It was the second morning after Estella talked to Edward and she hadn't got any response from him since then. He was supposed to answer her about when he and his father would be up for a meet Jay was looking forward to. He never texted and she never reminded him.

"Estella!" Her mom flung the door opened when she was solving mock papers on accountancy. She jerked her head in her direction as Lilah held her smartphone. "It's Dave, and for Jesus Christ, tell him to contact you on your number, sweetie."

Estella shrugged, flipping her notebook on the table, then straightening up on her chair and took the phone from Lilah. As her mom exited from there with her eyes rolling, she held the phone to her left ear. "Hey, buddy!"

"I'd be damned if it wasn't your voice."

"Still got some humor, huh?" She chuckled.

"Don't tell me you forgot I do standup comedy."

Estella bit her lips. Of course, she did.
"It's been long, dude."

"I can tell, " Dave agreed. Seven years was a long time and since graduation, she barely met any of her school friends. It was like everyone forgot each other. "Anyway, I am told you aren't coming to alumni?"

If her mother had been here, Estella would have shot her a death glare. She must have spilled her intention of skipping alumni to Dave.

"Oh, well, " she struggled for safe words, surprised at the fact that she still cared for the people she had forgotten about so easily. Friends. "Who else is coming?"

"All of us!" He informed her. "Susan and Gracie called this morning to confirm. I have text confirmed from Jake. Julius emailed me a minute ago. So that leaves only you."

"Great!" She faked enthusiasm or did she really want to go?

"Oh, come on, Stell," Dave said over the phone. "You can't be serious about missing this one."

"Fine, I'll think about it."

"Say in yes or no,"

She mentally groaned. "Yes, happy?"

His tone turned cheerful. "Very. We'll see you this Saturday night. And please text your number."

.......

The weekend rolled around quickly and Saturday night was ascending under billions of stars. For the past three days, Estella stayed busy with her books and mock papers to improve her accountancy. Investing with Edward was one thing, but she wasn't planning to drop her dream of becoming a competent accountant she dreamed of.

Meanwhile, she also had the documents verified from the police and concerned department. Estella had a moment of certainty that Edward might be not as perfect as he seemed, but his data was clear. She had a hard time digesting it.

At last, she accepted the terms after a short consultancy with Jay's lawyer and signed the deal online.

Standing in front of the mirror, Estella curled her sleek straight hair for a new look and wore the same black sundress Lilah picked for her weeks ago. Ever since Dave called, she came in contact with the rest of her high school buddies in the last couple of days.

Shrugging, she finished her makeup, slipped her phone inside her clutch, and made her way to the driveway. Dave's car was parked there, shining as new. He rolled down the window, waving her lovingly.

She waved back and hopped in.

The time from her home to school was barely ten minutes but the ongoing traffic delayed it for another ten minutes. Dave was funny as usual, cracking jokes every then and now and Estella mentally admitted how much deep down she missed her friends.

Forest Hills high school was located in 110th St. Queens; its beautiful structure standing out in the whole area. Estella's memories flooded back as Dave parked his car in the lot.

At night, the whole school was glowing as the light everywhere set in purplish and neon glow. A big billboard bore the words 'welcome Alumni' and they both could hear the music from the field.

Strolling around, and greeting left and right to any classmates they recognized, Estella and Dave approached their long-time buddies.

Estella felt young, in fact, all of them did. She couldn't explain her feelings when she met them. They hugged, chatted about their lives, took shots after shot in the presence of their ex-teachers who made no comments, and danced.

Remembering the high school days, Estella and her friends smiled at how their group was on the top of the social ladder at her time in school. They were the brats, the beautiful and unforgettable socialites whom other juniors and sophomore looked up to. They mingled with seniors kids easily and used to ditch classes, even skip school secretly.

"I think I'm full!" Gracie laughed after the seventh shot. "I need to pee."

The girls and boys now roamed around, singing early 20s pop-music to refresh their memories, fingers tracing the walls of the hallway.

Laughing and joking they ended in the English class. It was empty and none of them were sure if it belonged to the same teacher who taught them.

"Look at it, bitches!" Susan swirled in excitement, rounding at the corner table on which all of their names were scribbled. Jake had carved it on the day of graduation. "I can picture the day we all first met here. The only class we all shared together."

"Let's bang things up!" Dave choked in excitement as they spread out in the empty room. Just like he said, the guys and Susan climbed up on the desk, shouting and singing.

