided us towards the center of the room, where we shuffled around the floor with some other dancers. His hands were warm, enough to make me break into a sweat.
“You look very pretty tonight, Genny.” Javonte said as we swayed to a slow song.
“As do you,” I added back without a doubt. He did. Well, you know what I mean. He looked handsome in his crisp tuxedo and wine-colored shirt. “So, how is it being an architect?”
His trademark appeared. “Great. I’ve helped create the blueprints for this new subdivision, and it’s amazing watching the sketches become a reality.”
Could it be the chandelier lights reflecting in his eyes or does he actually light up while talking about building and sketching? Whichever one, I didn’t care, it just felt good to see him so happy.
“While Chicago is nice, the company I work for recently transferred me back here since Raleigh is growing so quickly.”
“Your family must be really happy about that. Raleigh’s lucky.” I winked at him.
Javonte chuckled softly. He pulled me close. Now our chests were a couple of inches apart. I could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Please, please, please hands, do NOT get sweaty now.
I laughed (nervously). “Careful Javonte, don’t wanna make your girlfriend jealous.”
His face wrinkled. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, the chick you started dating when you moved to Chicago. What was her name…Piranha?”
He rolled his eyes. “Brianna, and me and her are old news, like very old. We lasted four months, if that.”
My eyes widened. “Oh.”
If it felt awkward to Javonte he didn’t show it. He stared off into the distance. “Yeah, I have had a few girlfriends since then, but none now. I’ve just been focused on the move. What about you?”
Oh no. I did NOT want him to ask about me. What would he say when he learned I hadn’t become a doctor? I think I might actually break if he made fun of me.
But you know what? Lying to him wouldn’t be any better. I couldn’t base my success about what he thought of me, or even what my parents thought of me.
I took a breath. “I decided to become a nurse instead of a doctor and honestly, I love it. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out what someone’s symptoms mean. I like being able to calm people’s nerves and hold the hands of loved ones when they’re jittery because their family is in surgery. I may not be doing the exact job I said I would when I went to college but I still get to change lives, and I’m happy with that.”
Javonte simply nodded. “Good for you. Even if you didn’t become a doctor, your dream was always to help people. It feels good to see you look so fulfilled."
I squeezed his left hand. He understood!
Javonte laughed. “But originally I was asking about something else. I meant like, do you have a boyfriend, or husband?”
“Oh!” I giggled (ew, I never giggle). “No...I mean, I’ve had boyfriends and stuff, but…I’m currently a single Pringle.”
When we got to the center of the room, he twirled me around, just like in all those medieval romance movies!
People smiled in our direction, and I pretended not to see Alison smirking at me.
Javonte stared through my eyes as if he could see my soul. “I missed you, Genny. A lot. Every once in a while I thought about calling you, but what could I say?”
I nodded. I had avoided his number too. I wanted to call him, to tell him to ditch that bitch he’d met in Chi-town and come save me from my miseries without him, but I wanted him to be happy more than that. He loved his new life, he loved building things, and I thought he loved his girlfriend as well. And a good friend wouldn’t steal a friend from their dreams to fuel their own.
“I missed you too, Javonte.” I admitted. “More than you think,” I did a shy smile that I hope came off as cute ‘cause I felt frikin’ embarrassed.
He smiled that infectious, mesmorizing smile again, and before I knew it we were right by the desserts table again.
He let go of one of my hands. “I think we're on the same page in terms of feelings…am I right?”
I nodded.
“We’ve already been friends. So…should we pick up where we left off, Genny?”
I shook my head no, and his smile faded.
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s skip the talking stage, Jay. You should know by now that I hate small talk.”
He laughed his deepest laugh yet. And then kissed me so fast the shock came after it was over. I gasped.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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