Party like it's 1999: Part Deux

Okay, so I'm going to the reunion. I waste another hour or so before I decide to start getting ready. What am I going to wear?... By this time, Mom and Dad have left to go out for dinner, and I want to wear something that I look good in. So, of course, I wear a halter top that I have actual cleavage in. I didn't realize I could have cleavage, then I saw a picture of me with the elusive creature. It's like seeing a blurry, grainy picture of it walking through dark woods, but I saw it and the cleavage was there. Now, what to do with my hair?... When I was in high school, I used to wake up at 8:15 so I could be at school by 8:30. I almost always wore my hair in a low bun or ponytail, because it was easy. This time, I'm wearing my hair down, long and straight, but still simple. A little three lipstick approach for my lips and I'm good to go with fifteen minutes to spare.

It's 5:30. Patlick will be here at 5:45. So I do what I usually do when I want to waste time. I play the piano. I wouldn't be surprised if my friends in high school thought that all I did was play the piano, because that was what I was usually doing when they came to pick me up. I find that the quality of my piano playing is inversely proportional to the number of people listening. I also find it's easier to think when I'm alone. So while I'm playing my mind starts wandering, and it wanders to evil places it hasn't been in five years. As 5:45 gets closer, I get more apprehensive.

The First voice in my head (the paranoid one): What if the others didn't want me to show up, so they convinced Patlick not to pick me up?

The Second, slightly more reasonable voice in my head: You're acting like you did in high school, you know that's not true.

First: But it's almost 5:45, and Patlick's not here yet.

Second: She'll be here. She's probably just a little late. Patlick is notorious for that.

First: Well I guess so. (Long minutes pass by. Laura starts another piece, a twelve page waltz by Debussy.) She's not here yet.

Second: She'll be here.

First: What if it's because I didn't RSVP?

Second: It's a frickin' reunion. The RSVP shouldn't matter that much, right?

First: I guess so. What if it's because I didn't pay the fifteen dollars?

Second: You should be able to pay that when you get there.

First: But what if they're using that as a reason for not letting me come?

Second: Patlick is your friend. She said she'd call before she'd come. She'll call, you'll see.

First: I told her I'd go to the reunion if she dropped by though. If she doesn't drop by, then I'm not going. What if they know this, and they just told her not to pick me up so they wouldn't have to see me?

Second: Patlick wouldn't do that to you...would she? NO! No she wouldn't, you're just being paranoid, freako. She'll call, we'll go to the reunion, and you just be yourself. You're awesome, right?

First: I guess so.... It's 5:55. She hasn't called.

Second: She'll call!

First: Okay. (Laura finishes the piano piece, which takes about 10 minutes to play. Time is running short.) She hasn't called yet. I'm beginning to think she's not going to.

Second: Me too....

First: It's not like I wanted to go or anything.

Second: Besides, you don't need this cruddy reunion. You're not in high school anymore, and you don't care what they think, right?

First: I got all dressed up for nothing.

Second: I can't believe that Patlick would do this. She's your friend, she'll come through... (The phone rings.)

Laura: Hello?

Patlick: Sorry I'm late! I'll be there in five minutes okay? I just had to wash my face.

Laura: Okay! See you soon.

Second: See? Patlick is awesome. I told you so.

First: Yeah, that whole thing was pretty silly, wasn't it?

Patlick showed up and we drove to the reunion, all the while talking about who might show up. We get to our destination, and get out of the car primping just a little bit so we look extra sexy in all our cleava-licious glory (Patlick has pounds more cleavage than I do, but at least I have some!) As we get closer to the door, our steps get slower and slower.

Laura: I don't wanna go in.

Patlick: You go first.

Laura: No way! You go first. You helped organize the damn thing.

Patlick. I'll hold the door open, and you go in.

By the time she said that Patlick was already holding the door. So I went in.

The party wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't great either. There were a couple people who had changed a lot, but unhappily no one who showed up was morbidly obese compared to their former teenager self. I'm kind of ashamed to say that that was something I was looking a little forward to. Oh well.

The guy who most changed was the class president, TyS. He was always such a clean cut kind of guy. When I came in, I almost didn't recognize him. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the top buttons were unbuttoned, gasp! Instead of his old, close-cropped hairstyle, he had long wavy hair. TyS looked like a surfer dude! It was so weird! He was still the same old, really friendly guy. Actually, everyone was pretty much the same, personality-wise. Maybe that means I'm the one who changed the most.

I did see a couple people that I was really glad to see, SeanT, RebbeP and JessiF. I went to college with SeanT. He's going for his masters in geophysics. Smart kid. RebbeP grew up two houses away from me (now it's like four houses away, with all the new places that have popped up in our subdivision). It turns out she's dating an engineer. RebbeP, Patlick and I then talked about all the gossip we knew about the people who weren't there. It was awesome! (I'm a closet gossip-monger.) I laughed with JessiF for half an hour straight. She's still here in town and going to a community college. We talked about all the times we got in trouble for disrupting class by giggling so much. Some things don't change.

There was a raffle, I didn't win anything. We were only allowed two non-alcoholic drinks. For those drinks we were given two little red tickets. These tickets were exactly the same as the raffle tickets. So even though I didn't win anything in the raffle, I got another "free" drink out of it.

Patlick and I left after two and a half hours. Around thirty people showed up, and out of those people there were only five that I really talked to when I was in school, so it's amazing I found a way to spend more than an hour there.

To end the night, Patlick and I went to a movie, and bought some bridal magazines. The whole ordeal was...well, it was okay. I'm glad I went, mostly because I got to see those three people who I otherwise wouldn't have seen under normal, non-reunion circumstances and those three people made going worthwhile.

I'm still not completely in the first school of thought on reunions, but I'm not completely in the second one either anymore. I guess I'm bi-partisan :-)