The King household, Hardwicke

September 2nd, 2015

7 P.M

So waking at six in the evening with a slight hangover wasn't the best feeling in the world, I don't know why I had picked up that bottle of vodka when my brain knew that white wine was often my liquid of choice. Lucky for Tee and I though it was an ailment that a few aspirin and a glass of water could fix before we began our typical routine that we usually went through when preparing for dinner in our respective home cities.

"Rose! I don't know what to wear, blue or red?" Teegan complained as she walked into my room in nothing but her under things holding a red and blue dress. I tried to keep myself from cringing at Teegan's options,  one dress looked like a twelve year old would wear it and the other looked as if it belonged to Tee's mom.

"They're both hideous, aren't they? You know me Rose, I grew up with brothers and my sense of fashion isn't exactly feminine." I knew exactly what Tee was talking about, all through high school she had worn baggy clothes, her hair was almost always a knotted mess but she was always happiest wearing what she was comfortable in so I was going to offer her some help this time around.

"Tee, I've got your back. Go put those away, I have an outfit for you." Tee eyed me warily but did as I told her, she was probably remembering that time I tried to dress her in high school and it all went downhill as soon as she stepped out the front door.

When Tee came back into my room I was holding out a cute black dress for her to try on, again she eyed me warily but took it and went into the bathroom muttering something about it being too small. I realized a long time ago that Tee and I were the same body shape and size but she had a different image stuck in her mind and always assumed she couldn't fit into my clothing.

"It fits!" I heard Teegan yell in surprise from the bathroom. I laughed a little, it was obvious from her exclamation that she was surprised. The look of wonder on her face when she came back into the room was reward enough for making a friend realize she wasn't what her mind thought she was.

"How many times have I been telling you that we're the same size? It looks great, did you bring shoes with you? I was going to offer you heels but you're already tall so I'd suggest ballet flats or something. Now sit down so I can do your hair." I could see Tee hesitate for a moment, the hairstyle that I had in mind was easy, simple to look at and hopefully would be comfortable for Tee to wear.

After a few minutes and a little bit of squirming from Tee I finished the Gibson tuck and stepped away from Tee, I had planned on leaving my hair out but ended up putting it up into something messy looking.

"Seriously, you've made it look so effortless to look pretty. What's your secret?" Rolling my eyes at Tee I went and grabbed a pair of heels that would suit the white blouse and blue skirt that I was going to wear. My look was completed by a skinny black belt around my waist.

"You get used to it in LA, ya know? Come on or we'll be late. Besides, I didn't want you to chicken out on this dinner so I planned you an outfit in advanced." That was a lie, it was just lucky that my first choice of outfit had turned out well. The black dress that Tee currently wore was a backup, you could never go wrong with a black dress.

When we both arrived at the venue I groaned, another place for bad memories to resurface after being buried for so long. 

"Lets get this over and done with Tee," I grabbed Teegan's arm and held on to it for dear life as we walked through the front door of the restaurant, the itinerary had stated that the dress code was casual and yet there were a few women there dressed far too fancily for this to be a casual dinner. Not surprisingly one of the women dressed in her finest was Beth, though she and her small group of friends stuck out like sore thumbs so they were easy to identify and avoid.

"Seriously, they look like Beverly Hills house wives. Did anyone tell them that they're in New Hampshire?" Teegan whispered, it was probably a good thing that she whispered too because several sets of eyes were on the both of us as we came to stand still next to one of the tables. 

Beth's eyes narrowed at the both of us, had we done something wrong?

"Oh sh*t, walk that way! Not that way...towards the bar!" Teegan and I moved away from Beth as she began to walk towards us, there were a few people at the bar to shelter us and we soon found ourselves re-introducing ourselves to old peers.

"Is that you Teegan Baker?" Teegan was surprised by the question from the extremely good looking man that was leaning against the bar. It took me a moment to realize who the man was, when I looked from Teegan to Darren Daniels and back again. Almost five minutes later Teegan realized who the guy was and went red in the cheeks, I couldn't blame her. 

I would have had heart palpitations too if my old crush looked that good and had been staring at me like I was edible. Oh wait, he had and I had slapped him after he had kissed me. 

As if hearing my thoughts Samuel Walker appeared in the room, my breath hitched a little when I spotted him. But I wasn't the only person to spot him, Beth made a beeline for him. I turned back towards the bar to order a glass of wine, thankfully they had the brand that I loved drinking and made a mental note to go back for a second glass.

So much for not drinking!

"Hi Rose, Teegan was just telling me what she has been doing since high school. Want to join our little conversation?" It was obvious Teegan didn't want me to join but Darren was being nice, it was either be the awkward third wheel in this conversation or go stand somewhere alone and look like a wall flower. I chose not to be a target for either Sam or Beth and walked towards Tee, giving her an apologetic smile as I came to stand beside her.

