Reunion

I was happy until I got home. Ever since Denise and I got back together, things have been great. I’m really enjoying everything. I walked in the door. “Hey you,” Denise got up from her desk and came over and gave me a big kiss. “How was work?”

“Oh you know. Answered some calls, made some money. The usual. What about you? Any ideas for your second book?”

“Some. I think I’m going to write fiction this time, a lot safer.”

“Look I promise, this time, I’m not going to get all worried and run off. I’ll read the book first.”

“Thanks. Hey this came for you,” Denise slid the envelope over to me. I opened it.

“Oh, no,” I sighed. I threw the invite down on the table.

“What is it Robin?” I tried to hide the invite, but Denise kissed me and when I was distracted, she got it from me.

“Your 10th high school reunion! Great!”

“No way. No way am I going.”

“What, you embarrassed you don’t want to show me off?”

“Embarrassed to walk in with best selling author Denise Rivers on my arm? No way, that would be amazing. No I don’t want to go because high school wasn’t the best for me.”

I walked towards the kitchen. I really needed some wine.

Denise sensed I was upset. She was good enough not to say anything, knowing that I would talk when I was ready.

I found the wine and uncorked the bottle. I looked at Denise, and she nodded. I grabbed two wine glasses, filled them, and then headed towards the couch. Denise took hers and followed me to the couch. I took a sip, and sighed.

“If we go to the reunion, you’re going to be the one running away this time.”

“Surely it couldn’t be that bad,” Denise replied. She touched my arm, assuring me everything would be okay.

“I didn’t come out until college. I told you about my college girlfriend.”

Denise nodded.

“In high school, I knew I liked girls. But I lived in a small town. No way could I come out. I was unhappy and miserable. So I ate my feelings.”

I grabbed my yearbook from my senior year off the shelf. I turned to my grad picture.

“That’s you?” Denise asked.

“If I go to the reunion, everyone’s going to remember that I was Round Robin.”

“Round Robin?”

“That’s what they called me, because I was super fat in high school. It’s why I went all the way across the country for college. The summer before college, I went to a spa and I lost 100 pounds. While everyone was worried about gaining the freshman fifteen, I was finally free to be myself. I came out to my roommate and I was happy. I reinvented myself. No one there knew I’d been overweight in high school.”

“Well you know, if you go to the reunion, you can show everyone that you’re not Round Robin anymore. You’re hot successful amazing Robin. And I’ll be right there next to you.”

“Okay,” I sighed. Denise took the glass of wine out of my hand and gave me a long kiss. I still wasn’t sure, but maybe I would finally be able to put the horrors of high school behind me.

A week later, we boarded a plane. “I should warn you,” I said. “The town is still very homophobic. We might not get a good reception.”

“Relax Robin,” Denise said, holding tight to my hand. “It’s going to be okay. It’s just a reunion. You’ll go in, we’ll have a good time, and then you won’t have to see everyone again for ten years.”

“Yeah,” I replied.

On the plane ride, I was nervous. But I was glad Denise was by my side. If I’d been single, I wouldn’t have gone. I drank a glass of wine on the plane. I had to remind myself, I’m not that in the closet unhappy teenager anymore. I’m a happy, healthy woman whose with a bestselling author.

“Maybe I’ll get some ideas for my next book,” Denise said to me as we got in the rental car.

“Really? You want to write about my small town?”

“Fictionalized of course,” Denise assured me.

Soon we were driving into the town. I immediately tensed up, and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“It’s okay, honey,” Denise grabbed my knee.

“When I left here, I vowed I’d never come back. I had packed all my belongings into a suitcase, and got on the greyhound bus. I didn’t even go to graduation. They mailed my diploma to me.”

“Why did you skip graduation?”

“I heard that my ex-best friend, the valedictorian, was going to humiliate me during her speech. I didn’t want to waddle across the stage and have everyone looking at me. The biggest gown they had barely fit me. I looked like a whale.”

“I’m sorry you had such a bad high school experience. I wish I’d known you then. We could’ve been a great couple.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My ex-best friend will probably be there.”

“What happened between you two?”

“I had a crush on her. I wasn’t going to tell her. But one day in freshman year we had a sleep over and we played spin the bottle.”

“Were there guys there too?”

“Yeah. I spun the bottle and it landed on her. So I kissed her. And it was great. The next day in school, she confronted me and asked me if I was gay. I said I was. I told her I liked her as more than a friend. She told me I was disgusting and was going to go to Hell and to stay away from her.”

