across the floor, tripping over his own feet. The good news was he narrowly missed crashing into the three-tiered wedding cake. The bad news was that he stumbled into an elderly woman instead. She wound up with his drink down the front of her dress … and by the way she was screaming at him, she was not happy. Holly shut her eyes as if trying to erase the scene from her memory.
“So, do you still live in Forest Hills?” Ben asked, bringing her attention back to the conversation.
“Hmm? Oh yes, I do,” she replied. “I’m a teacher at West Place Elementary.”
“No kidding! That’s where I went to school.”
“Did you? I was at East Place. We’ve got a few old geezers left at West. I’ll bet you know some of them. What about you? Are you still in town?” She was more curious to learn about his present status. They could always reminisce about old teachers later.
“Yup, I can’t seem to get away. I manage the plastics plant in the industrial park.”
“You don’t say. My dad worked there for years.”
“I know,” he said with a smile. “He’s the one who hired me as his replacement.”
Holly cocked her head and grinned. “Small world. Well, I have to warn you, he left because of the stress. His blood pressure was through the roof. He’s got a nice cushy desk job now.”
Ben nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“It’s funny I haven’t run into you all this time. You know, I still have that picture of us from the dance during our sophomore year.”
“Get out!” Laughing, she admitted, “So do I. Our outfits were something else, weren’t they?”
“I don’t know who had more ruffles, you or me.” He cringed in shame before breaking out in a belly laugh with her.
“They wouldn’t have been so bad if they weren’t pastel yellow. We looked like two sticks of butter … ruffled butter. Maybe we should destroy the evidence ASAP. You don’t suppose there are more copies floating around, do you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but I’m all for getting rid of them. I’ve got a shredder all ready to be fired up for those suckers.”
What’s it been—ten years since that dance?”
“Just about, yes.”
Taking a sip of her drink, Holly tried to think of something else to say. They’d reached the point of awkward silence after discussing high school, bad fashion, and what they currently did for a living. She’d purposely left out Jared. He wasn’t really worth talking about, especially after his behavior tonight. Scanning the room, she searched for him. He seemed to be missing. Maybe he’d already passed out in the lobby. Hopefully someone made sure he was on a chair or couch and not sprawled out across the floor.
Ben hadn’t brought up a significant other either. So what now? The weather? She watched the bubbles in her champagne while listening to the band.
“This kind of reminds me of that dance,” Ben said, breaking the silence between them. “… minus the bride and groom part, of course.”
She looked around at the crowd on the dance floor. “It kind of does,” she agreed. “With a lot less ruffles, thank goodness.”
The sophomore dance, the Soph Hop, was the big social event in tenth grade. Holly had been feeling depressed because no one had asked her to go. Specifically, Ben hadn’t asked her to go. After much prodding from Ava, she’d decided to invite him instead. It had taken every last ounce of courage to work up the nerve, but she finally did it, and had been thrilled when he said yes.
The night of the dance had been a dream come true for her. From start to finish it was like a fairytale. Then, at the stroke of midnight, her prince dropped her back home with a gentle kiss to her lips. She’d thought her life couldn’t possibly get any better than it was at that moment. Sadly, the next day he barely spoke to her, completely breaking her heart.
“I had a really good time with you that night. I … I wanted to ask you out after, but I was so
Lexy Timms, Dale Mayer, Sierra Rose, Christine Bell, Bella Love-Wins, Cassie Alexandra, Lisa Ladew, C.J. Pinard, C.C. Cartwright, Kylie Walker