Hometown Girls: Reunion Read online

  Hometown Girls:

  Reunion

  Book Two

  By Tressa Messenger

  Hometown Girls: Reunion

  Copyright © 2016 by Tressa Messenger.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: July 2016

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-700-5

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-700-5

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication:

  To me:

  the person I was, the person I am, and the person I’m going to be.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

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  Chapter One

  1997

  Once practice was over and the other girls had left Marissa Lou saw Daniel come into the gym from the corner of her eye. She purposely didn’t acknowledge his presence. Just like she knew he would, he climbed loudly to the top of the bleachers to watch her. It was just the two of them.

  She’d wanted some alone time to practice a little more, and to taunt her boyfriend. Marissa Lou spread her long, lean legs as wide as they would reach and gracefully slid into a frontward split on the polished hardwood gymnasium floor. She stretched her arms as far as she could over her outstretched leg, her long blonde ponytail falling forward with her. Daniel always said he liked the athletic type, which was perfect for Marissa Lou. She was Miss Pamlico High School Athletic Victor. Best of all, no one in their school could stretch as deep as she could and she was proud of that fact, as was he.

  “WHEWWW,” Daniel whistled.

  Marissa Lou slowly looked over her shoulder, gazing up at him innocently as if seeing him for the first time, her blue eyes round and sparkling. She gave him a sly smile. Of course she knew he was watching her. She always knew how hot she was and used it to her every advantage. Above all else she loved driving him crazy, which was pretty easy. She continued her stretch, ignoring his obvious request for her attention before getting up. Marissa Lou wanted to let him sweat for a few more minutes. She continued to take her time pulling her arms behind her back and rolling her neck from side to side.

  “Hey, girl!” he yelled at her, somewhat dismayed.

  Feeling satisfied she turned and slowly sauntered up the bleachers toward him, climbing them like a mountain one sultry step at a time until she was standing directly in front of him. Sweat from her earlier cheerleading practice still glistened on her skin. She put her hands on both of his knees and bent over, exposing the curves of what was under her tight sports bra. She gave him another sly smile before planting her glossy lips on his.

  “Come here,” he whispered, pulling her closer to him by her waist, making her sit down on his lap.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, laughing playfully.

  He grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her head down to his, whispering into her lips as he continued to smile, “Nothing. I just want you closer.” He kissed her again, this time hungrily, their tongues doing a warm, moist dance. He let go of her neck and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her even closer.

  “All right, slow down, playa,” she said into his lips. When he didn’t stop, Marissa Lou pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes. She was afraid, annoyed, and more than a little shocked. Even though it was after hours, they were at school. He didn’t acknowledge her request to slow down. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it look like?” he asked with a continuous, mischievous smile.

  He tried to pull her back close to him, but she put a hand on his chest to stop him. “But we’re at school. What if we get caught? The other guys will probably be walking in at any moment.” Marissa Lou liked being a tease, but in times like these it tended to get her into trouble.

  “Just relax. Don’t you love me?”

  She relaxed and nodded. God, did she ever love that boy.

  “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded again.

  He lifted her off his lap, placed her on the bleacher seat beside him, and stood up. She stared up at him taken aback, until he reached down to help her up. She put her hand in his, but stared up at him, half-smiling, half-curious.

  “Come on. I want to take you somewhere,” he said, pulling her to her feet.

  Marissa Lou giggled as they ran out of the gym hand in hand, skidding by a group of football players. They headed through the exit, which led into the parking lot behind the gym where they parked the school buses. They rounded the side of the gym and stopped.

  Marissa Lou looked around, curious again about what they were doing.

  “Can you climb?” he asked, turning to her.

  Marissa Lou looked at Daniel, even more confused, “Climb? What are you talking about?”

  “Up there,” he said, pointing to a thick metal pipe which stretched from the ground up to the top of the building. “You wanna?”

  Marissa Lou was always up for an adventure even when she was secretly scared, but even then she would never admit to her fear. She stared up at the pipe with wide eyes. It had to be a good twenty feet high. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, looked back at Daniel, and said nonchalantly, “Yeah, you want to go first?”

  “It may be easier if I give you a boost up.” He clamped his hands together as tight as he could and bent down. She took another deep breath, put one foot in his hands, and grabbed the pipe. As he hoisted her up, she used the clamps which fastened the pipe to the building as steps to help her climb.

  Once at the top she heaved herself up, happy she made it unscathed. She looked down over the side and whispered, “Come on.”

  He climbed up the pipe the same way she had, except he did it with a lot more ease.

