"Fine, I'll come." Max Caulfield cradled her phone against her ear with a shoulder while she typed away at her workstation. She rolled her eyes at the happy squeal her concession had elicited from the other end of the conversation.
"No, just me I think. Thomas said he'd be happy to come if I let you talk me into it, but he'd just be bored….
"I know he's met you, but only the once….
"Kate, I actually went to the damn school and I barely know anybody! You do remember I only went there a year…
"So, can we share a room? I'd like to save some cash…
"I do but it doesn't pay that much and I can only handle about twenty hours a week…
"No, twenty hours here at Penneys, I spend the rest working at the gallery…
"They said that maybe they could pay me eventually but hey, unpaid internships are part of the millennial experience, right…
"Shit, hold on…"
Max set the phone down and clicked the speaker on. "Sorry! I need to get these session appointments logged in the system."
Kate's voice drifted out of the iPhone, distant and tinny, "That's cool, Max. I was just saying that I'd love to share a room. I've already made a reservation, so I'll just call and switch over from a king to two queens."
Processing her paperwork much more efficiently without the worry of dropping her phone, Max sorted the last of the paper forms into the "To Be Filed" basket. "That's awesome! You rock, Katiekins. You've actually got me almost looking forward to this thing. Are you flying into Seattle? I can pick you up and we can drive down together."
"I'll forward my itinerary. I'm so glad you changed your mind, Max! I'll have to text Warren and let him know. That won't be weird, will it?"
"Why would it be? If it wasn't weird right after we broke up, why would it be weird five years later?"
"Umm, it was a little weird, at least right after."
"I guess, yeah," Max agreed, recalling the awkward couple of weeks right before Spring Break, after they'd broken up but before that week's absence had helped them reset back to friends. "But, we were cool for the last part of the year. I don't think I've seen him since graduation, just his nerdy Instragrams. I think he has a girlfriend now anyway, based on the pics he's been posting."
"He does," Kate confirmed. "Her name is Julie and I think he's bringing her."
"Do they need a ride, too?" Max asked.
"He's coming out a few days earlier. He still has family in the area and he wants to visit."
"Must be serious if he's bringing the girlfriend to visit!"
"I think it is. I've met her once and she seemed really nice, but a bit intense. She reminds me a little of Brooke."
"Brooke? Oh man, Kate, I haven't thought about her in years. Remember how much shit she gave me when Warren and I started dating." Max laughed, recalling the intense nerdy girl from Blackwell. Somehow, even though she and Max barely knew each other, Brooke had sensed that Max's heart was not in her relationship with Warren. She'd all but done a celebration dance when she'd learned that Max had dumped Warren. "Do you think she'll be there?"
"I checked the RSVP part of the website and it looks like everyone from our hall is coming," Kate replied.
"Everyone?" Max frowned, remembering one of the reasons she'd initially decided to skip the five-year reunion.
Though only a disembodied voice, Max imagined she could see the look of concern on her best friend's face.
"Are you still mad about what happened…"
"Fuck yeah," Max said, reacting. With a moment's thought though, she reconsidered. "I mean, not like actively angry but yeah, annoyed? Disappointed?"
"Maybe you could just talk to her and find out why…"
"It's been five years, Kate, and I have a wonderful boyfriend, so I'm sure I don't care."
"You kinda sound like you do still care, though," Kate offered tentatively, knowing she was in the middle of the minefield and treading lightly.
"I don't," Max lied, "but even if I did, it doesn't matter. I'm not talking to Victoria Fucking Chase!"
-xxx-
As her 2004 Civic rolled through the streets of Arcadia Bay, it occurred to Max that she'd never actually driven in town. The car had been a graduation gift, but she'd only received it back in Seattle. She and Kate had spent an enjoyable few hours catching up on the drive down from SEATAC. Max had regaled Kate with horror stories from the JC Penney Photo Studio, only most of which involved infants spewing fluids from one end or the other. For her part, Kate recounted the glamorous life of a grad student in Chicago, where she studied Education at Northwestern, close enough to keep in touch with Warren, who toiled in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.
"Strange how much development there's been in just a few years," Max observed as they passed a gleaming new strip mall where an old fishery had once stood.
"Well, the Pacific Northwest is a popular place to live," Kate noted. "Lots of these little fishing towns are getting gentrified. Waze says it should be a half mile ahead on the right."
