A/N: Okaaaay, I know I wrote 'The Reunion' before, but I decided to rewrite the whole thing. Looking back on my old TR story, I decided how much I didn't really like my writing style for then. But I think this is a whole lot better. This first five chapters are just going to be explaining where they are at now and how they have ended up here. This here is going to be about Brian! Ugh he's such a cutie! I know it's kind of long, but it kind of has to be, right? ;-) I hope you all enjoy!
Four A.M and miserable, Brian thought quietly to himself as he stared up at the bedroom ceiling that him and his wife have shared for the past twenty three years. Of course, his beautiful wife, Debbie, was fast asleep in her beauty slumber. Yet, Brian could never find himself going to sleep these days. Already at the scary age of 46, he found himself being more bored than he have ever been bored before.
He had a wonderful job, of course. A job that paid him a little too good, which he for sure wasn't complaining about. He had a beautiful wife, a former model, in fact. Except now, she was a very famous politician at running for state governor or town executor. She had a talent for words, and a very good talent for looks. She had curly blonde hair that was always permed and styled in the neatest way possible. Brian use to think about how boys love how their girlfriend's hair blows in the wind. Well, Brian has never saw that with Debbie. Never.
She had cat like blue eyes, but in a very attractive way. She had exotic looking lips, and very defined cheekbones. She had just enough curves in all of the right places. To Brian, she looked just as beautiful as they day he first met her. Which was, believe it or not, in the Niagara Falls area. He saw her sitting on a huge rock, looking so bored and so unentertained. He couldn't help but notice at how beautiful she was, just sitting there.
And believe it or not, she pucked up the courage to go up and talk to her. And of course, his opening line was something like, "Did you know that Niagara Falls is one of the top waterfalls in the world?" That was probably the most obvious question a person could ever ask. Even Brian, who was known as Brain, should have thought of a better question than something as stupid as that! But for some odd reason, he didn't.
But she ended up smiling, and said yes. She took him by surprise, and he liked it. For the next three days, the two were inseparable. Debbie talked about her family and how she loved to model. Her family was loaded, and she described how she spent about a month at Niagara Falls every single year and how much she just hated it.
When Brian's vacation was over, Debbie gave him her address and her phone number so that they could stay in touch. Brian was disappointed that he was leaving so soon, and thought that he would never see her again. He even kissed her before he had to leave. And yes, on the lips. None of that wimpy on the cheek kind of thing.
But surprisingly, the two stayed in touch. They talked over the phone and wrote to each other until Brian and his family went over to Niagara Falls again each summer. Which was now, his favorite vacation of all time. Since Debbie would always be there.
They got married right after Brian graduated college. He got a degree in Banking and Business. Debbie didn't want to go to college, since she already had an amazing career in modeling. But her parents made her. And there she got her degree in politics and debate. So, the two celebrated by eloping to go and marry.
Brian bought her the nicest house in the nicest town of their state. Which happened to be four hours from his original hometown, to his luck. It was a beautiful white house with pale blue shutters. It was the perfect house to live in and start a family in, such as Debbie had said.
Debbie was terrified to have children, and was so focused on her modeling, that she began to not want any like before. More and more, she began to worry so much about her weight. Even though she was barely 120 pounds, the only thing that went through her head was fat, fat, fat.
She ended up starving herself and making herself throw up. Brian finally caught her in the act one time, and forced her to quit modeling if it was going to come to this. Debbie promised not to do it again, so Brian gave her one more chance. But, it did happen again. Brian this time made Debbie quit modeling and go to a rehab clinic for anorexia and bulimia for her own good. But nothing seemed to work.
Brian then began to think about how his wife still pressured herself about her weight. For she was always on a diet, and was always eating a salad for every meal instead of a steak or a good cheeseburger. It was something Brian chose to live with, and has accepted that this was the best she was going to get to becoming better.
When Debbie quit her modeling career, she became obsessed with politics as if it was her religion. She was always gone, and she was always late to come home. Brian hardly ever saw her anymore, and was always alone at home when he came home from work. It wasn't until one day, she announced happily to Brian that she was pregnant. But much to his dismay, he knew that the two of them haven't had sex in over four months.
He didn't say anything until after their son was born, who was named Christopher. Debbie explained to him how her partner with politicians seduced her until she couldn't resist anymore. She said she was sorry and that it was only a one time thing. Brian didn't care, for he knew he didn't love her anymore. Because all he saw in front of him was a pathetic, manipulative woman who would do anything to make everyone happy.
He called Christopher his own, and decided to drop everything about his wife's affair for Christopher's sake. For he wanted the boy to have a normal life. With two parents in a nice home who loved him very much.
Two years later, Debbie became pregnant again. And this time, it was Brian's. For one drunken night they shared, which felt like an old one. Brian was more excited this time, and more happy. He was even happier when they were going to be having twin girls .
Him and Debbie were finally coming back to normal. They were finally having a healthy relationship again, and Brian even thought that he was falling back in love with her. They would stay up all night with Christopher and think of baby girl names together. The three of them finally came up with two that seemed the most right to fit. And that was Julianna and Annabeth.
When Debbie was in labor, everyone was ecstatic. Even Debbie, who was in so much pain that she could barely breath. As she pushed and pushed, she held on to Brian's hand as if it was her only clutch from keeping her alive. "Push!" The doctors exclaimed altogether. "I see a head! Keep pushing!"
