I smiled awkwardly, hoping he hadn't noticed me standing there for so long. "Well, sir, I just got back from the city and I heard that Mary Anne was in town, so I thought I would come by and..."
"Say no more, come on in!" Richard patted me on the back and motioned me to come into the house. I shut the door quietly behind me and hung my coat in the closet. Richard smiled at me again, and led me to the family's living room. Sharon jumped up from her seat on the coach.
"Oh my, Logan! I haven't seen you in years!" She hugged me and then called Mary Anne from upstairs. "How have you been?"
"Well, I've been having a bit of a rough time," I began. My thought was interrupted by Mary Anne slinking down the stairs in a pair of tight jeans and a flannel shirt. She'd grown her hair since high school, and she looked gorgeous.
"Logan..." she blushed. "Wow, um... hi!"
"Hi," I said back to her, becoming aware of the wrinkles in my t-shirt. Luckily she didn't seem to notice, and suggested we go downstairs to the basement.
"We just renovated a couple weeks ago, and we have it all set up for Christmas," she explained. "Oh, I'm making hot chocolate for everyone, would you like some?"
"Sure, that sounds great," I replied.
"It's been so long since we've talked," Mary Anne said, leading me to the kitchen. She prepared mugs of hot chocolate, complete with multi-coloured marshmallows and whipped cream. "We really have a lot to catch up on!"
"I know, I've been so busy with school," I said, trailing off. "I guess that's done though..."
"Oh, you graduated?"
"Well, not exactly..." Mary Anne nodded, and then picked up two mugs.
"Can you grab those two for me? I have to give these to my dad and Sharon." I agreed and followed her back to the hallway, waiting by the door to the basement.
Mary Anne came back and took one of the hot chocolates from me, and led me down the stairs. She had a certain confidence that she lacked when we were younger, like she was finally sure of herself. It was shocking to me; I had only known her as the soft-spoken intellect, but she had finally discovered how sexy she was and I was completely in awe.
The basement looked much larger than it had years ago, more open. It mirrored the upstairs living room with a large, blue fabric couch, a matching love-seat, and a red oak coffee table in the middle of the room. The walls were decorated with art, movie posters, and photographs, and there was a general warmth that couldn't be ignored.
There were also Christmas decorations, as Mary Anne had explained. A small, predecorated tree sat on a table in the corner of the room. There were coloured lights strung around the perimeter of the ceiling, and a large centerpiece sat in the middle of the coffee table. We rested our hot chocolates on large coasters, mine had a picture of Santa Claus resting his hand on Rudolph's back, and Mary Anne's had two elves painting a toy firetruck. Sitting on the couch to my right, Mary Anne leaned back and crossed her right leg over the left. She sighed softly, smiling. I watched her as her eyes scanned the room, and she looked genuinely happy.
"So," she leaned forward a bit. "You're not in school anymore? What happened?"
I rubbed my forehead and groaned slightly. "Well, I was on a football scholarship at CCNY, and I was majoring in Philosophy. I had NFL scouts coming to my games, but then I was leaving work one night..." I groaned quietly and looked down at my hands. "I was walking through the parking lot and someone's car alarm went off, I jumped a bit and slipped on some ice..."
"Oh no!" Mary Anne cried, genuinely concerned.
I continued. "The way I fell broke my leg in seven spots and damaged a tendon; I was wearing a cast for six weeks. When I went in to get it taken off, they realized it didn't heal properly so they had to re-break it and I was stuck for another six weeks. And, well, it healed enough for me to be able to walk properly... but my career as a running back is over."
Mary Anne put her hand on my knee. "Logan, I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it, Mare, I'll figure something out..."
"Let me know if you need anything, okay? I'm always willing to listen, you know that."
"Anyway," I took a big sip of my hot chocolate. "What have you been up to? Last I heard, you were in Buffalo State?"
"Yeah, I graduated two years ago," Mary Anne explained. "I've been working as a substitute teacher."
"Oh wow, that's the perfect job for you!" I gushed. "I always knew you'd end up working with kids - it always came so natural to you!"
"Well, actually I was mostly working in high schools," she pouted slightly, before her big smile returned. "But I won't be doing that anymore anyway!"
"What?"
"I just got recruited by a modeling agency!' she beamed. "After Christmas I'm flying out to Paris to do a shoot for the spring issue of Passion!"
"Wow..." I wasn't sure how I felt about Mary Anne being a model, especially for an international magazine. Passion had an unsavoury reputation, from both its photographers and models, as well as the agency representatives. I wasn't sure how much of it was true, but I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of Mary Anne being involved in that kind of business. Still, I feigned excitement for her. It was clear to me that I was someone from her past alone - my opinion had little impact after all the years apart.
"I know, isn't it fantastic?" Mary Anne pulled a a black, hardcover book from under the coffee table. "You wanna see my portfolio?"
"Sure," she dropped the book in my lap and flipped the cover open.
"Guess who the photographer is!" I shook my head. "Claudia Kishi!"
"Oh really? That's cool!"
"Yeah, she only took this first one though," she explained as she flipped the page. "The rest are from different photographers. My favourite was a man from Montreal named Alain Daviau, he took the last one in my book."
"These are pretty gorgeous, I have to admit!" I told her, flipping through and examining every page of her portfolio. There were photos of her modeling wedding gowns, evening wear, casual clothing, and portraits. She was clearly very talented as expressing emotions on command.
I came to the last page with the photograph taken by Alain Daviau. I'd never heard of him, but I also had no idea about anyone in the fashion industry. I was stunned when I saw the photo - an ad for J'adore, a jewellery store in Montreal. Mary Anne was laying on a leather couch, wearing six inch stilettos and draped in diamonds - and nothing else!
"They were gonna use it for their ad campaign, but the owner wanted to use someone well known..." Mary Anne stated, oblivious to my uneasy reaction. "What do you think?"
"You're naked."
"I know, it's so different for me!" Mary Anne squealed. "I was a little bit nervous about doing it, but it came out to be so tasteful and elegant, don't you think?"
"I think it's... nothing like I would've ever expected from you," I muttered. I hated that some random man had taken a picture of my ex-girlfriend naked. I didn't think it was tasteful or elegant - it looked trashy and desperate, borderline pornography. I could feel myself becoming more and more upset, so I decided it was time for me to leave.
"It was great seeing you, Logan!" Mary Anne walked me to the front door. "I hope everything works out for you, I really do!"
"Thanks," I said. "I think you'll be perfect for Passion magazine, Mary Anne. Have a lovely Christmas."
As I crossed the street to go back to my father's house, I regretted going to see Mary Anne. She wasn't the person I dated in high school anymore. She wasn't the person I longed to see when I was in the hospital in New York. She wasn't anyone I knew, and I didn't want to be around her anymore. I was glad she was leaving.
Good riddance, I thought as I crawled into bed.