Come Closer

“Jesus Christ Meghan, how many outfits did you pack?” said Khloe getting frustrated that I wasn’t ready yet.

The team and I are going to be in Pittsburgh for two weeks to train with volleyball legend Jeff Anderson, a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we decided to celebrate by going out for drinks and splurging on greasy bar food.

“Ok I know that you and James haven’t been together for 7 years, and you two rarely see each other, but I’m going to tell you something…you will never lose feelings for your first love.”

After trying on a number of different out fits I finally found the perfect one. A pair of black skinny jeans, grey tank top, a sexy fitting leather jacket and a cute pair of peep-toe heeled booties.

“Whoa sexy mama!” said Khloe as I spun around and gave her a 360 view. “You look HOT, James does not know what he is missing” told Khloe as I filled my silver clutch with my phone, extra lipstick and my credit card.

“Ok…maybe your right, there will always be a special place in my heart that belongs to James, but we have two different lifestyles, I mean sure, James looks good…no actually REALLY good, but I do still see that teenage boy that kissed me for the first time while sitting on the dock by my parents lake house, but I am 26 years old and I want to settle down, get married and have a family…and I don’t think James is ready for that.” I finally said after a few moments of awkward silence.

“Well you never know…but do you know who does look good? Paul Martin, people don’t give him enough credit, I mean I got a thing for gingers, I don’t know why but I do”

Khloe has only had one boyfriend in her life…Brad Jones, him and Khloe were dating for five years before he proposed, about two days before the wedding, Khloe caught Brad and his ex-girlfriend having sex in the bedroom that they shared. It killed her, after she caught them she drove over to my house with tears in her eyes and told me what happened, it broke my heart to see her like that but I was so upset with Brad that I decided to go over to his house and lose my shit. I have never been an “angry” person but I went over to that house and I only said one thing to him… “I curse the day you were born” and with that I walked out. I told Khloe that since she had no place to stay and she didn’t want to go back to the house, so I told her that she can stay with me until she found a new place. Khloe went through a phase that she was sleeping with everything that had a pulse, every time we would go out she would always bring some guy home, it got pretty old seeing some broad in my kitchen just helping himself to my food. Like no…put some clothes on and get out of my house.

Khloe and I took a cab to the bar, there was a few tables put aside for us. Khloe and I got in and sat at one of the tables, keeping the seat next to me free for James. I started off drinking a porn star, my favorite drink since I was 18 years old.

As I was scooping sour cream into my nachos that we just ordered, I felt a hand on my back and I looked up and James was pulling the chair out from under the table and sat down next to me.

“Want some nacho with that sour cream?” he said being a little sarcastic.

“Hey!” I said “I don’t get to eat greasy food often so I’m going to take advantage of this” I said putting more sour cream on my chip.

“So Meghan” Beau Bennett spoke up “How long have you been playing volleyball?”
“Since I was about 12 years old” I said taking a sip from my drink. I went on to tell him about Nationals, World Championships and the Olympics. While fully engaged in my conversation with Beau I felt James’ arm hang on the back of my chair.
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4 Hours Later
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Most of my Volleyball team was drunk…including Khloe, stumbling over chairs, taking shot after shot. I was feeling a buzz but wasn’t drunk.
James’ arm was still hanging over my chair; we were trying to talk over my drunk volleyball team and 10 professional hockey players.

I looked around I couldn’t see Khloe; I turned to James and asked if he had seen her. “I think she is having fun on her own” as he nodded his head a little to the left, I saw my best friend Khloe Roy getting hot and heavy with Paul Martin. James and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

As James and I looked around we saw my right side hitter Sarah making out with Beau Bennett, my middle hitter Bianca doing the same with Brandon Sutter and the rest of the two teams taking shots at the bar “I hope you don’t have a game tomorrow” I asked James with a smile on my face “Nope, we get tomorrow off, so this is the perfect way to spend a Saturday night!” he replied with the same smile I fell in love with 7 years ago.

It was now 1 am and I decided we needed to call it a night. We had practice at noon the next day and I wanted the girls to get some sleep. I called the girls a cab van and pulled out my credit card to pay for my drinks and appetizers, as I opened my clutch and pulled it out James set my hand down and whispered in my ear “It’s on me”.

I saw the girls leave and I realized that Khloe wasn’t in the van. “Omg James, I don’t know where Khloe is…” I said looking around getting really nervous. “I pulled out my cell phone and read a text from her.

Khloe – I’m staying at Paul’s house tonight, see you tomorrow !!!
Meghan – Please don’t be late for tomorrow, if you need me my phone will be on all night…have fun girl =)

Khloe was a big girl, and she can take care of herself. I called myself a cab about 10 minutes after the van left, I need some sleep, it was a long night.
James’ teammates were starting to pile out of the bar one-by-one, 10 minutes passed and my cab arrived, James opened the door for me and put a 20 dollar bill in my jacket pocket to pay for the cab, just as I was about to climb in, “Hey Meghan” I turned around and he was standing right behind me, his body pressed up against mine “You looked really good tonight.”

And with that I got into the cab, closed the door and watched as James turned around and go back toward the bar. Oh.My.God…what have I gotten myself into, am I falling back in love with my high school sweetheart?

Notes