Estella watched them happily by the window and Gracie joined her.

"I'm so glad Dave convinced me into coming here. It's so fun to be back."

"You bet!" Gracie nodded in agreement, her voice turning slurry. "So you figured it out?"

She snapped her head in her direction. "Figure out what?"

"That guys aren't only your type!"

"You knew?" She gasped, looking thrilled.

"I wasn't sure but you were checking out a girl back at the gym sometime around our senior year. I didn't feel like saying anything to you, especially with your mom always being so old fashioned and all." Gracie explained. "So got any girl or a guy in your sleeves?"

She chuckled bitterly as she thought of two people. Her relationship with Tess was done and left behind and since then she resisted having any solid relationship.

"Not really," Estella muttered, thinking about Edward and laughung if off in her mind.

"Your not really is not that comvincing." She said. "Come on, tell me."

She sighed. "Well, I guess there's this guy who has my tiniest attention. I like it when he takes the leads at work. It's kind of attractive sometimes." She said. "Also, he's got a pretty face."

"So work romance," she added. "Sounds perfect."

"Perfect volatile maybe." Estella said. "Anyway, I'm good at resisting him. My work is more important."

"Good for you then."

Sighing, she shoved his thoughts away and diverted the topic. "What about Susan? Were you at her wedding?"

"Nah!" Gracie answered. "Just like you we really lost touch of each other. You know with college and all. She did email me like a month ago but I wasn't active those days and missed it. Dave and Jake attended the ceremony."

"I lost my phone so..."

She smiled without any judgment. "At least we all will be present at Jake's wedding next year. None of us are missing. Are you?"

"Not this time-"

"Hey yo!" Susan shouted, glancing at her phone. "It's been three hours. My husband is coming to pick me up."

Three hours seemed like minutes to Estella as she and others were having so much fun that none of them could feel how quickly the time had passed.

The others agreed, getting down the desk.

When they were walking down the hallways, Estella's phone gave out a ring. Edward's name flashed on the screen.

Ugh, not now.

Ignoring the first, second, and third bell, she had to slow down and when she was almost out of her friends' earshot, she picked it up.

"Isn't it's too late to be calling me?" She asked.

There was a silence which she assumed he was taken aback with her tone.

"I told you I'd be busy." He gave the answer.

"And I'm now."

"Where are you anyway? And what's that noise? Sounds like three cats are being dragged up to the motorway."

Estella looked up to see Dave shredding Ed Sheeran's songs to pieces. "Funny! Why did you call at this time?"

"I'm back."

"Good for you!"

"Hey, Estella, " Jake shouted, cornering with others at the doorway. "Come on, girl!"

"Who was that?" Edward spoke quickly as her attention went back to her friends.

She waved at them to keep going. "My friends. It's alumni night in high school."

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, I have a ride."

"But your car's parked in your driveway."

"How do you know? Wait—are you..."

"Yeah, I just reached here." He answered, predicting her question already. "I was going to knock in but thought to better call you first. It's almost eleven."

"Yeah, it's eleven. Too late to be lurking around my house."

"I was only passing through—"

"Then you might want to keep going. I don't know when I'm coming back." She lied, not bothering to tell him that they all were actually heading back to their homes. "Night!"

Before he could utter a word, she snapped shut her phone. Her friends rounded around her, all of them high and crazy.

"One last drink!" Julius said, sneaking out a pocket drink bottle when all of the friends stepped out of the gym room. "It's strong."

Except for Dave and Gracie as they were the ones driving their people back, others took a gulp one by one until it was empty. As if the whole world turned around, Estella was feeling lightweight and liberating.

"Okay, that's enough!" Susan said, looking as if she was on the verge of puking. Her phone was now constantly ringing and it only stopped when they reached the parking lot. Since Susan drank the most, she was on her way to passing out.

A red roadster was parked on the street, and Susan's husband was peeking from the window. From the little lights glowing around, Estella could make out his check shirt. His dark olive skin and hair almost matched with Susan's complexion.

Estella's friends departed one by one, leaving Dave and her at the end. Dave was less drunk, with the responsibility of driving Estella back home. She stretched, and yawned on the parking lot, her eyes begging to find a bed and sleep for the entire weekend.

Dave held her firmly as they went to his car and sat in. He was about to pull the car on the road when a familiar car came in the way, honking. Estella rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing Edward at that time and at her school. "Oh, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me?"

Dave honked, asking the owner to move away but the car wouldn't budge. Its headlight flicked on and off and Estella was out, ready to break something tonight.

