The reunion - two types of people

A man wanders into his highschool reunion to get some perspective on life

Luke had just dropped Alex off with his parents, he had only just gotten her back and he was handing her off again. He was glad in a way that she would be spending some time with her grandparents, raising children was the only discernible skill his parents seemed to posses. Or perhaps he wasn't the well adjusted member of society he thought he was and they were in fact terrible parents. "My god! What have I done" he murmured to himself driving along highway 88. Luke had just begun getting used to the numerous and sometimes rather surprising fits of panic one experiences raising a child in a world where FOX is considered news and called fair & balanced

He wasn't even a mile from his parents house when, the effects of hopping through several time zones in just one month began to take effect on him. He pulled into the car park of the "Merry Weather" hotel & ballroom and rested his forehead against the steering wheel, and sighed a deep sigh. He lifted his head and could just about make out the sign just a couple of feet away from him "Class Of 83 reunion Claremonte High"

Luke was already wandering casually through the lobby of the hotel he wasn't sure whether it was the jet-lag or him but everything seemed bathed in a strange hue of surrealism. He was still counting on his fingers trying to figure out what year he actually graduated, when he caught a glimpse of a familiar face from across the room

It was him, well him in a different time but there he was nonetheless larger than life. Right behind the bar was the photo they had taken when the seniors had won their championship season. Luke hadn't really been involved, he recalled lying underneath the bleachers smoking pott. There he was sneaking out eyes bloodshot right at the side of the frame

Was it sad that this was most likely the highlight of his high school career? He didn't think so, it was sort of indicative of his time at Claremonte. Luke spent high school in a constant state of confusion, he didn't really belong anywhere. He had an existential crisis at the age of 14, while all the other kids were just starting to figure themselves out he was struggling with the fact that he existed at all.

He recognized people, a lot more than he would have thought. It wasn't even that he remembered their faces it was more like their mannerisms had stuck with him all these years. Luke found this all terribly amusing until the very ugly cliched nature of the whole event hit home. He could hear them now " So what have you been doing, with yourself?" He felt like saying "actually I've lived the majority of my adult life trying to avoid being asked that very same question, and now you've gone and fucked it all up"

Before he knew it he was he was sitting at the bar by a table of cackling women. "it's just so exciting to see how everyone turned out" a Blonde decked out in jewelery and wearing a necklace that spelled out "chastity across her collar bone was commanding everyone's attention. "What a load of bullshit" exclaimed Huey Dormer, "she came here to see who had gotten fat and to show off that rock on her ring finger". Huey Dormer wasn't Luke's friend in high school well he was sort of his friend, as much of a friend as your drug dealer can be. In high school Huey was pissed off at the world and just about everything in it, now you could see it had taken it's toll on him

"The way I see it there are only two kinds of people that attend these things" Luke glanced around the room, "You either excelled at high school, and now you're, 40, balding and looking to relive the glory days" "or?" "or you had an arduous journey through high school and manged to make it out the far end a better, wealthier more socially adjusted individual and now you're here to rub everyone's face in it" Huey glanced at Luke and then out at the rest of the room, slumped down in his chair and replied rather gruffly "some of us are just here for the free bar"

The whole evening was running a calamitous course when Luke spotted a rather sophisticated looking woman stepping out from behind a column on the far side of the room. "Jackie?...."
 

Author's Note

A alternate version of another writers story

Reviews

[icomeanon_13]

Well, I like it and I sense a follow up coming on. Perhaps Jackie and Luke need to have a beer at the local pub.

A couple of things I noticed were:

There a few comma splices (i.e.: "He was glad in a way that she would be spending some time with her grandparents, raising children was the only discernible skill his parents seemed to posses.") These are two sentences, not one. This happens a few times in your story.

The dialogue is really good, but it can be hard to tell who is saying what when the replies are in the same paragraph. Breaking up the lines of dialogue into individual paragraphs would help. I'd also be interested in how your characters are speaking. For instance, has Huey crossed over to the far side of sober into drunk? Is he slurring his speech? Those are details that put in the chair beside the characters.

Otherwise, I'm really excited to see where we might be able to take this. I'll be thinking of the next part of this story and giving it some writing time, soon.