Debbie pushed and pushed as Brian encouraged her by her side. But it wasn't until the doctor looked as if it was holding their baby, and looked down on it with sad, sad eyes. He looked down at the baby girl, and then back at Debbie and Brian, who were wild with worry. "What?" Brian demanded. "What is it? What's wrong with her?"
The doctor shook his head and handed the baby girl to another doctor, who sadly walked away to another room.
"No!" Debbie screamed. "Where are you going with my baby?"
"Mrs. Johnson," The doctor firmly commanded. "You have another baby to deliver. So please concentrate on that. I know it is hard, but please. Just focus on the other baby, for it's own sake."
Brian had tears rolling down his cheeks, for he knew what happened to his first baby girl. She was stillborn. "You can do this," He encouraged his wife. He kissed her on the head, "You can, you can. I promise you can."
Debbie shook her head as she sobbed like a mad woman, "No," She wailed like a screaming banshee. "I can't… I can't without my other baby…. Where is she? Where's Julianna? She needs to be with her mother!"
It took seven more hours for Debbie to have the strength to deliver her next baby girl, who indeed turned out to be more than perfect. For when both Debbie and Brian heard a loud pitch scream of wails, they sighed in relief.
When Debbie held her daughter in her arms, she looked down at it with such love and concern. Yet, Brian knew that she wanted to hold her other baby just as much. The doctors allowed her to hold both of her babies. The deceased one, and the healthy one. She continuously kissed both of their foreheads, both of their little noses, and both of their little lips.
Brian will never forget the pain that he felt in his heart when his wife simply looked up at him and said, "I don't think I can let her go, Brian."
That was the moment when Brian realized that he was still madly in love with his wife. For she was still the same sweet person underneath her hard exterior. And as he looked at her, and kissed her tears away as they both looked down at their babies, he knew he'd never love anyone else the same.
It was a bright Sunday morning when Brian received a letter in the mail about his upcoming high school reunion. It was Annabeth who collected the mail, since it was her turn to do it. For she came into the kitchen while Brian was eating his regular morning breakfast, Cheerios and toast.
"Dad, these have your name on it." Annabeth, who was now sixteen, said as she tossed the multiple letters, which were mostly bills, down in front of her father.
"If they're bills, burn them." Brian teased. "We already have enough with you and your brother's messaging bills."
"Dad," Annabeth laughed. "Stop saying messaging, it's just text messaging. With the T-E-X-T. When you just say messaging, you just sound like a creepy pervert who stalks twelve year old boys on the internet."
Brian rolled his eyes and went through his mail. He tossed the bills aside, to save them for later. It wasn't until he came across a creamy white envelope with an imprint of the Shermer High School signature. "Good lord," Brian breathed from under his breath as he read the name that happened to be his that was written on the envelope. "This is from my old high school."
Christopher, who was now eighteen, then came striding in. "Guess you finally got your SAT scores back, huh, Dad?" He teased as he grabbed the orange juice carton and brought it to his lips.
"Glass," Brian pointed out. "And Ha-Ha, very funny.
He then opened to envelope, and read over it. Debbie walked in right then, looking just as lovely as ever. She kissed Annabeth on the forehead and patted Christopher on the shoulder. "What's that?" She asked her husband once she noticed that he was reading something very distinctly.
Brian looked up, "Um, I got an invitation for my annual high school reunion."
Debbie beamed, "Oh! How wonderful! Are you going to go?"
"Where did Dad even go to high school?" Annabeth asked as she sipped at her orange juice quietly. She refused to eat breakfast in the mornings for some reason. She always preferred orange juice over everything.
"Shermer, sweetie." Debbie answered. "You've never been there, it's about three hours away from where we are."
"Are you going to go?" Christopher asked as he sat down beside of Brian with his own bowl of Cheerios. To not be his son, Christopher looked a whole lot like Brian himself. He was very tall, but more muscular than he had been. His shoulders were wider and his hair was lighter. He had darker eyes, which he must have inherited from his real father.
Yet, he did look like he could be Annabeth's full blooded sister. For they both shared the fair complexion and dotted freckles that dashed a bit across their noses. Both of their hair was sun bleached blonde, and all natural. They were beautiful children who were given compliments all of the time, even now with both of them being teenagers.
"I don't know," Brian replied, trailing off with his words. "It seems like a waste of time, don't you think? For me to drive three whole hours just to see people who I use to hate? Yeah, that sounds like a real blast of fun if you ask me."
"Oh, Brian," Debbie scolded softly. "I think it'd be good for you. I think it will make you feel a whole lot better about yourself. You'll realize how good of a job you have and how good of a family you got."
"I already know that, Debbie." Brian said.
"I didn't mean it like that…" Debbie replied shyly. "I meant…"
"I know what you meant, Deb," Brian said, standing up. He then kissed her on the head, along with his two children. "I gotta head for work. See you all when I get home!"
As he said his goodbyes to his perfect family, he hopped in his SUV and took off on the road so that he could head to his work. And on the way there, he couldn't help but think about his original high school experience, and how much he hated it. He thought about the times when he was constantly picked on, and ragged on for every little thing. He thought about how stressed he was about his grades. So stressed that he even tried to kill himself over it. But one important thought was leading to the library of his very first Saturday detention.
And as he thought of that particular Saturday, he wondered to himself if the four of them would happen to show up to that class reunion too.
A/N: I hope you liked it! I worked VERY hard on this, so I hope it's worth your time! PLEASE leave me some reviews! I love, love, love to read them all! Good or bad! Thank you so much! XxX