One check-in, a quick refresh, and a few miles later, Max and Kate pulled into the familiar parking lot at the edge of the dorms. Classes had ended a couple weeks ago, so they knew most of the cars filling the lot must belong to alumni like themselves. "It's like telling age by the layers in a rockface," Max said as they got out of the car. Noting Kate's quizzical expression, she indicated the rows of cars, "I mean, I'm guessing all these old beaters like mine are our class, or else 2009. Those," she gestured to a series of minivans and SUVs, "probably the 15 year reunion crowd, with their kids. The really fancy ones must belong to the 20 plus years." Like many colleges, Blackwell held reunions for classes in increments of five years.
Kate laughed, "You might be right, except some of the kids in our class had those kinds of cars while we were there."
"Yeah, Victoria's private jet must be parked at the local airstrip."
The mention of Victoria drew a worried glance, but Max waved it off. She had no desire to rekindle that conversation. While in one sense the five years had flown by, truly a lot had happened since graduation. Max knew she was no longer the same person she'd been at Blackwell. She'd grown a lot in just her one year there, let alone the four years at U of W or especially this last year of real adulting.
"Did you text Thomas to let him know we made it?" Kate asked, trying to change the subject anyway.
"Geez, Katiekins, he's not my mom," Max sighed. "But, fine, I guess I should. He gets antsy sometimes."
Kate knew better than to comment on the look of annoyance on Max's face. She ticked another week or two off her internal countdown clock for this relationship. Though they'd only lived together for a year, on the same dorm floor at least, Kate and Max had grown incredibly close and maintained, indeed enhanced, their connection during college through frequent Skype or Facetime calls, summer visits, shared vacations, etc.
Though Max identified as bi-sexual, she'd admitted to Kate on more than one occasion that she generally enjoyed her relationships with women more than those with men. For both genders, though, the one thing sure to prove terminal for Max's significant others, ever since Warren, continued to be over-the-top neediness. Max had plans for her life, things to do, and, did not react well to clingy partners.
'She needs someone as independent as she is,' Kate thought, feeling sorry for poor Thomas. He'd seemed a kind enough fellow, but Kate knew he wasn't the one for Max. For her part, Kate felt far too busy with her studies to get involved in a relationship.
Having sent her check-in text, Max took Kate's hand and pulled her along toward the quad, following a slow stream of other arriving alumni. They spent the rest of the afternoon visiting old haunts like Tobanga, various classrooms, etc., stopping to catch up with various acquaintances along the way.
Daniel had gotten taller, drawing out his formerly pudgy appearance into quite a nice package. He worked as a graphic artist in San Jose for a startup. Stella had done two years of community college and then taken a job as an admin assistant at a consulting shop in San Francisco. She hoped to work her way up to be an Associate soon. Juliet had two more years of law school ahead of her. Dana and Trevor's oldest was two years old and there was another on the way, due in August. Their daughter looked just like her mom, a total heartbreaker.
As the sun set over the bay, Kate received a text from Warren that he and Julie had gotten tied up in that famous Seattle traffic and would likely not make it in time for the class dinner. Unlike the more formal banquets organized by the older reunion classes, the Class of 2014 had sprung for a self-serve buffet under a tent on the football field. Balancing trays and plastic cups of punch, Kate and Max found a table off in a quiet corner.
"Just like the cafeteria, you and me at the Non-Cool Kids Table in the corner," Max joked as she sat down. "Shame Warren couldn't be here to complete the tableau."
Kate laughed, casting her eyes across the lawn. Of the hundred or so kids in their class, maybe half to two thirds had made it back for their first formal reunion. Unlike Max, Kate had spent three years at Blackwell and thus knew everyone in their class, at least by sight. Five years had done little to change most folks, though Logan's hairline had suffered some defeats.
"Can you believe that Taylor Christensen is a model? Like a real actual model in magazines?" Max gossiped.
Kate nodded, "I guess I can, I mean, she was the most beautiful girl in the school, at least after Rachel left."
"Rachel?" Max asked.
"Oh, that's right, she left before you arrived. Rachel Amber was our resident It Girl, more beautiful than Taylor, more popular than Victoria, friendlier than Dana."
"Wow, what happened to her?"
Kate sighed, a dreamy look in her eyes. "She eloped with her girlfriend. They ran off together to LA."
"You're such a romantic, Kate!" Max teased, nudging her out of her reverie. "And let's go back a second, Kate. Do you really think that Taylor was the hottest girl in our class?"