"Woah, Woah!" Dave exclaimed in confusion, reaching his hand at his side of the door to unlock it. "Let me go talk to that asshat!"

"I know him." She stopped him.  "And I have a feeling he's not gonna leave until I go with him."

"I didn't know possessive kinds were your type." Dave was clearly joking but she found no humor in it. Instead she smiled, the little devil inside her ready to play.

"Tell you what," she looked at Dave. "I'm going to him. Could you keep followings us? You like the speed, right?"

Seeing the mischievous wink she passed him, Dave smiled in undersatnding. "That's the tiger I know from my highschool."

Estella stomped out of his car and hopped inside Edward's, adrenaline flowing fast. She rounded, stopping at the window of driver's seat, knocking it. Edward rolled down the glass.

"I'll drive." She announced, taking him by surprise. "Take it or leave it."

"No, you're drunk." He said.

"Not enough, I know my intake." She argued back.

He threw a scanning look at her, taking in her appearance and a minute later, he stomped out the driver seat and taking over the passenger seat.

As soon as she shut the door, Estella backed away and navigated the car.

"How was the night? Did you enjoy it?" He asked.

Estella drew out a breath, steadying her mind. "How did you know which school I used to go to?"

He didn't look at her. "I just know!"

"I don't remember telling you that detail."

"I just know some stuff. That's it."

"You sound like a stalker now."

He laughed like it didn't matter she called him a stalker. "Okay fine." He took a turn. "The polaroids in your room. I saw your graduation day photo. The school name was written on the background."

"And your memory is that good?"

"Trust me on that." They drove past the bustling town, crossing the bridge and eventually ending up in an empty road. Edward glanced at the navigator and then at Estella. "Your house is in the other direction."

"I told you I had a ride." She said, her eyes fixed on the road. "My friends and I used to come here. It's still not used much. Mostly empty. Too many theft and crimes. Still, people come here to race, so buckle up."

She stepped on the gas, the speed going way over past the limit. It was a one way road and anytime a car rode past, she made turns, both of them toppling to their sides.

Edward was rooted to his seat, holding the handle over his head, but he looked calm, even enjoying.

"If this is your idea of fun," he said. "I'm not impressed."

She glared at him, the car now too fast. Within minutes, they had landed on the highway and as the speed progressed, she remembered her high school days and their secret races.

"You don't have to be pissed, you know." Edward dropped his hand, his seatbelt now only thing holding him in place. "You should be glad I came. Drinking and driving is not safe."

"We only had a few shots."

"But what about you? It never ends well for a girl to be sitting next to a guy in that state."

"You are a guy, too and I'm drunk as well." She stated. "How does that make the situation any better?"

"I would never do that."

"And so would Dave."

"You sure?"

"About Dave, yes! About you, maybe not!"

"I'm trying to take care of you only. What's such a big deal about it?"

"No, you're trying to manhandle me." She retorted.

"I'm not trying to man-handle you."

"You just did."

"I don't understand—" There was a turn again. He jerked to his side, his arm hitting the door.

"I told you not to come and pick me up and you came anyway."

"I was concerned." He muttered, his steady voice sounding soft. "You sounded drunk on the phone."

"I'm twenty-six. I can be drunk whenever I want. And who are you to tell me what I can or can't do." Estella spat. "I know how to take care of myself."

"Yeah, I saw that very well that day."

He cheeks flushed, embarrassment taking over. "You can be real asshole sometimes, you do know that, right? How could you just throw something like that on my face as if I wanted that awful thing to happen to mean?"

"I didn't mean it that way." He defended. "I was only stating a possibility."

"Sure you wouldn't," the speed was descending and as the hustle of town was back, Edward heard a constant screech somewhere from his car.

Another thud echoed followed by a long screech and the car stopped, the smell of burning plastic filling up their noses. "Thanks for stopping by. It was fun. " She jumped out of the car, feeling victorious and Edward followed, joining her. She stretched her arms, yawning, looking around.
"Good night, Edward."

"Where are you going?" He grabbed her arm. "Are we even in Brooklyn?"

"Where do you think we are?" She smiled mischievously and then looked  back a car rolling next to her. "Here comes my ride."

Edward's eyes turned dark, and he moved closer, the glass rolled down and Dave peeped out, looking just as exciting as her. "Adios!"

---------

Thank you for reading.

Please vote and comment.

Vote

Xoxo