  “What are you, part monkey?” she asked, giggling, once he was safely on the roof.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said, smiling and grabbing her hand. “Come on. Stay down so we don’t get caught,” he said, bending over and walking along the top of the old roof until he found the perfect spot. “I’m sure we’d get into some serious trouble if someone caught us up here.” He lay down on the warm Galvalume roof and stared up at her. “Come on, lay down with me.”

  She did as he said and stared up at the heavens above her. The late August sky was so blue with hardly a cloud in sight. A breeze blew through nearby trees and prickled her skin, but she didn’t seem to notice or care. She turned to him, smiling. “This just might be the coolest thing I have ever done.”

  Daniel rolled over on his side, brushed a long strand of blonde hair back from her face, brought her chin toward his,
and softly kissed her. He inched closer to her, grabbing both sides of her face, his kisses becoming hungry. “I need you. I always need you.”

  She closed her eyes and moaned as jolts of electricity fired through her. He wasn’t the first boy to ever kiss her like that, but no one had ever been able to make her heart quake and her nerves stand on end the way he could.

  He pulled back and delicately brushed the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. He kissed her tenderly on the lips one last time.

  “I love you, you know that?” he said. She knew he meant it.

  Unable to speak from the feelings lodged in her throat, she nodded. Of course she knew.

  She knew that as long as she was wrapped in the arms of the boy she loved more than anything in the world, all would be well no matter what.

  She stared up at him, affection coursing through her. She knew with definite certainty she would never love anyone as much as she loved him, not now or ever.

  Chapter Two

  Present Day

  There was an outburst of laughter from a table beside her. Marissa blinked rapidly, her daydream of one of her most cherished but random memories broken. She looked around the old high school gymnasium at all of the smiling faces. These were people she went to school with twenty years ago, and many had brought their spouses. She recognized many attendees, but some not so much. The decorating committee did a great job recreating their high school prom, the theme being a ’50s style, “sock hop” with black and gold balloons and sparkling streamers all over, representing the school colors. There was also the added bonus of a buffet of greasy diner food and a make-your-own-sundae bar along one wall of the gym, with a makeshift bar for drinks nearby.

  During her actual prom, all the girls had dressed in poodle skirts and patent leather shoes, while the boys had separated themselves as either cool James Dean types wearing jeans and t-shirts with their hair slicked back, or they’d donned preppy polyester suits. Marissa and her close group of friends had been an exception, opting for standard prom attire. But not today. Today everyone was dressed to kill, hoping to impress their former classmates. Everything seemed different, or maybe she was the one who had changed. Even the makeshift bar, which once served punch and soft drinks during their actual prom, was stocked with a variety of alcohol. When they were younger a teacher had been on guard, which was a way to keep kids from spiking the drinks—not that it stopped people from sneaking it in anyway. There had been so many wasted kids dancing around the room and Marissa had been one of them. Now they were all adults they proposed the booze was acceptable, even though it still felt strange to Marissa to drink alcohol on school grounds, like Mr. Cooper would rush in and bust them all and tell their parents, then sentence them to Saturday school detention for the rest of the year. Marissa looked down at her glass of white wine and quickly wrapped her hands around it, concealing it.

  It had been twenty years since she had been back to Pamlico County. She’d fled the area as soon as she could, running for dear life from Randy and Daniel and all of her mistakes. She had had no intention of ever coming back. After she’d left for college her parents had moved to Florida, so there really hadn’t been much of a reason to visit, not even for her fifth, tenth, or fifteenth year reunions. Most of these people never left town after graduation, so they could see each other anytime they wanted.

  Attending a twentieth year reunion seemed absurd to her. She and her husband, Stan, who happened to be a doctor at the hospital where she was employed, worked far too much to take off work for such frivolous things. She probably wouldn’t have even come to this reunion, had she and Stan not separated five months ago. Everything happened for a reason. Just like how two weeks ago Marissa was scanning through the nationwide doctor’s data base on a whim and found an opening in the cardiac department at Carolina East Medical Center located in New Bern, North Carolina, right outside of Pamlico County, where she’d grown up. She was terrified of facing her past, but something was pulling her back there. With the break-up, high school reunion, and job opportunity lining up, Marissa knew she had to listen. Even though she felt awkward sitting alone amongst the people she used to reign over, she was hoping she wouldn’t see anyone she didn’t want to see.

  “Oh my God. Marissa Lou?”

  Marissa quickly put her glass down and turned at the sound of her name, thinking she just got busted sipping her wine, but instead she came face to face with a familiar, attractive woman. She had long, wavy brown hair and the darkest brown eyes, and she stood a few feet away. Marissa tilted her head and squinted. The woman’s clothes weren’t super impressive, although the black sleeveless maxi dress accented an almost flawless curvy figure, even at their age. It was somewhat dark in the gym, especially in the corner where her table was located, so it was hard to see her clearly, but as she stared recognition set in. Marissa’s eyes went wide, and she jumped up out of her seat. “Katie!”

