I open my eyes to stare into her caramel colored ones again for a brief second before she looks at him, thanking him for the brew. He has delivered two Coors Light in the bottle. She pulls one to her and pushes the other to me, then she looks at me again.

I smile at her and ask, "So what else have you been up to?"

"Oh, not much. I work all the time."

"Single?" I give her a sideways grin. "I’m hoping so."

"Yes, I’m single." She laughs, catches the insinuation and responds. "No, I’m not cheating on anyone. I wouldn’t do that. That’s just wrong." Then she frowns and asks, "You?"

"I’m single too," I smirk, "and I wouldn’t cheat either. I’ve been on the receiving end and it is definitely wrong."

Her words send me back there. I haven’t thought about it in years. I caught my college roommate fucking my girlfriend in the Frat house at the Christmas party. They were too drunk to even care. The betrayal was unacceptable to me and when I drug them out by their hair, she was kicking and screaming. Several dudes tried to intervene and help her. That’s the night I perfected my "Bah Humbug, Motherfuckers" delivery. I kicked ass and took no prisoners. I smirk and tip the bottle to draw the brew into my mouth. I notice her eyes are watching me.

"I heard about that. I’m sorry." She says softly. Her tone touches something inside me and when I set the bottle down, it’s with less pain than when I lifted it.

"Ever married?" I ask her.

"No," She shakes her head, then lifts her beer, takes a drink, and asks, "Kids?"

"No, I don’t have any kids. Do you?"

"No, I don’t either." She smiles and the softness of it sends a spark of warmth through me.

Blake comes out and tells us. "Your pizza is coming up in about 10 minutes." He grins at her. "It is good to see you. It’s been a while since you were in here."

"Thanks, Blake." She says. "I’ve missed your special sauce. No one makes it like you do."

"How’s Bruce Wayne doing on that hambone?" I ask him.

"He’s working it over pretty good."

We laugh.

I tilt my head and lift my eyebrow. "He’s a rescue, you know. I picked him out of a lineup at the pound. He’s had to fend for himself for a while. I don’t know that I’d leave him alone in the kitchen."

He cuts his eyes in that direction and says, "Oh lord." Then takes off at slight jog back to it.

"Really?" She asks.

"No, not really," I tell her.

She laughs hard at my practical joke and the sound is so familiar to me. I study her face as she tilts her head back and releases the volume freely. This girl loves to laugh. Then it hits me. I realize who she is. She isn’t anyone I dated before. As a matter of fact, she isn’t anyone I hung with in school. But I remember her. I remember that laugh. I could never forget that laugh. Her laughter wafting in my window late at night when we were children helped me stay sane at a time in my life when hatred was an everyday feeling shoved down my throat. Her laughter had a magical tone that made me feel like life wasn’t so bad after all. This mysterious beautiful woman is Lanky Laura.

Suddenly, I want to kiss her again and feel her velvet, sweetness reach down inside me. She’s the only person in the world who I confided in and she never once betrayed me. I reach for her hand and I stroke it with my thumb. She gives me a squeeze and it’s strong and confident. My dick thumps wanting to fell that grip crush him and never let him go.

"Laura," I tell her softly. "I’m sorry I left you behind."

Her eyes look into mine and I see that same hunger in them for me, that I have for her. "It’s okay, Zane. We were kids and we weren’t in charge. You couldn’t help what happened."

I look down at the hand, remembering. Then I puff air out of my nose disapprovingly and tell her. "I could have done more."

She laughs. "Like refuse to move?"

I laugh. "No, like get on my bicycle and ride back to see you."

She grins. "I would have flipped out and run away from you."

"Really?" I chuckle. "Was I that bad?"

"No! You were that good." She grins a sideways grin. "I was too shy to even go there in my mind during the day."

I grin sideways at her too. "But at night?"

"At night I belonged to you."

"I like the way that sounds."

She grins.

"I should have at least found you in school."

"We ran in different circles."

"I should have…."

"Zane, don’t. It’s not necessary."

"Yeah, but…."

"I’m just as much to blame. I let you go and if you would have ridden over or found me in school, I would have pushed you away. You were too much for me."

She’s right. When I saw her in school, she was shy, awkward, and in need of a makeover in a bad way; and I was the jock on campus. I grin remembering, then look back. "We were just kids."

"Yes, we were just kids."

"I wonder how things would have turned out if I had never moved away?"

She laughs. "I used to imagine that very thing."

I laugh too. "I would have been crawling through your window." I look down at her tits. "Those girls would have forced me to find you and be bad with you."

She looks down, blushing, but she laughs.

I slip my hand over her ear and tilt her face back. My lips find hers and as we kiss getting reacquainted, her sweet, softness surges into the depths of my soul as flashes of pictures race across my eyelids. My mind having located those past conversations, opens the floodgates of memories and my mouth possesses hers, letting her know that I have no intention of leaving her ever again. She was my best friend forever. Her hand lays on top of mine and she returns my kiss matching my passion.

Blake clears his throat as he sets the pizza down. "I hate to interrupt this part of the reunion, but your food is ready."

When I let her go, I feel mushy and high at the same time.

* * *