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check out how much campus has changed.” She dropped her Gucci purse on the
double bed, kicked off her Jimmy Choos and came near. Her thick eyelashes
fluttered which meant she was in the mood. She climbed onto his lap and wrapped
her arms around his neck. Her lips met his.
    Her breath smelled of alcohol
and he pulled away. “You went out drinking while the rest of us were working?”
    She stroked his hair. “Don’t be
mad. This weekend is supposed to be fun. It wasn’t my idea to do a service
project before the banquet.”
    “I’m sure it wasn’t.”
    “But it was my idea to celebrate
our fifteen year reunion.”
    “Sixteen years.”
    She shrugged. “Oops. So I’m off
a year.”
    How did he not know she’d
planned this? They led such separate lives these days. Him working ten to
twelve-hour days and her singing in that run-down club every weekend. “This was
your idea?”
    “Sure. I noticed you seemed kind
of down lately, going through an early mid-life crisis or something. So, I
contacted the current club president and arranged tonight’s celebration.”
    His heart skipped a beat. His
wife had done all of this just to cheer him up. She still cared for him in her
own, dysfunctional way.
    He moved forward and kissed her
red lips.
    ###
    Parker watched Beth give her
speech and tried to listen, but his mind wrestled with the words he would soon
share with the crowd. A glance around the room revealed about one hundred
people sitting at banquet tables. Thirty of them were current college students
while the rest consisted of alumni and their spouses. The lights were dim
except for one shining on the podium where Beth stood. She was the only female
in the room wearing a pantsuit instead of a dress. Once a tomboy, always a
tomboy, he figured.
    Beth’s words came to him in
spurts. “The friends I made here were the best friends I ever had.” “I learned
as much from this club as I did in any classroom.” “Don’t wait for other people
to make your dreams come true.” Hard to believe that confident woman turned
beet red and fainted the first day of speech class.
    He’d be up there soon, saying
things he wasn’t sure he could say, and the weight of it glued him to his
chair. This was it. He’d never visit campus again. Never share words of wisdom
with his comrades. He’d never see his college buddies again, either. How had he
let so many years pass with Christmas cards as their only form of
communication?
    Applause brought his mind back
to the present. Beth’s expression looked satisfied and relieved. The woman had
been reserved in college, but now she glowed. Why hadn’t he realized that she’d
been something special back then? Ivy, on the other hand, hadn’t matured or
grown much at all. With her Botox and her musician friends, she desperately
clung to her youth. How ironic that he should be the one guaranteed to never
grow old.
    He stood and made his way to the
podium as Beth limped back to her seat. He patted her on the back when she
passed. “Good job.”
    She beamed from his compliment.
She’d had such an obvious crush on him years ago. But all he’d seen was a
chubby girl who didn’t even bother to wear makeup. He cringed just thinking
about how shallow he’d once been.
    As he raised the microphone several
inches, he stole another glance at the crowd. The applause faded and expectant
faces turned to him. The joke he’d planned as an opening darted from his mind,
He didn’t feel like laughing anyway, so he jumped right in.
    “When I arrived at I.U., I
rushed a fraternity as soon as I could. We did some stupid stuff. One pledge
almost died of alcohol poisoning and I was the only one who insisted we call
911. Because of that, we lost our charter and everyone hated me. I started
thinking that these guys were never my friends. They’d risk a young man’s life
rather than get in trouble. I decided there should be a club for like-minded
people. People who didn’t need to be hazed to prove their