Old Friends: Johnny and Peggy Ch. 01

We hadn’t seen each other in years. In High school we had dated but suddenly stopped, for reasons that were never really clear to me, but we had always been friends for the entire time we knew each other back then.

She was always the girl I felt had been ‘the one’ and wondered about in my private moments. That girl you just can’t quite get out of your mind and never could dislodge from your heart. Most of us have one. She was mine.

I had hoped in vain for years of seeing her at reunions, but never saw anyone that even had any idea where she was, or even what she had done right after graduation. To complicate matters further, my wife,her brother, andhis wife had also gone to school with us. So I always felt the need for caution in how I inquired about her.

Funny thing was that I never really knew my wife, her brother or my sister-in-law much in school, they were moving in totally different circles than my dream girl and I. That’s what always made it so ironic that the Mrs. always enjoyed having people describe us as “high school sweethearts” because we never really were. We were pretty much on the outs and that only served to increase my thoughts about Peggy, even her name rolls off my tongue like the sweet smell of strawberry bubble gum.

But thoughts are just that, and things steadily got worse at home. Then it happened. I had joined a web site for high school reunion contacts, and inevitably her name appeared. I dithered for weeks, not wanting to be the fool (remember that song “What a Fool Believes” …”she had a place in his life, he never made her think twice” ouch!). Just as I was trying for the umpteenth time to gather my courage, guess what happens? She emails me. You should have seen the idiotic grin that it took days to fade. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.

The email was so innocuous, “do you remember me, by chance?” By chance, by chance she asks, oh boy ask me if I remember to breathe, or how to ride a bicycle.

“Yes,” I reply, “I remember you, and it is not by chance, but by design.” Just that, nothing else, still afraid to be the fool. I need not have feared, her reply was enthusiastic and things progressed rapidly. Until, ever the brave one, she writes, “Tell your wife I am still in love with her husband.” No words ever gave a man greater joy.

But now what, where do we go from here? I sent her my picture, but could not get her to send me one. I tried to arrange meetings but always there was hesitation on her part. She was unhappy so was I, yet she always hesitated just short of agreeing to meet. She seemed to be overly worried about I what would think.

When she finally agreed to a meeting I was overjoyed. And when that meeting finally took place, she never needed to worry. She had aged with a grace and beauty that just added dimensions to the vivid memories of a girl with dark hair and blue eyes, who played tennis and moved with an easy athletic grace that I always envied. She was still classically beautiful, but now with a mature and knowing look that just melted me. Those eyes, how many nights had I dreamed of staring into them again, funny thing was they seemed less blue then I remembered. She must have sensed my bewilderment, and she was looking at me funny too.

Almost as one we said, “I thought your eyes were blue.”

Then once again together, “No they’re hazel…”

I said, “They just look blue depending what I wear.”

“Yeah me too”

We both smiled almost shyly at having spoken the same thought, it happened often and we both enjoyed the special feeling of closeness it brought.

We stood there a moment enjoying the flood of emotions that came with that closeness, sort of staring into each other’s eyes, neither of us disappointed with what we saw there. Nobody wanting to break the moment.

Then I leaned in slightly to kiss her, and before I could react her arms were around my neck drawing my 6’ 3” closer to her 5’ 7”. On the way I caught the scent of her skin and as her lips parted the heat of her breath touched my face. I was hooked before I ever kissed her. She kissed me strong, the way I had always wanted a woman to as if she really meant business and wanted to melt me down with first contact. I responded by encircling her waist and pulling her into me as if we were dancing, it forced her breath from her and I swore she sighed a tiny bit as she caught it again.

I’m not really sure how long we stood like that, but I am sure it was long enough to intrigue any passersby, time felt suspended like the world spun around us because we were the center of gravity.

We parted lips, and kept our foreheads touching noses gently grazing each other with that goofy blurry looking into each other’s eyes that nobody’s done since they were a kid. I felt her ample breasts pushing against my chest with each short rapid breath and I tightened my grip on her waist, now she felt my erection pushing back at her.

She smiled at the realization and said, “That was fast.”

“That will be the last fast thing you ever see that do, slow and steady from here on out.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you mister?”

“Not usually, but you bring out something in me.”

“Yeah, well I think I found it, hehehe!” She laughed with that southern drawl I’d heard so often on the phone, and smiled the smile I remembered so well. The kind of smile that must have brought down the walls of Troy.

“I love you,” I blurted out.

“Oh Johnny, don’t complicate things.”

“Not a complication, just wanted to be the first this time to say it.”

That drew a smile and a nod, “Fair enough.”

“Let me look at you, what on earth were you afraid of?” I took a couple steps back to get a broader view.

She stepped forward with a slight limp, and a look crossed her face, a sad remorseful look. “I’m a gimp, an injury, I went five years without being able to play tennis, just finally getting around without always needing the brace.”

Then she looked away and wouldn’t make eye contact.

“This,” I took steps to stand in front of her, “this is what you were afraid of?”

I touched her chin with my fingers and forced her gently to look at me.

“Look at me what do you see in my eyes?”

A tear welled up in one eye, and I kissed her lips gently this time, and then kissed away the tear before it could form.

“What have I told you so many times, hum? Warts and all, no matter what. The woman inside that’s what I love, the passion resides here.” And with that I placed my hand over her heart and was rewarded with the steady thumping of the one I love. She put her head on my shoulder and kissed my neck.

Then she looked up and smiled, “Let’s go somewhere and behave badly.”

She didn’t have to ask me twice.