"Oh my God!" Emery said, busting out in laughter. "I pray that he does, for your sake, Heidi."
We hung out at the bar as more and more people showed up. It was even more than I'd anticipated. A lot of the local crowd hadn't RSVP'd, so I'd thought it was mostly going to be out-of-towners. A lot of people had complained about the location and lack of food and it not being kid-friendly … and on and on. So many complaints. But it looked like a ton of people had shown up anyway. Probably because of the open bar I'd finagled.
By the time it seemed like most people had finally arrived, the bar was packed. Meredith had planned to make some kind of speech, but with the crowd, that would be impossible. I wasn't worried about it, but she was.
Eventually, she gave up and turned on the slide show she had prepared with all the pictures that everyone had turned in for the reunion . The whole thing was a walk down memory lane.
I had only turned in a couple of pictures of me and Emery together, but it was almost obnoxious, how many images there were of me. It was never clearer to me that I had been totally obsessed with popularity. I cared nothing about it now, but I had deeply stressed over it at the time.
I was sure I had my dad to blame for a lot of that. We never had much, but he'd indulged me with everything I'd wanted at the time. I'd taken every cent. Man, how that had all backfired.
The football team was hooting and hollering over all the images of them. Landon was in nearly as many as I was. Then, one stopped on him in a high school golf polo, holding his club. My eyes shifted over to where he had been sitting all night with an IV of whiskey practically hooked into his arm. When he saw the picture, he openly cringed at it.
Then, his gaze found me. I quickly looked away.
I shouldn't be looking at him. I shouldn't be worried about him. I shouldn't be wondering why golf was a trigger for him.
But I couldn't seem to focus on anything else.
I'd tried to forget him.
I'd tried to stay away from him.
I'd tried not to look at him.
All I did was fail.
Our eyes met across the distance, and my heart tugged in his direction. He nodded his head back toward the exit. It was a question and a promise. I knew that, if I went out there, he'd kiss me again. And I would give in to him. Because I wanted to.
"Ugh, who sent in these pictures?" Emery asked from next to me.
I guiltily looked away from Landon and stared at the picture. It was Emery and Landon together after a football game. She was in his letter jacket, and they were laughing. The next one was of them seated side by side for their Best Couple shot for the yearbook. The one after that had Emery sitting in his lap by a bonfire. I was sitting next to them, grinning like a fool.
There were three or four others, all in a row. A barrage of Emery and Landon. One big fat reminder that the guy I was dreaming about had dated my best friend.
This wasn't like Jensen, who hadn't known Emery when she dated Landon. I'd been there with them through everything. I knew the good, the bad, and the ugly. Emery and I had spent hours lamenting over our love lives.
There was no way in hell that I should be interested in Landon. I wouldn't allow it. I promised myself that I wouldn't look in his direction again. No way, no how.
And, when Brandon McCain moseyed back over to talk to me, I let him hit on me and told myself I wasn't going to feel guilty about it.
Four
Heidi
"Well, I'd call this a success," Emery said a few hours later with a yawn.
"A rousing success," I agreed.
"Way better than the five-year reunion ."
"Yeah. This time, they let me have it at a bar. People are way better when they're drunk."
"True. Also, people have actually changed … sort of … since then. Everyone had just graduated college at the five-year."
"Or they were on their second kid," I reminded her.
Emery laughed. "Or that."
"I'm glad you came. You're going back with Jensen now, right?"
Emery gave me a sheepish look. "Don't act like you know me."
"Of course I know you. We've been best friends since kindergarten, and now, we live together!"
I pulled my bestie in for a hug, and we swayed back and forth in a tipsy sort of slow dance.
"You're the best," Emery said.
"You're the bestest."
"Sorry to break up the romantic moment," Jensen said with an amused grin, "but I don't think we can go home until we get Landon safely back to Austin's."
Emery groaned. "But I'm so tired! I want to go home."