The last time I saw her, she didn't see me. I wasn't being a creep and stalking her or anything, but our paths just hadn't crossed during that night.

Our high school reunion took place in our old school's gym and I expected anything but the extreme and excessive amount of pink and red glitter on the banners and table decorations. In fact, I think I swallowed more sparkling dots than food or drinks.

Whose idea was it to have our high school reunion on Valentine's Day anyway?

That was the least of my worries though. When I saw her blue eyes shinning in the dark as she laughed along with two of her girlfriends from back in the day, my heart stopped beating. The world stopped, my world stopped.

She was exquisitely beautiful and time had apparently stopped for her because she looked as stunning as she did back in the day, in 1990. 

I must have been lost in thought and lost in my memories of that fateful year because I only noticed her when I heard my name roll out of her tongue. That was undoubtedly my favorite sound. 

"James!" I felt my knees going week at the sound but when I laid my eyes on the woman standing in front of me, I could melt into a puddle.

I was an absolute sucker for her.

"Lauren, hi. How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you? I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Yeah... I know. Too long, am I right?"

"Yes!"

This is the part of the story where you're thinking what the history between us is, am I right? 

"You wanna go outside and talk for a minute? It's getting too loud in here."

Without having to reply to her, I simply put my glass of champagne down and made my way outside with her by my side. We found a little bench behind the school building and when she sat down, I simply followed suit.

It took me one good look at her to confirm my suspicions that her eyes out shinned all the stars in the dark, night sky.

"What's been going on with you?"

"Nothing much... I moved away to college. Found a job in New York. Been living in Brooklyn ever since."

"Oh, what's that like?"

"It's good. I like living in the big city. Where have you gone to?"

"Stayed in Philadelphia." She was talking but I was unable to register the words she was saying when the gold ring in her finger caught my attention. 

"You're married?" By the time I meant to control my bluntness in asking her, the question was already out there.

Her mouth was in the shape of an "O"  while she looked down at her hand, after she heard my question. "Oh, that." When she looked back up at me, I knew I shouldn't have asked her.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"I was. Married, I mean. I was married. Daniel died in a car crash."

What?

"Oh, geez. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay... You didn't know."

I could tell by the way her bottom lip was trembling and the way her clear blue eyes were getting watery that she was on the verge of breaking down and without thinking twice, I wrapped my arms around her, and engulfed her in a tight hug.

The smell of her hair filled my nostrils and by that time, I didn't know who was hurting more. 

"Enough about me. What about you?" She asked while she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't see a ring on your finger. Does that mean you haven't found your one and only yet?"

"I have. Years ago, on this very same spot." But I chose not to tell her that.

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked with a soft giggle.

She was my first love, and I was hers. We were each other's firsts, in everything. But we graduated high school, life got in the way, and we decided we should break up and end things between us, which is my biggest regret. 

"It means, how am I supposed to tell you that I've only ever been in love with one girl during my entire lifetime and that I can't see a future for myself with anyone else other than her, even though I haven't seen her in years." She didn't say anything in return and I completed my answer. "Complicated question, but the answer couldn't be any simpler."

When we broke up, things didn't get weird between us. We were each other's best friends and at the time, we thought we were being smart about our decision, yet that lead to us not talking for the next years.

"James, you can't say those things. You don't... get to tell me that."

"You asked me what I mean by that." I shrugged as I slowly nodded my head. "That's what I mean."

"Not what I expected you'd answer."

We sat in radio silence for a good ten minutes, each one of us focusing on some blade of grass or small rock on the ground, before I spoke up.

"Daniel, your... husband." God, that was a weird thing to say. "Did he treat you right?"

"Yes."

"Did you love him?"

She threw me a look full of shock and I bent my head down, knowing I had probably crossed the line. 

Her voice breaking the new silence was what I didn't see coming.

"No."

Our eyes met when I looked up at her and I noticed her expression had softened, looking much more like the Lauren I always knew.

"No? You... didn't love him?"

"I didn't."

"Wow. What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means... how do I tell you that until tonight I thought I was over you? How do I tell you that I have only ever been in love with one guy? How do I tell you that I thought I truly loved my late husband until I laid eyes on you again?"

I don't know when it happened, but rain was pouring down on us heavily. Hearing her confess her true feelings to me made me feel like I was having an out of body experience, like I was in some state of hallucination. 

I didn't have to say anything, the look in my eyes and my face gave away my questioning mind as I was still trying to process what I had just heard, and Lauren simply nodded her head with a soft expression, her blue eyes giving me the sweetest look, almost as if she was confirming all the words that I'd just heard. 

Her blonde hair was clinging to her skin, looking like a frame to her beautiful face.

"Lauren, I..." I was speechless, at a loss for words.

"Say it."

"I love you. Always have, always will." I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my chest as I spoke the truer words I'd ever spoken out loud. "I really want to kiss you right now. Tell me to stop and-"

With her hands wrapped around my neck as she pulled my face down to meet hers, her lips met mine and we kissed, a soft and slow kiss that made me feel alive again.

We pulled back to look at each other for less than a second before my lips crashed hers and moved our plump lips in sync in strong kiss. The intensity of our connection sent sparks through my body and by the way she reacted to my dancing lips, I knew she felt the same. 

We reunited, and this time I was never letting her go.

 * * *

Author's Note:

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 💘 #TeamLove 💘

Don't forget to check out my romance "The Missing Gem" and as always, let me know what you think!

Xoxo, Mars