The Convenient Marriage

Chapter 2:

Matt

I was looking through Shelley's eyes as I finally reached my limit. I started panting with satisfaction. God, that felt so good. I got my weight off Shelley's then laid on my back next to her, pulling off the condom then threw it in the garbage.

"Wow, Matt... that was...." Shelley's voice was hardly audible because she too was panting hard.

"Mind blowing, I know" I finished her sentence for her.

"Tsk.. Tsk.. always the tone of confidence." Shelley shifted her body towards me then laid a hand on my chest. "I've missed you."

"Yeah. I'm sorry I haven't called. Work is a bitch. It's always driving me nuts."

"You should just quit that job if you hated it too much."

I chuckled at the irony of it. "I would have if I could, you know that Shelley." I threw her a dagger look. Why she had to stress that I couldn't get out of that dumb job is beyond me.

"I'm sorry. It didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it. I just meant that maybe it's about time that you stop taking life so serious." I didn't want to ruin my mind-blowing night so I didn't bother answering her patronizing advise. Stop taking life so serious? Well, if you still have both of your parents on your back and things just don't go fucking well all your life, I don't think you'd play fire with life either. I like Shelley in the bed but sorry, she can be seriously dumb. The silence prolonged for a little while until Shelley reached up and kissed me on the lips. "Well, we better get going now."

"To where?" I don't feel like going anywhere now, to be honest.

"Matt!" Shelley's exasperated call for my name as if she had mentioned this event to me a hundred times already. "I told you there's going to be a high school reunion tonight! Let's go see what's everyone been up to for the last decade."

"Not interested. Go ahead and have fun" Shelley then started showering kisses all over my face as if that would make me go and dress up for tonight.

"Please, Matt? Come with me. It'd be fun to let them know we're still together all these years." She made it sound like we're anything exclusive when I only see her at least 10-15 times a year?

"Shelley...." I put my right arm on her bare back to keep her closer then placed a light kiss on her right breast. She seriously has stupefying boobs. I put my face in between them muffling my voice. "I'm really tired from working today. Why don't we just forget about the world and have fun in bed?"

That got her giggling. "I would love that too but I seriously have to see the girls. It'd be nice to catch up with them." She got up from bed and started dressing up. "Come with me, please. Besides, don't you wanna see your old football teammates?"

I guess it wouldn't be that bad to actually see how everyone's doing. I made a grumpy noise that said 'I didn't really wanna do this' but I got up and put my suit back on.

"Atta boy!" Shelley flashed me her smile. She went around the bed to meet me, tiptoed and kissed me full on the mouth.

I was never expecting anything from this reunion party whatsoever. It would be just any other booze night, or so I assumed.

******************

It was a very busy party by the time we got here. It was nice to see old faces from 10 years ago. Some were married already, or totally in building-a-career-first mindset, then some still finishing up school. I was actually surprised to see a few of my football mates who had totally neglected their bodies. How could they seriously go from the best body fit in high school to being obessed 10 years later? Yes, my life for a decade hadn't changed much but so was my body fit. I made sure despite of my crazy schedules that I still got to go to the gym and tone my body.

"I didn't believe you would actually show up today, Matt. You totally went MIA on us. We really never heard from you in 10 years. I was even surprised to know you're still in the city." Ryan commented.

"Well, things got rough and post-high school just went haywire on me. I didn't get much break from univesity to grad school to actually be in the real world." I explained, though my 10 years of life were really much rougher than that.

"What surprised me most is that you're still with Shelley! I didn't think you two were that serious back then." I didn't think either. And it's not like I was really with Shelley. The last time I saw her was 5 months ago.

I chuckled, "Yeah. Who knew right?" I didn't bother explaining all that since what's the point? I'd only see them for tonight. No need to go waste my effort telling them Shelley and I were practically strangers now. I let my eyes wander to Shelley. She was laughing at something her girlfriends were telling. She sounded happy seeing them again. She looked pretty tonight especially in that beige dress she was wearing. Now that I think of it, why wasn't she married? She had good education, I didn't hear her complain about her job and it just sounded impossible that no one asked her out. How come she was always one call away whenever I phoned?

"Well, there's another one over there who surely are still inseparable all these years." Brandon cocked his head at some people at the front door. I was busy wondering about Shelley to bother what they were talking about. I didn't care either.

"Oh would you believe that!" James excitely exclaimed.

"Steve Hayden! Didn't think this guy would come either. I thought he was pretty busy himself running his empire." Ryan commented. Yeah. I did remember Steve. Good old Steve who I didn't really talk to that much. I found him too nice and saintly to hang out with. My back was facing the front door but I didn't bother to turn around and see Steve since I knew he'd come over and greet us anyway. I drank my beer down my throat still checking out Shelley.

I heard James whistling as if checking out a girl. "That Gracie Stewart is still beautiful and sexy as hell as I could remember. Darn, I wish I had gotten the chance to make out with her in high school."

Hold on. My mind suddenly stopped at the mention of the name. Gracie Stewart? I racked my brain trying to remember why she sounded so familiar. "Gracie Stewart?" I curiously asked the boys.

"Yeah, you know that extremely wealthy girl that transferred into our school because her good old daddy wanted her to experience some "middle class" life, so she claimed?" Brandon reminded me.

That's when I decided to finally turn my head around the front door. And there she was. Gracie Stewart. Her arms interwined with Steve's, smiling at everyone like she was heaven's sent. People like her I despised so much. People like her who took life for granted because they had everything. People like her pissed me off so much even now. I unconsiously still looked at her intently. For some reason, at this very moment, it seemed like there was only me, her and that heaven's sent of smile of hers in this very spacious hall. She might have felt my stare or something because her head suddenly turned towards the direction of my group. Then locked eyes with me.