“Yes.” I don’t mean to say it soemphatically, but a quick glance at Nelle shows her looking atLeland rather than me. When her eyes go wide, I follow her gaze tosee Leland gently prying the photo of us in the cafeteria from theposter board.
“Whatare you doing?” Nelle’s scandalized tone has me holding back alaugh. “You’re going to wreck the aesthetic of theboard.”
Leland hands thepicture to me, then takes one from a pile I didn’t notice beforeand sticks it on the board, covering ours and Sylvie’s names.“There, problem solved. I talked to Sylvie and she said we couldhave the picture now since we’re leaving.” He slips his hand intomine once more and turns back to Nelle with a winning smile.“Nelle, thanks for a fun evening. It’s been a pleasure.”
She blinks rapidlya few times, then collects herself. “You two should stick around. Ihave a few things planned for later. I wanted to gather everyoneand go around the group and share memories.”
My hand tightensinvoluntarily on Leland’s. That sounds like my idea ofhell.
“Wow,well, we’re sorry to miss that,” Leland says. I have to stifleanother laugh; somehow he managed to keep the sarcasm out of histone. “Stella’s birthday is this weekend, and I promised I’d takeher out after the reunion since she looks sophenomenal.”
Nelle’s gazeflicks to me, running briefly over my outfit before returning toLeland. “Fine, but I expect to see you both here next year. I meantit when I said I wanted to make this a yearly thing.”
Sylvie appearsbeside me, laying a hand on my shoulder. “I thought you two wereleaving?”
I nearly sag withrelief at the timely interruption. With one hand still in Leland’sgrip, I give Sylvie a one-armed hug, part thank-you and partgoodbye. “We’re on our way out now.” When I release her, I noticeNelle has left to join another group. “Other than a few people andevents, I’d pretty much like to forget about eleventh grade, so Ihave no intention of coming to another of these things. I do wantto see you again, though, if you’re up for it.”
“I’dlove that.”
“I meanit. I don’t want this to be a case of ‘we should get togethersometime’ and then we never see each other again.”
Sylvie laughslightly. “I promise that won’t happen.” Her gaze darts briefly toLeland, and her expression changes. Before I can think too muchabout it, she says, “I’ll call you next week, how’s that? We’llmake plans to get coffee or something. And I’ll be one of yourfirst customers at FandomTown when it opens.”
We hug again, andthen Leland and I make our way through the room, pausing to speakto a few people, and saying our goodbyes to others. We get held upwhen some guy I vaguely recognize as one of Leland’s formerbasketball teammates starts telling a story about something wildthey did at an away game. His loud voice and the laughter of othersdraws more people to our group.
Leland smiles andnods along, his hand tightening incrementally on mine until he’spractically squeezing all the blood out of it. He ducks down withhis face close to mine and says, “It was nice knowing you, Stella,but you should go. Save yourself. This room is my home now and I’llnever be able to leave.”
I drop my foreheadto his shoulder, the sound of my giggles drowned out by the noisearound us. The crowd roars with laughter and I jerk my head up,realizing all eyes are on the former jock. From what I can tell,not a single person is currently looking at us.
“Howbad would you feel about sneaking out while everyone else ispreoccupied?” I whisper directly in Leland’s ear.
With his facestill close to mine, he tilts his head slightly and scans thecrowd. “I’d have no remorse. You’re the only person here I caredabout seeing, and I get to leave with you, so…”
His words cause alittle thrill to zip through me. “Ready to make a break for itthen?”
At his nod, weturn in unison and stride purposefully out of the events room. Whenwe make it through the doors with no one stopping us, we break intoa half-walk-half-run through the corridor to the side entrance. I’mlaughing breathlessly by the time we spill out the door and intothe frosty November evening.
“Don’tstop now.” Leland tugs on my hand, leading me across the parkinglot to his car. Halfway there, he releases my hand to wrap his armaround me, pulling me tight against the side of his body. “Do youthink some part of us knew we’d have to make a quick getaway whenwe decided to leave our coats in the car?”
“Kudosto Past Leland and Stella for that one.”
His breath is warmagainst my face as he chuckles. When we reach his car, he opens thepassenger door and waits for me to get in, then zips around to hisside and jumps in. He starts the car immediately, blasting theheater before reaching for our coats in the back.
“Can’tlie, I’m glad that’s over with,” he says as he pulls out of thelot. I have no idea where we’re going, but I trust Leland to get usthere. “It wasn’t so bad, though, was it?”
“No,not so bad. I’m actually strangely glad this whole thinghappened.”
Leland spares me aglance before returning his eyes to the road. “What, tonightor…?”
“Tonight, and the reunion in general. It feels like I’ve comefull circle in a way. Likewehave. Even though we were in each other’s orbitsfor a few years in high school, we were only friends for a shorttime before you graduated and moved away. We both moved back herearound the same time, and now we’re back in each other’slives.”
“Fullcircle.” He nods in understanding. “I like that.”
“Itfeels like closure too in a few ways. When I came back to school atthe beginning of senior year, I left that group and didn’t lookback. Most of them didn’t even notice, and I stayed friendly withSylvie, although Nelle was always kind of snarky about me leaving.She’d mutter under her breath whenever we passed each other in thehalls, and if she saw me with Hollie or my new friends, she’d makecomments about how I’d moved on because I thought I was too goodfor her.”
“Shereally hasn’t changed that much, has she?” Leland saysquietly.
“No,butIhave, whichis another way it feels like both full circle and closure. Thatwhole year, I wasn’t myself, just like I wasn’t my true self thelast few years. As much as I dreaded the reunion and knew Ididn’thaveto go,it was a catalyst of sorts. I was embarrassed about the path mylife was on, and it made me think about what I really want in life.Now I’mfinallygoing after it.”