  “Yes!” Katie squealed, wrapping her arms around Marissa Lou. “Oh my God, it has been so long. I can’t believe you actually came,” Katie said, pulling Marissa to arm’s length to look at her. “Jess, come here. You won’t believe who’s here,” Katie yelled over her shoulder without taking her eyes off of Marissa.

  Marissa’s expression froze as she looked away from Katie’s excited face to search the room for Jessica. As she did, her eyes stopped on a beautiful blonde woman with the biggest blue eyes she had ever seen. The woman smiled slightly and Marissa knew right away it was Jessica, or Jess as she was apparently known now. All of a sudden, a flash of a delicate little petite ten-year-old girl came into view with soft wavy blonde hair and soulful eyes as blue as the sky and as wide as saucers. Marissa hadn’t seen any of her old friends since they’d graduated high school, and she instantly felt a twinge of guilt. She’d once loved these girls more than anything in the world. She’d sworn the day she left she’d never forget them, but it was a promise which quickly got overshadowed with school and miscellaneous jobs. Another memory came instantly to Marissa; one very different from the one she’d had moments ago. Marissa could see the details of that day as if she were watching a movie.

  ***

  “Hey, Marissa Lou, wait up,” Katie called out from her front porch. Marissa Lou rode past Katie’s house on her bike, her long blonde pigtails blowing in the wind.

  There was never a doubt Katie could hear the pink and silver tassels on the handle bars of Marissa Lou’s bike rustling in the soft summer breeze as she rode by. But Marissa Lou didn’t stop at the sound of her name. Instead she continued to pedal as fast as she could down the quiet, tree-lined street.

  Katie turned to her best friend, Jessica, who still sat on the sagging porch step holding her Barbie doll. Jessica stared up at Katie with wide blue eyes full of concern. Jessica, being the shy sensitive one of their duo, swallowed hard, worry etched on her pretty face. Katie and Jessica had been best friends their whole lives. They lived next door to each other. Even before they were born their parents had been friends. Even though Katie and Jessica were the same age, Katie always felt like the older sister. Jessica’s soft, sensitive demeanor was the total opposite of Katie’s in-charge, borderline tomboy style.

  “What should we do?” Jessica asked softly.

  Katie turned from Jessica and stared down the road, where Marissa Lou had disappeared. “Come on. Let’s go see if she’s okay.”

  Jessica put her Barbie down and followed Katie to the driveway, where they’d left their bikes after they got back from swimming at Kennels Beach, which was a short distance from their houses. They hopped on their bikes and pedaled as hard as they could, but they still couldn’t catch up to Marissa Lou. Katie looked behind her to make sure Jessica was still there. She smiled at her friend when she saw her pedaling with a serious look of determination on her face.

  Always so serious, Katie thought to herself. She’s going to be gray before she is twenty. Katie shook her head and turned back around to look for Marissa Lou. She wondered why she was trying
so hard, considering she and Marissa Lou didn’t really even know each other. Marissa Lou’s family had recently moved into the gray house beside hers. They’d spoken just enough for Katie to learn Marissa Lou’s name and that she was going into fifth grade that year, like her and Jessica.

  “Katie, there!” Jessica said, pointing to their left at a little old white structure. It was supposed to be a gas station, but it only had one gas pump and it was so small and old it didn’t hold much. It looked like someone picked up the raggedy building and tossed it from an airplane and let it stay wherever it landed, which happened to be on the edge of a field. That really wasn’t too surprising, given the majority of land in Pamlico County was farmland.

  Katie turned to look at Jessica, who had finally caught up to her, her face red and moist with sweat from the scorching summer heat. “Where?”

  “In the back,” Jessica said, pointing to the rear of the building.

  They slowly pulled their bikes around the side, and sure enough, there was Marissa Lou, sitting on the grass behind the building, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She was hiding her face in the crook of her arm. Katie and Jessica quietly put their bikes down and slowly walked toward her.

  “Marissa Lou?” Katie asked.

  Marissa Lou’s head shot up. She stared between Katie and Jessica and quickly wiped away her tears, obviously feeling embarrassed.

  “Marissa Lou, what happened?” Katie asked softly, taking another step toward her.

  “Nothing,” she sobbed and put her face in her hands.

  “Then why are you crying?” Jessica asked, tears forming in her own eyes at the sight of Marissa Lou’s pain.

  Marissa Lou looked up again and stared at them. She tilted her head, her voice shaky as she spoke between sobs. “I miss my friends. I don’t know anyone here.”