“Well, you’re the boss of the evening, so I’m at the mercy of your direction,” I said. “I’ll prepare myself to be properly “dolled up”for you tomorrow evening.” Matty and I looked at each other, and he suddenly leaned forward and kissed me square on the mouth, just as he did the first time we kissed as sixth graders. We were a little more experienced now, though, so we avoided the loud smacking noise that had ended our first kiss.
“I can’t wait for our date, Leah. Sleep tight,” Matty said with a wink before getting out of the car and heading into the hotel lobby.
I sat for a few moments, stunned. Did that just happen? Was this all really happening? Was I not only back in touch with Matthew Boyd, but was he also showing a romantic interest in me? Did he really want me to get dolled up just for him? Were we going on a real, legitimate DATE?! Did he seriously just KISS ME ON THE MOUTH?!?
As I had been the previous evening when I got home from the reunion, I was again so wound up when I got back home that there was no way I could sleep; so I tried to distract myself by doing some work as I still needed to finish grading the essays my students had turned in the previous week. I had until the next afternoon to get them done, but I wanted to get as many completed before finishing the rest the next morning.
With my dogs snuggled at my feet and a sitcom rerun on low in the background, I managed to get through all but five essays before I finally felt drowsiness settle in. I packed up my briefcase for the following day and placed it back in its usual spot by the front door before taking the dogs out to run in the yard one final time. I then gave them fresh water and readied their breakfast bowls for the morning.
Finally, I headed upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. Coming out of the bathroom, I saw that the box of mementos that Matty and I had been looking through was still on my bed. Turning on the light on my nightstand, I went over to pick up the shoebox full of notes from the floor and placed it back in the bottom of the larger box. I then piled the rest of the contents on top, once again concealing the shoebox.
However, rather than put the box back in my closet, I instead took a stack of pictures out. I set the box on the floor, snuggled into bed, and started flipping through the photos.
Matty and me at my house, sitting next to each other on the sofa in front of the television. Matty and me at school, standing next to one another at the stadium, me in my cheerleading outfit and him in his football uniform. Matty and me at the country club, smiling at the camera from the pool. Matty and me out with friends, leaning against his car in the parking lot of the mall. And Matty and me getting ready to leave for a dance, him sliding my corsage on to my wrist. In every single picture, both of us were close together with big smiles on our faces. There were even a couple pictures of us hugging and looking at the camera, our cheeks pressed together and with cheesy grins on our faces.
Even though we were both now adults and had aged in the previous sixteen years, I noted that the way we smiled was still the same today as it was in those pictures. Matty wasn’t as lanky as he used to be, of course; and he wore his hair shorter than he once had. I had slimmed out a bit and had learned to better manage my frizzy mop. But the essence of each of us that I saw in the photos was the same. I was finally letting myself believe that Matty was back in my life; and not just back, but still essentially the same person I had said goodbye to all those years ago. I finally drifted to sleep with the stack of photos sprawled out next to me in bed.
I ended up sleeping in the next morning and didn’t get to campus until around Noon. I’d quickly eaten a yogurt and some fruit before leaving the house; my stomach was doing somersaults in anticipation of my date with Matthew that evening, and I was too nervous to eat much.
My office was on the fifth and top floor of the English department building; it was pretty small but at least had a good-sized window, giving me a view of the campus below. After breezing through the final five essays that I needed to grade, which I would be handing back to my students in my one-twenty class, I was still left with an hour to kill.
I was completely preoccupied with thoughts of Matty and what the evening would bring. I knew what I wanted to happen that night, but I kept telling myself to not get my hopes up. I had gotten buffed and polished from head to toe before the reunion; so, my manicure, pedicure and hair removal were all still intact. And I had plenty of cocktail-style dresses and shoes to choose from at home, so there was no need to go shopping. I looked at the clock and wished I could will it to speed ahead to two-twenty, when my class would let out and I could head back to my house to start getting “dolled up” for Matty.
I started wandering around my office and tidying
