Sorry, Wallace

The party is slowly reaching its crescendo, pulsating disco lights illuminating the increasingly littered dance floor. I eventually manage to stagger back to my empty table, jostled as I am by the frenzied crowd. Breathing heavily, I sit and gulp down a glass of lemonade, surveying the carnage. What started as a semiformal, professionally reserved high school reunion has quickly collapsed into all-out madness. Blazers, ties and cashmere overcoats lay abandoned by their drunken owners, now jumping up and down to throwback tracks I haven't heard since - well, high school.

I look over at the DJ, a tall Asian man sporting dreadlocks, chains, and an impressive array of tattoos. Whoever he is, the guy is killing it. He single-handedly managed to turn a room full of lawyers, engineers, doctors, and bankers back into crazy teenagers. I wonder if the school keeps him on retainer for all their events.

My musings are sharply interrupted by a lanky, baby-faced man who slides into the chair next to mine.

"Oh, man!"

Panting, he pushes a length of stringy brown hair out of his eyes before downing the jug of lemonade in one.

"Ah, that's better."

I sigh to myself. No matter how hard I try to get rid of Wallace, he won't stop following me. Though he's grown at least six inches taller and now wears contacts, I can't help but remember him as the short, whiny, bespectacled kid who made it his life's mission to annoy my best friend into going out with him. For 4 years.

He wipes his mouth and turns to me expectantly, as if knowing what direction my thoughts have taken. "So I haven't seen Jade since the party started, any idea where she might be?"

Ugh. Jade refused to come with us because she heard Wallace would be here. At the time, I laughed and told her she was overreacting. But I now find myself at the 2-hour mark of playing a very serious game - trying to keep Jade out of Wallace's line of sight.

I search the floor discreetly. "Hmm, no. I think she was going to the McDonald's across the street for some iced coffee."

Wallace jumps up and dashes out the gym. The moment he's gone, I wave frantically to get Jade's attention. She comes running over to me and sits down, her face flushed.

"Thanks. I don't know how much longer I could have kept avoiding him in that mess", she says, gesturing to the throng.

"No problem". I push her my glass of lemonade. "I kind of deserve it for bringing you here.” I laugh while she pretends to shudder.

For a while, the 2 of us just sit, watching as the party rages on. Jade breaks the comfortable silence.

“You know, it might be fun to fuck with him”.

Bored as hell, I agree. “What do you have in mind?”

Wallace pushes open the doors of the gym about 20 minutes later, flecks of snow in his hair. He shivers as he walks over to my table, disappointment etched all over his face. I look at him in bemused silence.

“I looked all over for her! She wasn’t at the McDonald’s, or the Taco Bell, or Starbucks…”. His pout makes it all the funnier, and I struggle to keep a straight face.

“Oh, you just missed her! She went around to the back of the school with friends to smoke some weed. You’ll probably catch her there.”

His face lights up, and he sprints back out again. I look over at Jade, hiding over at the other end of the floor, and give her a thumbs up. She grins back.

The next time Wallace returns, he looks more frustrated than ever. Before he has a chance to say anything, I stand and pat his arm.

“It’s just bad luck, man. She literally came back the moment you left. But she told me she was heading to a gas station to pick up some chocolate.”

I expect him to run right out of the gym again, but he sits down and sighs.

“You know, all I ever wanted was to go out on one date with her. I wish she’d given me a chance.”

I stare at him, my eyebrows raised. “Honestly, Wallace, you barely even knew Jade. Why’d you spend so much time hung up on her?”

He’s silent for a minute, which is uncharacteristic of him. “I don’t know. I mean, she was one of the only girls who was nice to me back in high school, and I guess I thought we could be something more. She’s just a really nice person, you know?”

All his bravado and bluster is gone. When he looks up at me, I don’t see a successful, vain VP of some big tech company sitting in front of me, but a scared little boy desperately in search of affection. And in spite of myself, I feel some pity for Wallace. I figure that since none of us are likely to ever see each other again, the least I can do is to make him feel a little better.

“You know,” I hesitate. “Jade was never ready to commit to someone back in high school. It had nothing to do with you.”

He looks back down, lost in thought. I pat his shoulder and walk away, mentally shaking my head. What a night this turned out to be.

The next hour goes by pretty uneventfully. I don’t see Wallace again, so I sit with Jade and reminisce about the old days while the party rages on around us, talking about teachers we’d liked, things we would have done differently, boys we would have dated…

“Ladies and Gentlemen, per special request, we’re going to slow things down just for a bit!”

The song transitions from a groovy hip-hop number to a slow, wistful track. I look at Jade, my eyebrows raised.

“This is your favorite song, isn’t it? Too bad you don’t have anyone to dance with.”

She doesn’t answer, staring open-mouthed up at the stage. Following her gaze, I look up at the DJ. And then I see Wallace, standing right next to him, staring directly at Jade.

“Oh no, oh no…” Jade mutters. “I gotta get out of here.” Hurriedly, she grabs her purse and starts putting on her coat.

“Jade!” Wallace grabs the mic from the DJ. A hush falls over the entire crowd, all of them looking at us.

“Listen, girl”, he adjusts the mic. “I know why you’ve been avoiding me the whole night.”

I gesture at him frantically to stop, but he doesn’t see me.

“You were nervous about seeing me again! But I’ll make the leap, like we should have done back when we were kids. We were always meant to be – and I feel the same way about you now as I did 10 years ago.”

Horrified, I look at Jade. She’s frozen, her eyes fixed on Wallace.

“So let’s pick things up where we left off.” He extends his hand toward her, as if he could touch her. “Can I have this dance?”

The crowd goes absolutely nuts, surrounding Jade and chanting, “Say yes! Say yes!”.

In the horde, I see Jade, her eyes wide, horrified, looking for some way to escape.