“Ouch.”

“At least she didn’t go tell everyone I was gay. But she stopped sitting with me at lunch, and that’s when I realized I couldn’t be honest about who I liked. That’s when I started overeating. I thought maybe I could just push my feelings down. And if I was ugly, guys wouldn’t ask me out, and then I wouldn’t have to admit that I liked girls.”

“Well it was her loss,” Denise said. We got out of the car, and she kissed me.

“We better be careful about doing that in public,” I said.

“Robin, you don’t have to hide who you are anymore.”

“I don’t know how people are going to react, so let’s just get in the motel room okay?”

“Sure.”

We walked into the motel, and checked in with the clerk. “One bed or two?” he asked.

“One,” Denise said.

He gave us a look, but then handed us the key.

“See that wasn’t so bad,” Denise said, once we were in the room.

“I guess.”

“Why aren’t we staying with your parents?” she asked.

I tensed up again.

“Oh sorry,” Denise said. We sat on the bed and she began to give me a massage. “Sore subject?”

“Yeah.”

“I realize that in the entire year we were together before, you never talked about your family.”

“I was afraid maybe you’d put it in your book, I guess.”

“Really Robin?”

“No. It’s just when I left home and went off to university, I left that part of my life behind. Round Robin, and all the bad thing that happened in high school. My parents weren’t supportive of me.”

“Really?”

“When my Dad found out I was gay, he tried to send me to one of those conversion camps. He basically disowned me.”

“You told them you were gay?”

“I didn’t tell them, they found out. After the sleep over incident, my Mom asked me why Natalie, that’s my ex-best friend, never came around any more. I told her we weren’t friends any more. When Natalie’s Mom asked her why we weren’t friends any more, Natalie told her I was a dyke. Our Moms were friends, so when Natalie’s mom ran into my mom at the supermarket, she asked my mom if she knew that I was gay. Only she didn’t use the word gay. So my mom went home and asked me, and I tried to deny it, but my mom didn’t believe me. So she told my dad. They didn’t kick me out at least, but they basically told me I should make sure no one ever finds out, and never bring a girl home. So like I said, I stayed in the closet, and got fat and miserable.”

“That sucks you went through all that.”

“So yeah, I don’t exactly want to see my parents. I’d like to just make an appearance at the reunion tomorrow, then get out of town.”

“Okay,” Denise promised me.

Denise’s massage made me relaxed, and I managed to fall asleep.

The next morning, I got dressed up. I don’t usually wear dresses, I prefer jeans and turtlenecks. But if I was going to show everyone at the reunion that I wasn’t the same girl who had left town 10 years ago, then I needed to dress to impress.

“You look great, honey,” Denise said. 

“Thanks,” I kissed her.

“Well let’s get some breakfast and then go face the music.” She nodded. We had breakfast in the restaurant next to the motel. Then we got in the rental car. “You drive,” I told Denise.

She nodded. I gave her directions to the high school. As we drove through town, I noticed that it hadn’t changed much. Unlike me.

Soon we arrived at the school. It was all decorated and very welcoming.

I tensed up. “It will be okay,” Denise reminded me, linking her hand in mine.

We walked in and went to the check in table. Before I could say anything, the woman said, “Oh my God! Denise Rivers! At our high school reunion! What are you doing here?”

“She’s with me,” I said. The woman’s eyes went over to me. Now I recognized her. Elizabeth Hall. She’d been the head cheerleader and dated the captain of the football team. She did a double take, trying to place me.

“Round Robin?” she said.

“My girlfriend’s name is Robin Walters,” Denise said. “Don’t you forget that.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth stammered. She got my name tag.

“Elizabeth, you look great,” I said.

“So do you,” she said.

“So did you marry John?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “We dated in college but then he went pro and we broke up. My husband Walt is around somewhere.”

She looked around, and her eyes locked with someone, and he walked over.

“Walt Edger, this is Robin Walters, we went to school together. And this is bestselling author Denise Rivers. Ladies, this is my husband Walt.” I tried not to stifle a giggle. Walt was definitely a nerdy guy. 

“Nice to meet you,” he shock both of our hands. We put our name tags on, and walked forward. Instantly, all eyes were on us. I thought they were going to start talking about me again. But then I realized, everyone was looking at Denise.

“Next to you, I’m pretty average,” I said.

“Honey, I may be biased, but I would say you are the most gorgeous woman here. All the woman are looking at you because they are jealous.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

We walked around the room, and I introduced Denise to everyone. Then my breath caught in my throat. Coming towards us was Natalie.

