No, he couldn’t be. At least I hoped he couldn’t be. It seemed like I would have heard about that, but then again, I couldn’t be sure. I’d lost direct contact with him and had no idea what he was up to other than working construction in Texas, according to my friend Carl.
“Looking good, ladies,” said a man from behind us. “Y’all done yet?”
I spun to give him a piece of my mind, but then realized it was Carl. Speak of the devil.
He was another guy from our high school group, but unlike Alex, he’d stuck around town after high school. Also, unlike Alex, I never had any interest in him. Something about Carl was just too wholesome.
Was that wrong? I’m not saying I was a bad girl, but I liked my men with a little more heat and edge. Like Alex.
Now Perri, on the other hand, liked herself some Carl and then some. Well, sometimes. That is, it seemed like it depended on what month it was. Hot and cold, or whatever you wanted to call it.
She batted her eyelashes at him and held up her teal dress. “What do you think, Carl? Hot or not?”
“I think you’ll look damn fine in that dress,” Carl said. “Definitely hot.”
She grinned. Guess they were more hot than cold.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said. “The gang’s all gonna be back together again.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You mean?”
“That’s right. I managed to get ahold of Alex, and he’s coming. Joe’s not sure how late he can stay that night, but at least he’s coming. The Fabulous Five are back together again.” He clapped his hands together.
Perri and I both groaned.
Carl blinked. “What? No Fabulous Five?”
“I’d sooner die,” I said.
Perri nodded her head in furious agreement. “You’re never going to make that work.”
He shot us both a grin. “Okay. You both still on for drinks later at the Wild Mustang?”
“We’ll be there,” I said.
Carl raised his eyebrows suggestively at Perri and then walked back out.
“Are you two together again or what?” I said. “I thought you said he wasn’t ambitious enough for you last week.”
“That was last week. This is a different week.”
I groaned.
* * *
Two bottles of beer in at the Wild Mustang, I was feeling pretty good. Maybe too good.
“Ten years?” I said, laughing. “Can you believe it’s been 10 years? I don’t know about y’all, but sometimes I wake up and still think, ‘Crap, I have a test today.’”
Everyone at the table laughed.
Carl grinned. “Nah, I don’t think about it much. But it’ll be good to have all us be back together again.”
Perri scooted a bit closer to Carl in the booth. I was kind of getting tired of watching them screw each other with their eyes and thought about suggesting they go get a room already, but maybe I was just pissy because they had each other, and I didn’t even know where exactly Alex lived.
Joe gulped down some beer. “Y’all know that things won’t be the same when he comes, right?” He gave me a pointed look. “Things change. People change.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said, narrowing my eyes.