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Growing Pains
Theo held up his glass and flashed a grin at the people sitting at the table around him.“And here’s to Patsy,” he paused to swallow, “the biggest surprise from this wholereunion!”The other classmates all lifted their glasses and saluted Patsy, who ducked her head andchuckled self-consciously.“Oh, cut it out, guys. I haven’t changed that much.”Theo sputtered a laugh and nudged the skinny man on his left. The movement caused theman’s glasses to slide down his nose. He blew out an impatient breath and pushed themback into place, his movements automatic and precise. “What are you kidding me?” Theosaid with a grin. “If you looked HALF this hot in high school, I would have totally hit onyou.”Patsy’s face turned a pleasant shade of rose and she smiled at the woman on her right.“Actually, he did hit on me in high school.”The dark-haired woman, whose hair was pulled back so tight her eyes were the shape of atear-drop on its side, choked and coughed on her drink before succumbing to a fullydeveloped laugh.“AND,” Theo continued, obviously not hearing Patsy’s comment, his words slurred andthick with moisture, “to show my token of appreciation for your new, hot body, I’mgoing to ask you out. Dinner, tomorrow night, my place.” He winked to the table at largeas if sharing a big, fat joke. He was too drunk to notice the various expressions of thosearound him.The skinny man on Theo’s left was Stanford Brown. He had always been the classgenius, the guy to bribe to do your algebra homework. For a measly $5.00, students couldpurchase the day’s problems. Even though teachers tried their best to catch students in theact of buying homework from Theo, he had never been caught. It was rumored he hadearned enough money to go to space camp after high school. Theo was currently workingfor Microsoft and the word was he was on the verge of breaking ground on arevolutionary gaming system. He pushed his glasses more firmly onto his face anddutifully ignored Theo’s crass behavior.The woman next to Stanford was the woman with the tightly bound hair, Fran Clark. Franhad been the tortured soul in class. She had worn dark clothing all the time, and a longcharcoal gray leather trench coat with a hole in the elbow, even at the beginning of theschool year when it had still been 90 degrees outside. She had dyed her hair so black thatshe had blended with the shadows and would have disappeared entirely if it hadn’t beenfor her milky white skin. She was now the CFO of a fashionable clothing chain. Shesimply stared at Theo – her face entirely devoid of expression.
 
 The man sitting next to Fran was Vance, Fran’s husband. He hadn’t said much since theparty began and kept a suspicious eye trained on both Fran and Theo. He was a large manwith biceps so big they strained against his suit jacket. There was just a hint of a tattoo, aspider web perhaps, peeking just over the collar of his black silk shirt. His small, hard,brown eyes remained fixed on Fran as he studied her every movement.Next to Vance was Patsy. She was a petite brunette with small breasts and big hair. Kidsused to make fun of her because she was about three sizes larger in high school, had aface full of ugly pimples and so many braces in her mouth her lips never really fullyclosed. She wasn’t overly bright, but not terribly stupid either and could always been seenpopping jelly beans into her mouth. She was now the owner of a popular beauty salonand it was rumored that she was on the hunt for husband number three. She sat up a littlestraighter and seemed to bloom under Theo’s attention.Sitting next to Patsy was Carmen, Theo’s girlfriend. She was a tall, skinny, yet delicatelooking woman with long, curly blonde hair. She smacked her gum loudly and had ahabit of tossing her hair back every three point five seconds. She also had the annoyinghabit of looking just to the right of your face whenever she talked to anyone. Shecontinued to chew her gum and examine her nails, neither bothered, nor interested, inTheo’s blatant flirtation with Patsy.And then there was Theo Walker. The class clown, jock, brain and rich kid, the guy whoeveryone had dubbed, Mr. Perfect. Nearly every girl in high school had been in love withhim, which he knew, and took advantage of at every turn. He made a game out of breaking up friendships and relationships just because he could. Many a fight had brokenout because of Theo’s meddling antics.“Sure Theo,” stammered Patsy. “I’d love to go out with you.”“One problem,” Carmen said without glancing up from her bright purple nails. “He’s gota girlfriend.”“Whoa.” Theo said, now ignoring his table mates and staring at a beautiful womancrossing the room, her long reddish/blonde hair swaying gently. “Is that who I think itis?”Fran turned around in her chair to see who he was talking about. She snorted in disgustand faced her tablemates with a scowl. “Megan.”“Megan Adams,” Theo echoed, his voice sounding wistful.“Oh my God, tell me you don’t STILL have the hots for Ms. Rah Rah,” snarled Franwhile rolling her eyes at her husband.
 
Theo didn’t answer her and instead, stumbled out of his chair and walked over to her.Various conversations began to dissipate as he approached Parkview High’s class of ’88’s most popular girl.Theo tapped Megan on the shoulder and flashed his charming grin, the same grin that hadmelted so many girls’ hearts back in high school. “Hey Megan.”Megan stopped in her tracks and the tablemates could see, even from their distance fromthe pair, Megan’s shoulders tense. She lifted her head and slowly turned to look Theo inthe face. “Well, if it isn’t Theodore Walker.” She studied him for long moments, herfaded blue eyes bold and confident.Her direct look threw Theo off stride and he stuttered his discomfort. “I…in the … flesh.Wh… where have you been all …my l…life?”Megan wrinkled up her nose and waved her hand in front of her face. “Good lordTheodore, have you been drinking? Or is that your natural breath I smell? I alwaysremember your breath smelling like boiled cabbage.”A smattering of chuckles littered the vast room at her statement and Theo went intodefensive mode. His eyes narrowed and his back went ramrod straight. Patsy could seehis jaw working from clear across the room. “So Megan, I have a question …”“Save it pal.”All eyes turned to the balding man with a sharp goatee that materialized next to Megan.Theo’s eyes remained fixed on Megan and he ignored the man.“Theo, this is Rod, my husband,” Megan began, but Theo interrupted her.“Why was I the ONLY guy you didn’t sleep with in high school?”“Listen punk …”“Theo,” Megan interrupted her husband, her voice as sharp as a piece of sheared metal.“You’re drunk. I refuse to stand here and take this crap from somebody I could care lessabout.” She sniffed, turned away from Theo and began to walk away.Theo grabbed her arm, only his hand got tangled in her long hair. “Hey! I’m not throughtalking to you, yet.”“Oh yes you are,” Rod said gruffly and jerked Theo away from Megan. The action pulledMegan’s head sharply and before anyone could blink an eye, a cascade of reddish/blondehair floated gently to the floor.A shocked gasp reverberated across the conference room.
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