The Ten Year Reunion

We stand in the old auditorium

Familiar smells come flooding back

Sneakers, sweat and smelly feet

The sound of basketballs smacking the floor.

Like us, it’s been through metamorphosis

Transformed into a venue fit for a party

Coloured lights and a silver disco ball

Reflective pieces mirror faces in the room

Bosses, bankers and business managers

Suddenly shy, like we are 16 again.

Ten more years written across our faces

Some much harder than others

And I remember that night.

Here, 10 years before

Strings of pearls draped on necks

Glitter pressed to eyelids

Ill-fitting suit jackets hiding sweat stains

All of us told it was a night we’d never forget

I didn’t forget, but what about you?

We danced until our feet turned blue

And kissed until our lips went numb

Poured gin down our throats,

Bonnie Tyler blasting through speakers

Confetti falling from the ceiling, tangling in hair.

Facebook tells me you are married now

We’re both married now

You with a kid

Me with a dog

Both with enough memories to fill the auditorium

You are running late, I’m here on time.

Some things never change

I need a distraction, to stop staring at the door

I drink sour-tasting punch and make conversation

Davey, Mike and Brock find my hiding spot

We squeeze behind the DJ booth like tinned sardines

Davey cries, ‘the boys are back together,’ and we laugh.

The room is noisy now, filled with laughter and reminiscing

It hides the sadness, the loneliness, the desperation

Some of us are more successful than others

One of us got rich and one of us famous

Some of us didn’t make it

We all raise our glasses for Martin and Shaylin.

The door squeaks and there you are.

You are even more beautiful now.

Our eyes connect, you smile and nod in my direction

Before you are concealed by a row of backs

Arms reach towards you, hugging you tightly

You’ve always been popular.

Transported to fourteen and three quarters

When you first saw me, seeing you

We almost collided in the school halls

Eye contact is a dangerous, dangerous thing

One look and I’m still reeling 14 years on

Incurable, symptomatic and with no signs of getting better

Perhaps the best kind of love is the one from afar.

And I remember that night.

Sometimes I wish we could go back

Hit pause

Live in that night forever

We never meant to get older.