CHAPTER ONE- An Emotional Reunion
"Dr. Oliver?"
I looked up from my desk to see one of the students standing in my doorway. I couldn't get a damn break even when I was at lunch.
"Yes?"
"There's some lady in the principal's office that wants to see you."
"Who?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know, some short lady."
Her voice quickly became a faint sound in the distance before she even finished her sentence. Kids were so aggravating. I looked at my pathetic excuse for a lunch and sighed leaning back in my chair. So this is what my life had come to; grading papers and taking orders from that bitch of principal Ms. Randall. I swear she came straight from hell. I reluctantly got out of my chair and wrapped up the rest of the sandwich that I knew I wasn't going to have time to finish. I never had enough time these days. As I walked down the hallway I wondered who could have been paying me a visit. I didn't owe anyone any money and I didn't really have any female friends that would come see me at work. I pondered this until i reached the office. As I turned the knob and pushed the door open my heart literally skipped a beat.
"Hi Tommy."
That voice. I'd recognize that voice anywhere.
"Kimberly. What are you um...what are you doing here?"
She stood up and came closer to me. She was wearing tight blue jeans and a leather jacket with a pink shirt underneath. Typical.
"Can we, go somewhere and talk?"
I struggled to find my voice again.
"I uh, I've got a class, in a few minutes."
"Oh."
Her eyes moved down to her hands that were nervously moving around in front of her stomach.
"How about you meet me back here around three fifteen and we can talk then?" She smiled.
"Okay. I'll, see you later."
She walked past me out of the door and down the hall to the exit. I watched her the whole way. After ten years she still looked sexy as hell in anything she put on. I shook my head and started walking back to my classroom. What could she have possibly wanted to see me about that she couldn't have said over the phone or in an e-mail. It must have been important whatever it was. I had two more classes before the day was over and I barely made it through them. I was so anxious to hear what she had to say to me. I didn't blame my students for not really paying attention. Hell I wasn't paying attention to my self. When school was over I grabbed my things and quickly headed out the door. I walked slowly to my car, scanning the parking lot. Then I saw her. Standing about two cars down from mine. I didn't want to seem over eager so i put my briefcase and lab coat in my car and then casually made my way over to her.
"What's this about?" I asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"I just...I just wanted to see you." I folded my arms across my chest.
"Are you doing okay?" She asked. I nodded my head.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Teaching isn't so bad once you get used to it. What about you?"
"I'm good. I just moved to this area a few weeks ago. Thought I'd start fresh."
"So, you were looking for a fresh start and you found me?" I said with a half serious tone.
"Yeah, I know, I just...It's a small town and I heard some kids talking about a Dr. Oliver so I thought I'd see if it was really you."
"Well, here I am."
The attitude in my voice was coming through. It was an awkward moment for the both of us. The more I looked at her standing in front of me the more questions I had. I guess she picked up on that and broke the silence first.
"Look I don't blame you if you're still angry with me. I just needed to know you were alright."
"You needed to know, if I was alright? After ten years you decided to check on me? What kind of sense does that make Kim? You broke up with me, in a letter. Do you know how humiliating that was?"
"I know, I'm sorry but I couldn't-"
"Couldn't what? Pick up the damn phone and call me? Couldn't tell me the truth? Couldn't tell me you didn't love me anymore, that's what you couldn't do?"
She held her head down again for a second then lifted it up and looked at me.
"I'm so sorry for that. But I was young, and stupid. I wasn't old enough to know what I wanted then."
"But you were old enough to know you didn't want me anymore."
"It wasn't that I didn't want you anymore I just-"
I cut her sentence off quickly.
"Don't try to explain that to me, I really don't wanna hear it."
Our conversation was put on hold for a second while a couple of my students said goodbye to me. After they were gone she continued again.
"I know you might not want to believe it, but I never stopped loving you Tommy."
I laughed grimly and unfolded my arms, taking off my glasses and cleaning them with my tie.
"Could've fooled me."
We were both silent for a minute and I hated that so I spoke up.
"Look I don't wanna go through this. I'm not going to lie and say I don't care about you anymore because I do. So let's just, not talk about that. It's over, it happened. I've dated people since then and so have you so, just, forget about it alright? I don't wanna bring it up again." She nodded.
"So, can we start over?" I stared at her.
"Start over? Start over how?"
"I mean as friends."
"I don't know about that Kim."
"You said yourself you wanted every thing to be in the past. So let's start over. As friends. No strings attached."
I thought long and hard about it. I shouldn't be getting myself back into this situation. Kim was the past. I had a future now. I had a career. But I didn't have any one to share it with. And no matter how much i tried to convince myself that i didn't love her anymore, I knew i still did. Just seeing her after all this time brought back an overwhelming flood of emotion that I was barely able to control. I remembered everything about her. Her walk, her smile. The way she smelled, the way her eyes shinned in the sunlight. But it was going to take a lot of time if she wanted to have my trust again.
"Give me your number, I'll call you later and let you know."
I didn't let my demeanor betray any emotion as I spoke. She started to dig into the front pocket of her tight jeans to get her phone and I pulled mine from the clip on my belt listening as she called her number out.
"902...849...4385."
I stored the number into my phone and pressed send. A few seconds later her phone began to vibrate. She saved it and put the phone back in her pocket.
"Listen I need to get home, I got papers and stuff to grade. I'll call you alright?"
I said in a low tone. She nodded and I started to walk back to my car.
"It was really good seeing you, Tommy." I stopped and turned my head to the side but didn't face her.
"Good seeing you too Kim."
I spoke the words quietly. She got in her car and I sat in mine for a minute. That really took a toll on my emotions. I had a feeling that I was gonna need a few drinks to help me sleep that night.
The drive home was a real pain in the ass. There was a huge accident on the highway which caused my normal twenty minute drive to be almost an hour.
I tried not to think about her. But she was invading my thoughts every second.
The radio wasn't helping. I had my first preset to an oldies station and 'She used to be my Girl' started blaring through my speakers as soon as I turned the radio on. I kind of sat there for a minute staring out at the endless sea of traffic just listening to the song. But after about a minute I couldn't take it anymore so I just turned it off and tried to find one of my CDs to listen to.
But even while Coldplay blasted through my speakers, I still couldn't keep her out of my mind. My emotions went back and forth between happiness and frustration. I was really glad to see her, but then I remembered why I hadn't seen her in over ten years. She wanted to end our relationship, not me. But we were both young and stupid so I could forgive her for being a seventeen year old for the most part.
But you can only use the 'young and stupid' excuse for so long. Why hadn't she tried to reach me before now? Why wait ten years and just show up out of no where like nothing ever happened between us. What was she expecting? My mind burned with questions the whole way home.
And even when I tried to sit down and focus on grading papers I couldn't keep those thoughts out of my head.
After a couple of hours of this torture I decided to take a break. I got up from my seat on the couch and went into the kitchen for a glass of wine.
I stood in that spot for a minute, casually sipping from the glass, staring out into my living room. Did I really want her to be back in my life? I wasn't sure if my heart could handle it again. But after seeing her, I realized how much I really did still care about her. I was going to wait at least two or three days before I made my decision.
I called it quits at about ten thirty that night and headed down the hall to my bedroom. I changed into a pair of boxers and tried to go to sleep. But it didn't come to me as easily as I was hoping. I was not happy when I woke up and my clock read three sixteen a.m. By the time I got back to sleep again my alarm went off. I rolled over and slammed my hand down trying any way I could to make the piercing beep stop pounding through my brain. It was not going be a good day today.