"Thanks Darren, I didn't want to look like an awkward wall flower." Teegan seemed to relax when she realized why Darren had invited me and I was glad to see her smile again.

"So what do you do now? I'm over in London, I have my own architecture firm over there but couldn't pass up the opportunity to rub it in former bullies faces that I was successful. I don't mean to sound egotistical, but it has been good so far." I smiled, completely understand what Darren was saying as I clearly remember him being the butt of most jokes. I felt pity for him often and attempted to stand up for him on several occasions but it had made no difference until Teegan had begun to stick up for him.

"Wow, London huh? How is that working out for you? I'm a fashion editor at a fashion magazine in Los Angeles." I didn't mention the magazine name as it was well known, the dress that Beth currently wore was something that had been published in our teen magazine a few months back. Honestly, it looked like Beth had gone swimming in her daughters wardrobe before coming out to dinner.

"London is good, really good. The weather is similar to here so I find I'm not so homesick as I could be. But it does get lonely over there." That was clearly directed at Teegan but she didn't understand the hidden meaning, I did. I wondered if this is how she thought whenever Sam looked at me or whenever I looked at him.

Did she evaluate things as much as I did?

"I'm sorry to hear that, will you excuse Tee and I for a moment?" Darren thankfully nodded his head, by the look of it he wasn't really in the mood to move away from the bar so I dragged Tee off towards the bathroom to give her a little pep talk.

It had been a well known fact in high school that Tee was a virgin, the saying went that no guy wanted to go out with a girl much less sleep with her if she could do everything that he could do and likely beat him in an arm wrestle. Well, that was the majority of guys thoughts...there were a few like Darren that looked past everything that others said and saw the real Teegan, I had been glad back then but she had been so conditioned to think like a guy that she hadn't really picked up on the messages.

If one things close to the start of a happy ending could be achieved for one of us then I was going ensure that it happened.

"Okay, you seriously need to stop looking at Darren like you're a fish out of water. He's totally into you right now and you haven't said two words since I joined the conversation, sharpen up and talk to him or he's going to move on to someone else." I knew Darren probably wouldn't move on to anyone else the entire night but Teegan really needed to start putting messages out instead of remaining 'lost' like she had moments ago.

"I don't know what to say! Every time I look at him I want to giggle like a stupid school girl and stare at him. God, why am I so awkward at this?" It was times like these that I was glad the two of us were alone, when Teegan doubted herself she REALLY doubted herself and it was hard to get her out of it.

"Look, tonight you're in clothes you wouldn't usually wear. You look amazing, you're around people you haven't seen in ten years and  the guy you had a raging crush on in senior year is seriously eye banging you...be the outgoing, happy, chatty and fun loving Teegan that I know and adore. Every time you think you're  going to crawl back into your shell just think of Beth or one of her friends taking your place." At the mention of Beth or one of her friends filling the role that she wanted she left the bathroom without another word.

When I emerged from the bathroom Samuel was standing right next to the door, before I could even think about ignoring him he caught my eye and smiled. "Hi, I know you said to stay away from you for the rest of this reunion but I can't. The whole reason I came to this thing was to see you and try to fix things between us, I know kissing you wasn't the best way to go about things but I never expected you to be so angry with me. I guess it's what I deserved for saying and doing what I did all those years ago. Please Rose, let me earn your forgiveness during this long weekend and if, by the end of it you still find that you hate me then I'll leave you alone for good. But please, will you let me try?" God, why was Sam making this so hard? How was I supposed to say no to that? I would look like a cold hearted b*tch if I did, knowing that I was in a bit of a pickle I sighed.

I really looked at him, beyond the blue eyes that I still remembered so well. His red hair stuck out even more against his tanned skin, his freckles blended in a little more. When my eyes dropped down to his lips and saw them pulled up into a smile I looked back  up into Sam's eyes and narrowed my eyes a little.

"Fine, but you and I are never getting together. Just to make that clear." Why did I not sound convincing?

"Never say never Rose." I hated that saying, because I had told myself over the years that I would never forgive Samuel and yet here we were, talking.

Before I could say anything else I turned and walked over to the tables to see if I could spot my name tag and nearly swore when I saw that I was sitting at a table that had not only Teegan and Darren but also Samuel, who just so happened to be sitting beside me.

Feeling some suspicion begin to grow I looked around the room until I spotted Beth, she was looking my way and offered her evil little smile. She was the one that had been organizing this whole thing, so why was Samuel sitting beside me and not her?

It made no sense.

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