"Bye Tiff! I should be back by midnight!" I said as I finished putting on my shoes.
"Okay! Have fun at the party!" She shouted from the living room and I left the house getting into my car in the garage. Soon I arrived at my friend's house. I hopped out of my car and walked to her front door.
"Rach! I'm here! Where are you?" I shouted.
"Bathroom!" I walked towards the master bath and saw my friend finish curling her hair. "I like your dress."
"Thanks! The shoes are my fav part," I twirled in my knee-length dress and showed my friend the powder blue shoes that I had gotten for an amazing deal.
"Gorgeous! Now, do I look fabulous or magnificent?" My friend asked, posing extremely awkwardly as a joke.
"You look magnificently fabulous, darling. Did you get the masks?" Tonight's event was a masquerade.
"Yep! They came in the mail a few days ago and they're amazing!" She grabbed the box that held our masks.
"Then what are we standing here for? I do believe we have a ball to go to!" We went and got into Rachel's car, leaving for our high school reunion. This was our 10 year reunion and the first one Rachel and I could go to since we were both traveling in Europe for our last one.
"I wonder how Jamie is doing," Rachel wondered aloud. We were both thinking of our old schoolmates and hoping that their lives had worked out.
"Do you think people will judge me? I mean everybody will undoubtedly know by the end of the night that I have a kid and that I'm not married anymore. You remember how cruel some of the kids we went to school with are. They're not going to take time to see if I did have a husband and things just didn't work out or any of that. They'll just automatically assume the worst and I don't want to have to deal with the whispers again." I worried.
"I have to admit that we had some super snobby kids in our grade that lived off of gossip but there is one thing I know for sure and that is the fact that there were way more good kids in our grade. People may have been rude but there was always somebody next to you to tell them to stop. Besides, we've never let them bother us before, have we?" Rachel reassured me.
"I guess not," I agreed sheepishly, smiling at my best friend.
"Good. Now, let's go show off how good we look at 28!" Rachel whooped and got out of the car.
I really wanted to be positive but the closer I got to my old school the more nervous I became. Rachel has been married to a guy we met in London named Logan since we were 23 and she's never been afraid of what people say about her. I on the other hand was married for two years, had a baby at 25, and then became a widow two months later. It had been the hardest thing I've ever had to go through in my life. Raising your first baby is hard enough but dealing with losing your soulmate at the same time is nearly impossible. I was lucky enough to have my family and friends help me through but that didn't make the heartbreak any less painful.
I went to lots of counseling and spent a lot of time reflecting on what I wanted in life and what I needed to do to make sure that my baby was able to live her life with everything I could give her. I know that I'm going to find another man. I will always love Danny but there is so much more of life that I want to spend with someone I love. I've tried dating but now that I have Mila, I know that I have to find the perfect daddy for her, not just the perfect husband for me. Needless to say, I may have been a bit pickier than most girls and due to that the process has been quite slow.
We walked into our old gym and saw that the whole place had been decorated with sheer curtains and lights hung up around the walls and tables. One half of the gym was full of tables that people could spend time catching up or enjoying the refreshments while the other half was completely clear and close to the DJ system set up in the corner for everyone to dance.
"Oh my gosh is that who I think it is?!" Rachel whispered in surprise, subtly pointing towards a tall man in a dark suit near the drink table.
"Who?" I asked, not being very good at the whole guessing game.
"Only the guy that you crushed on for three years." she muttered.
"Jay?!" I meant to say quietly but apparently failed as I watch Jay turn in search of the person that said his name. I feel my stomach completely drop when he finally makes eye contact with me.
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! What the heck am I supposed to do?
"Did I hear one of you ladies say my name?"
"Yep! It was her. I'm gonna go get some punch. Bye!" Rachel said in one breath and hurriedly scattered off towards the refreshment table.
"Subtle," I muttered under my breath.
"Is my breath that bad?" Jay joked pointing after Rachel.
"No, she's just a bit peculiar." I laughed.
"Gotcha. Are you peculiar as well?" He turned to me with a kind but curious stare.
"Of course. I believe everybody is at least a little peculiar."
"Interesting opinion." We stood in silence for a few awkward moments and soon a slow song came on and people started moving towards the dance floor. I blushed, doubting that Jay had come alone and went to turn towards the refreshments table to find Rachel.
"Wait!" Jay said, lightly brushing my wrist. "Would you like to dance with me?" He asked almost shyly.
"Are you sure? I'm a bit peculiar." I teased.
"Isn't everybody?" He smirked.
He gently took my hand in his as he led me to the dance floor. Once we reached the rest of the couples dancing, he held my hand up and placed his other hand on my waist, mine landing on his forearm. We began swaying to the music, just enjoying each other's company.
"I have something to admit." Jay finally sighed.
I tensed at his words. "And what is that?"
"I feel horrible that you know my name and I don't know yours." He said with an ashamed look on his face.
"That's it? I was afraid you were going to say I had food in my teeth or something." I said in relief.
"Well now that you mention it," Jay teased with a fake grimace on his face. I lightly smacked his arm in false annoyance and laughed at his joke.
"So, what is your name?" He pried.
"Well that's not entertaining at all. You're supposed to figure it out."
"But you got mine so quickly and I've been trying to figure yours out since. Can't you give me a hint?" He pleaded.
"Nope. You can ask questions but I'm not going to give you a hint."
"Okay. Um, what's your favorite color?" I looked at him a bit confused.
"Turquoise. How is that going to help you figure out who I am?"