“That’s her,” I whispered to Denise. Denise didn’t need to ask who I meant. Natalie walked towards us. She did a double take.

“Robin?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Wow, you look great.”

“Well once I left town and went to college, I could finally be myself. Oh, this is my girlfriend. Denise Rivers. Best selling author, Denise Rivers.”

“Oh my god!” Natalie said. “I read your book. I didn’t realize that the Robin you were talking about in the book, was my best friend Robin Walters.”

“Yes that was me,” I said.

“I thought you two broke up, that’s what it said in the dedication,” Natalie said to me.

“We did. But I realized after reading the book, I overreacted. We got back together a few months ago. I went to her book signing.”

“Aren’t you lucky,” Natalie said.

“What about you? Are you married? Engaged? Seeing someone?”

“Actually I just broke up with a guy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He found out I was bisexual and freaked out.”

“Wait? What?”

“I think we should talk somewhere quieter,” Natalie said. Denise looked at me. I nodded. “It’s okay,” I told Denise. “Natalie’s right. You stay here. We’ll be back.”

She let go of my hand.

Natalie and I walked down the hall, and found an empty classroom. “Do you remember when we used to sneak in here on weekends and write stuff on the board?” Natalie asked.

“Oh yeah. And Mr. McCall never knew it was us.”

“Why did we stop doing that?”

“Because you stopped being my friend.”

“Oh right. Look, Robin. I feel really bad. The truth is, I liked the kiss too. And it freaked me out. Everything I’d been told said that liking the same sex was wrong. I didn’t want it to be true that I liked girls. So I figured I’d stay away from you. I never should’ve told my mom about you, but I was afraid she’d find out about me. I didn’t know she’d tell your mom or that your dad would try to get the gay out of you. By graduation, I’d realized I’d been stupid, and I wanted to apologize to you, but you never showed up.”

“I heard you were going to humiliate me during your speech. Plus I didn’t really want to be the blimp walking across the stage.”

“All that weight, was that because we stopped being friends?”

“It was because I was gay and I couldn’t say anything and I was miserable so I turned to food.”

“I didn’t humiliate you at graduation. I don’t know who started that rumour, that I was going to do that. Actually I defended you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I said that it was wrong that people had been calling you Round Robin and hurting your feelings. I said high school was hard for all of us, and we all probably had secrets we were hiding that we didn’t want to get out. I said how would everyone else feel if they were being picked on?”

“I thought you were the one who started calling me Round Robin.”

“Robin, I never teased you. Not once. I stopped sitting with you, yes, because I was scared and ashamed. But I really just wanted to kiss you again. I don’t know who started calling you that. I hated they did that. You know, I didn’t want to come tonight.”

“Me neither, for obvious reasons.”

“Yeah. But then I hoped maybe you’d be here, so I could apologize. I haven’t talked to any of these people in ten years. After my speech everyone grouped me with you, they didn’t like I defended you. They said I was probably a dyke like you.”

“When did you realize you were bisexual?”

“In college. I dated some guys and some girls.”

“I came out in college too.”

“Have you seen your parents?”

“No, and I don’t plan on it. I vowed when I left, I’d never come back. But Denise convinced me to come, to show everyone that I’m not the same as I was in high school.”

“I’m glad you came. Do you think we could be friends again? I missed you.”

“I missed you too. Sure, let’s stay in touch.” Natalie wrote down her number. I didn’t know if I would call her or not.

She kissed me on the cheek, and gave me a hug.

We walked back to the gym. There was music on. Denise found me, and pulled me into a dance. “All good?”

“She said she defended me at grad. She said she never started calling me Round Robin. She hasn’t talked to anyone in ten years either.”

“Do you believe her?”

“Yeah. She wants to be friends again.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Soon the dance ended.

Everyone came up to me and told me how great I looked. Now they all wanted to be friends with me again. At the end of the day, Denise and I walked out hand in hand. We headed back to the motel. “Guess we should pack up and get out of here,” she said.

“Tomorrow,” I said.

“Really?”

“There’s one more thing I should do.”

“Your parents?”

“Yeah.”

Denise kissed me. We lay in the bed together. I felt like a weight had been lifted. I don’t know if I’ll talk to Natalie, but I’m glad I came back for the reunion. I can finally put the horrors of high school behind me. Round Robin could finally stay firmly in the past. I fell asleep, in Denise’s arms, happy.