Kate blushed suddenly. She rarely talked about her own romantic inclinations or preferences and typically Max respected that and didn't ask. She had opened this can of worms herself, though. "Well, yes," she admitted finally. "With that long blonde hair and those sparkly eyes, I mean… if not her, then who?"
Max raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I think my opinion on the hottest hottie in the Class of '14 is pretty well known." She turned her gaze toward a table across the way, gesturing for Kate to look as well. "Speak of the devils. I guess we can reassess our ratings, since they're sitting together."
As if sensing eyes upon them, Taylor and Victoria looked up from their conversation and noticed Max and Kate, who barely broke eye contact quickly enough to avoid a charge of staring.
"Oh shit, they're coming this way," Max muttered, subconsciously smoothing her hair and straightening up.
"Oh my god! Kate Marsh and Max Caulfield!" Taylor exclaimed. She looked almost exactly the same as she had at Blackwell, with just a touch more polish and elegance. "Our old hall buddies!"
Victoria hung back as Taylor pulled Kate up to give her a big hug.
Max grinned, the only one to notice the flush of red on her friend's cheeks that this produced. "Hey Taylor, its good to see you," Max said, getting her own hug in turn. "I mean, in person. I saw you in a perfume ad last month."
"That's so sweet!" Taylor gushed. "You guys look great! Kate, I love what you've done with your hair. I always used to tell V how pretty you'd be if you just put in some effort."
"Really?" Max said, laughing in astonishment.
"Oh god! That sounded horrible!" Taylor turned beet red and rushed to take Kate's hands in her own. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant…"
Kate managed a wan smile. "I know what you meant, Taylor, and thank you. I guess I didn't really worry too much about my hair or clothes back in high school."
"You were fine! You had your own Kate style," Taylor insisted, unconcerned about any logical inconsistencies in her comments thus far. "V, why are you just standing there, come and say 'Hello.'"
Victoria took a deep breath and joined the circle of young women. "Hello Kate, Max. Glad to see you could make it back," she said politely. She reached up to brush a stray strand of hair off her eyes, but stopped at the sudden intense look this action drew from Max.
"What's that?" Max said quickly, nodding toward Victoria's wrist.
"Hmm? What's what? Oh, this?" Victoria tugged at the rainbow-colored bracelet. Before she could continue, though, a new person approached their group. A few inches shorter than Victoria, a young woman slid her arm around the blonde's waist and smiled at Kate and Max. She had wavy, auburn hair and dusting of freckles across her nose, wearing a flannel top and navy blue khakis.
"That's her pride bracelet," the stranger announced. "See, twinsies!" She held up her arm to show off a matching bracelet. "They gave them to us as a gift when we graduated."
"They?" Max asked, holding off on the other 27 questions which had occurred to her in the last thirty seconds.
"The Reed LGBTQ Club. Victoria and I were co-chairs our senior year."
"Donna, this is Kate Marsh and Max Caulfield," Victoria said quickly. "Kate, Max, this is my partner, Donna."
Kate extended a hand to greet the newcomer, but Max took a step back, arms folded across her chest.
"Pride bracelet?" she said darkly. "LGBQ Club?"
"LGBTQ," Donna helpfully corrected.
"Co-chair of the LGBTQ Club?" Max went on, her voice cold enough to push Kate and Taylor a step back.
"Max," Victoria started, "I know how this must…"
"No, you know what? It makes perfect fucking sense," Max declared with a mirthless smile. "It's abso-fucking-lutely perfect. Victoria Chase, President of the Gay Club, Standard Bearer for Gay Pride."
"Max," Kate laid a hand on her friend's shoulder, trying to calm the storm.
Max jerked away, "No, it's fine, Kate." She turned to Donna. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you're great."
"I don't understand," Donna said, turning in confusion from Victoria to Max and back.
"Ask her," Max replied curtly. "I'm out. Text me when you're ready to go back to the hotel, Kate."
"Please, Max," Victoria tried, but Max had already stomped off into the darkness beyond the edge of the tent.
"Vicky, what did she mean 'ask you,'?"
"Hey, let's go check out the… somewhere else," Taylor quickly inserted. Taking Kate's hand, she led her in the optimal direction: away.
Victoria barely noticed either Donna's question or Taylor and Kate's sudden departure. Her eyes followed Max's increasingly shadowy form, but her thoughts slipped back just over five years….
