When We Were Young

21 years earlier

"Is this required?" Nate asked, chugging more of his beer.

"No, but bonus time is coming so you can suck it up for a little longer."

He snorted and slammed the empty glass down on the table. He nodded to the bartender for another while staring at his phone and scrolling through some social network feed.

"Guess it's not too bad since it's open bar."

I shook my head, and shoved my phone into my pocket. The venue was packed. We were situated in the main room, with a jazz band in the corner, a silent auction at the other end, and tables and tables of food in between.

"What's this for?"

"Huh?" I asked, and glanced at him. Nate was already halfway through his new beer. I made a mental note not to drink too much in case I needed to get him in a car. It seemed I was always making mental notes to accommodate Nate's drinking.

"This event," Nate said. He grabbed a piece of shrimp from a server's tray, ogling the waitress like she was something to be eaten. "What are we fundraising?" He smiled, with a small drop of cocktail sauce on his top lip that I decided not to tell him about. I wondered how he and I had become friends, considering he was nothing like any of my other friends.

"Cancer, man. It's a fundraiser for cancer." I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to see what the silent auction has."

He nodded. "I'm gonna go see if there are any options for tonight," Nate laughed.

I scoffed and hurried away, knowing exactly what he meant. I really needed to reconsider my choice of friends. I'm sure there was someone in the office that I could hang out with other than Nate, but working in an office was like being in school. If he was the captain of the football team, than I was on the track team, as the alternate - and his math tutor. We didn't run in the same circles but forced to work together.

The auction tables had the regular types of items: dinner vouchers, golf lessons, tickets to a Broadway show, tickets to a basketball game, spa gift certificates. I was looking at the table and not paying much attention to who was around me. I excused myself around some girls, probably right up Nate's alley.

"Need any help?"

I looked up, not sure of who was talking to me, and pushed my hair out of my face. There was a girl standing behind the table and she was staring straight at me. The glass I was holding nearly slipped through my fingers.

The first thing I noticed was that she had beautiful hair. Strange that it was the first thing, considering her eyes were sparkling from the white lights strewn around the room. But her hair was the color of dark honey, shiny and wavy over her shoulders. It must take her a long time to make it look like that, I thought.

"Um, I'm just looking." At you.

She smiled, her cheeks bloomed a light pink. "Well, if you need anything..."

I nodded and she started to walk away.

"Any ideas?" I asked before she could disappear in the flurry of other bidders. "Oh, well there aren't too many bids on tennis lessons," she said.

I made a face to let her know that tennis wasn't exactly my sport, and she laughed.

"Maybe not. You don't look like the tennis type."

"Really? And what type do I look like?"

She tilted her head and put her hands on her small hips. "Well, guessing from the accent and being completely stereotypical, soccer? Oh, I mean football."

I nodded. "True, most Brits are football fans. Don't suppose you have tickets to a Manchester City match?"

She shook her head. "Sorry. I don't even know what that is," she said, a small giggle trailing after her words.

I stared at her, not sure of what to say. She wore barely any makeup it seemed and her lips looked wet. We both glanced around each other, not wanting to look away but feeling the uncomfortable silence grow.

"I'm Albert," I finally said, extending my hand.

She lifted her eyes from under her dark lashes and took my hand. "Skylar. Nice to meet you, Albert."

I didn't want to let go of her hand. I liked the feel of her skin against mine, soft and warm.

"Sky, we could use you down here," someone yelled.

She turned, her lips in a perfect O, and she pulled her hand back. She was surprised, as if she was caught doing something that she shouldn't have been.

"Sorry. I have to go. You should bid on something, though. It's for a great cause." Skylar said and walked away, her last comment sounding scripted and generic, extinguishing the small flame that I thought had been sparked.

I tried to follow her whereabouts for the rest of the night, inconspicuously, but there were too many people buzzing around. Nate kept asking who I was looking at but I brushed him off. When Nate finally reached his limit, and I was tired of watching him to make sure he didn't fall and make an ass of himself, I decided to leave.

Shrugging on my coat, I finally caught sight of Skylar. She stood next to a man, their hands linked. I went home that night feeling deflated, and with a voucher for tennis lessons in my pocket.

I doubted I would see her again, but I looked. Each time I was out, I would look around to see if she was there. I knew it was pointless. I even tried to see if she had any social media profiles, but it felt too creepy so I stopped looking. New York City is too big for the chance of running into her again. Maybe she didn't even live here. After a while, I wondered if I even remembered what she looked like and if I did see her, would she recognize me?