"I don't know. It was the first question that came to mind." He shrugged.
"Well if you keep asking questions like that then it's going to take you all night to figure out my name."
"Fine. Did you play any sports in high school?"
"Now we're getting somewhere. I was on the girl's golf team."
"That would narrow it down a ton if I could remember who played golf." He groaned.
"What's your next question?"
"Who was your best friend throughout high school?"
"Rachel," I said immediately.
"There were thousands of Rachel's in school though. What's her last name?"
"Richards," I said laughing to myself a bit knowing that he would remember her maiden name, not her married name that I just gave him.
"I don't remember a Rachel Richards." He mumbled. "Did you date anyone in high school?"
"Not really. I went on dates just not always with the same person."
"Makes sense. Did we have any classes together?"
"Senior year we had English together," I said quietly, remembering how he always sat one table away from me. After that the song ended and I turned to go get a drink at the table and hopefully find Rachel. My hand felt cold when Jay let go of it but I shook it off.
"Hey guys! I've been looking for you everywhere! How was dancing?" Rachel asked Jay and I when she saw us come off the dance floor.
"It went well. A few stepped on toes but I think I'll live," Jay winked at me when I gave him a teasing glare.
"Do you guys want to sit down? There's a table over there that's empty." Rachel pointed towards a table in the corner.
"Sure," I shrugged and began walking toward it.
"So Jay, did Ma-"
"Stop!" I shouted at Rachel, practically pouncing on her when she almost said my name.
"What? I was just going to ask if you totally beat him with your mad dance moves." Rachel said confused.
"He's trying to figure out who I am and you can't just give away my name," I explained.
"Oh. I can do that." Rachel nodded.
"But she was so close! Why couldn't you just let her finish?" Jay asked in exasperation.
"Because that would have been lame," I laughed.
Jay, Rachel, and I sat and talked for the rest of the night, sometimes getting up to dance to one of the songs the DJ put on but mostly just enjoying each other's company.
"Alright everyone. This is the last slow song of the evening so I need everyone out on the floor." The DJ's voice came on over the music.
"I'm just gonna skip over to the bathroom. I'll meet you outside by the car," Rachel whispered before standing and quickly walking out, probably missing her husband.
"Does she not want to dance?" Jay asked confused.
"I'm guessing she probably misses her husband. He's on a camping trip right now with his brothers and couldn't make it."
"How about you? Where is your husband?"
I felt my shoulders slump a little bit when I mumbled a small, "I don't have one."
"Well that's good news to me. I was worried I was the only single one here." I smiled at his attempt to bring my spirits up. "Would you ever want to have dinner with me or catch a movie?"
"I'd love to." I smiled, letting my arms rest on his shoulders and his on my waist.
"Hey Mads, I don't want to ruin anything for you but it's almost midnight." Rachel came up next to me and Jay with a bit of worry in her voice. "Don't you have to relieve the babysitter at midnight?"
"Oh crap. That's right. Thanks Rach." I said turning back to Jay.
"Mads? Is that your name?" Jay asked and my eyes widened realizing he heard that whole conversation.
"Kinda. It's my nickname. So tonight has been amazing and I'm glad we got to catch up but I have to go now. I'm sorry." I said quickly as I turned and began speed walking towards the exit of my old high school.
"Wait! Can I get your number?"
"If you figure out who I am then you'll be able to find it."
"In the phone book?" He asked confused.
"I wrote it in your yearbook. Just make sure you have the right Mads." I winked and hurried out the door to my friend Rachel.
• 3 days later •
"I don't know, Rach. He probably didn't want to go through the trouble." I sighed.
"But he was so into you! I could tell across the freaking gym let alone when I was sitting right next to you guys. You never stopped flirting." I blushed as she continued to rant about how destined Jay and I were to be together. "Hold up. Logan is calling me. Can I call you back?"
"Totally. I'll just be by myself with Mila for the rest of eternity." I joked with her.
"Whatever. Love you, bye." She laughed and I returned the goodbye before hanging up.
"Mila, when are we gonna find you a new daddy?" I sighed, rolling the ball we'd been playing with for the past 10 minutes back to her.
My phone started ringing a few minutes later and I picked it up, not bothering to check caller ID because I figured it was Rachel. Her and my mother are the only people who ever really call me.
"Well that was fast." I joked about her conversation with Logan.
"It sure didn't feel fast to me." I heard a gruff voice say and caught my breath.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I assumed I was getting a call from my friend Rachel. Who is this?"
"Have you really already forgotten about me? Come on Mads, I expected more from you." I heard the caller chuckle.
Wait, Mads?
"Jay?" I asked hesitantly.
"You guessed it! Your prize is letting me take you out to dinner." He said in total seriousness.
"Well I can't this week because I don't have anybody to babysit Mila but next week I can."
"Is Mila your little girl?" Jay asked.
"Yeah. She's almost three years old." I said hoping he would be willing to hear my story before making snap judgments.
"Why don't you just bring her with? In all honesty I think that if I'm dating you then I'm going to be dating your daughter as well, right?" He chuckled a bit and my heart warmed at his words.
"Right. Thank you for understanding." I said reverently, an unmovable smile on my face.
"Don't even mention it. Now, where do you girls like to eat?" Jay asked. We spent the next few hours just talking and catching up and planning our dinner date. He chatted with Mila for a bit and when it was time for her to go to bed, we all said goodnight to each other.
"I wike him." Mila yawned to me as she pointed to my phone on the counter while I got her bottle ready.
"I like him too, Mila." I smiled.
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