I was busy packing a small suitcase for my weekend trip back home when my cell phone rang from my bedside table. I knew right away who it was. Grinning, I picked up the phone and without saying hello first I heard, “Bitch, you better have your bags packed and your adorable little ass in your fancy car and on your way to the airport.” My best friend Harper was clearly nervous I was going to bail on her and come up with some last minute excuse not to make the flight back to Mountain Home, Idaho.
I hadn’t been home in almost eight years, and with good reason. However, it had come to Harper’s attention that our ten year class reunion was taking place that weekend. I think she purposely waited until the last minute to beg me to come just so she wouldn’t have to drag me kicking and screaming. This was something she knew I would have avoided at all costs, but Harper lived for these sort things. Sadist that she was, I think she just wanted to go and see just how horrible her old enemies might look and to let them see how incredibly hot she’d become. Harper went through a gangly phase in high school; braces, short choppy hair, no breasts, and secondhand clothing. She’d since blossomed into a stunning woman. Five foot eight—with legs for days—a perpetual tan, dark brown hair that fell to the middle of her back, and green eyes. Guys constantly followed her around like love sick puppies. She claimed it made her nuts but I knew she loved the attention. Harper worked as a Realtor and has owned her own company for five years. It took her some time after high school to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, but when she decided she went after it and she was amazing at what she did. Aside from what she believed were her short comings, she was fiercely loyal, funny, confident, and a total badass.
She’d been my best friend since we were in seventh grade, and I first moved to Mountain Home. I was the new kid in town—my Dad had gotten a new job at a small law firm in the next town over—and starting at a new school was terrifying to me. I didn’t like to stand out. I’d much rather blend in and go about my life without notice. I’d always felt I was an average looking person. Quite short at five foot two, my hair was a very light brown/dark blonde, wavy, and over halfway down my back. I wasn’t super skinny but I did think I had curves in all the right places. I’m not ashamed to admit that my pale blue eyes are my best feature. They have a dark blue ring around the outside of the iris making the lighter color inside stand out in stark contrast. Because I was so short, I can remember walking around the school and not being able to see over the other kids in the hallway. I was lost, unaware of my surroundings, and might as well been blind on my first day. Harper saw me looking totally confused and took me under her wing. We’d been inseparable ever since.
Anyway, no matter how badly I wanted to say a big ‘no thank you’ to seeing people that I couldn’t care less about, I just couldn’t say no to Harper. It wasn’t just me either; it was a well-known fact that saying no to Harper was damn near impossible. She was a force of nature and there was no reasoning with her, which I thought made us a good pair. I was incredibly shy and had a hard time speaking my mind, whereas she let you know exactly where she stood. She’d helped me come out of my shell a lot through the years. I knew Harper needed me to go to the reunion. It was her opportunity to show all the haters and doubters in high school that she had made it. Of course knowing Harper, the language would be a little harsher coming out of her mouth.
“Yes yes, I’m almost done packing. My flight takes off at three and I’ll be landing in Boise at five. I’ll get a rental and go to my parent’s house and text you when I get in. I’m assuming you’re coming over so we can go out?” I asked, throwing a pair of sunglasses into my purse, and