90s Queen Bee #Wattys2016

Chapter 4 - Penny Spaghetti

                  

2015

Blair Bradley looked me up and down. I waited for precisely three seconds – I counted them in my head – before I spoke.

'So what are you up to these days?'

'I work in sales,' he replied. 'Ever heard of the Marcus M website?'

I had. It was one of the leading lifestyle websites in Australia. For a guy who didn't bother showing up to his HSC exams because he was smoking bongs behind the bike shed, he'd done alright for himself.

'Sure, that's great.'

'Why haven't I seen you on Facebook?' he asked. I noticed that he didn't ask me what I did for a living. A marketing manager for Smith Bank, thank you very much.

'I'm not on Facebook,' I lied. I was on Facebook, but my only Facebook friends from high school were Penny, Bec and Mei-Ling.

Penny's voice pierced the air. 'Sammy! I found you! Where have you ... '

'Holy shit!' Blair exclaimed. 'Penny Spaghetti!'

I scoffed at him in disgust. These days, having impossibly long limbs was a blessing. In high school, it was grounds for teasing. Without even looking at her, I knew Penny wanted to slink back into the dark room of anonymous bodies. She hadn't been called that since graduation day.

'Um, yeah,' she said cautiously. 'What's going on here?'

'Oh, Sammy and I were just shooting the breeze. Spun out that we ran into each other.'

'Yeah, spun out.' I prayed he wouldn't remember my nickname from year 8 – 'Sammy-two-rounds-of-sandwiches.' I knew that if he did remember, he'd say it.

'Well Sammy, we'd better head off.' Penny's voice had turned shrill.

'Wait, you don't want to go grab a drink?' asked Blair. 'Reminisce about old times?'

Old times? Like the time he'd rejected me in front of half of year 9? The time he'd dared Martin to humiliate Penny? If it was 20 years ago, before the infamous game of spin the bottle, Penny would have jumped at the chance to drink with the hot, popular guy. Instead, she barked 'no.'

I had two choices here. I could tell Blair where to go and come off seeming bitter about the past, or I could accept the fact that this guy's tongue had been in my mouth, say goodbye and leave with a shred of dignity. I chose the latter.

'See ya 'round in another 15 years,' I sang out to him as we walked briskly away.

'Oh my god, did that just happen?' squawked Penny, gripping my arm.

'Oh, happen it did,' I replied. 'And I have something to confess. You're not allowed to judge me.'

'Don't tell me you liked him?' She gave me a sideways glance.

'God, no.'

'Okay, so...?

'So... it was dark in there and I couldn't tell who he was and...'

'And?'

'We fooled around a bit.'

'What?! You fooled around with Blair Bradley?'

'I told you that you couldn't judge me.'

She stopped in her tracks, jerked me around to face her and repeated, 'You fooled around with Blair Bradley?'

'You can keep saying the words all you want, but it doesn't make it untrue.'

'What were you doing making out with anyone in there anyway?'