Present Day
 

Yuri left the city behind, the sun’s first light barely showing in   the eastern sky. The morning was cool, the wind already freeing her. She left the top down on the Jeep, needing the openness it brought. She  was nervous.  So nervous, in fact, she’d nearly cancelled the whole trip.  But Aunt Lou was expecting her, and Yuri remembered how excited she was at the news Yuri would be in
Calloway for a week.

She  smiled  as  she  turned  off  the  highway  past  Lake  Corpus  Christi,  taking  the  back  roads through the ranch lands of South Texas.  She hadn’t heard from any of her classmates in twenty years.  Yet, in the past week, she’d talked to Hara three times as she helped Yuri with her hotel reservations, saying even the locals were staying at the Holiday Inn so they could partly all weekend.  But it was the last conversation that threw her.

“Oh, Yuri, it’ll be so good to see you.  And  I  spoke  with  Jessica  Jung  and  let  her  know  you were coming. I bet the two of you can’t wait to catch up.”
 

Oh, yeah. Can’t  wait.
 

Yuri wondered if Jessica would bring her lover.  Hell,  would  Jessica  even  speak  to  her?  Their breakup didn’t go well, and even though Yuri did it for Jessica, the look in Jessica’s eyes  ...well, it as a look that haunted her for a long time afterward.  Every time they would run into each other during the semester, Jessica had the same look – wounded and hurt and devastated.  It was something Yuri never understood.  She also never saw Jessica with her new lover, so maybe that didn’t last after all.  When the semester ended, Yuri went to San Antonio where her parents had moved, and she assumed Jessica went home to Calloway.  Jessica didn’t return the next semester and Yuri spent it trying to forget she and Jessica were ever lovers in the first place.  Actually, she spent the next several years to forget Jessica Jung.  But no matter how many women passed through her bed, no matter how many lovers she had, none of them could ever make her forget Jessica… and none were able to replace her.

So she’d settled in Corpus and put all her energy into their business, rarely going out, rarely dating.  And seldom sharing her bed with anyone.  She was content now, satisfied with her life.  Their business was thriving, she had a handful of good friends, especially TaeYeon and Tiffany.  And SooYoung and her family filled a void that her parents’ divorce had created.  SooYoung went all out for each and every holiday and Yuri was always invited to share it with them.  Yes, she was content now. 

So why then was she heading to Calloway?  So what if it’s been twenty years of water under the bridge.  She knew seeing Jessica would affect her, especially if Jessica was with her lover or her partner or whoever.  She was just setting herself up for a deluge of memories.  Yeah, like she hadn’t been traveling that road lately.  And that was really the problem.  She’d been plodding through her memories, reliving those teenage years, still able to remember the tingly feeling she got from being with Jessica – touching her, kissing her, loving her.  It was the best time of her life, a time when she thought life was perfect, a time when she was so certain that she and Jessica would be together forever.  A time before the heartbreak and pain.  Those were memories she’d just as soon not relive – the breakup and then her cure for Jessica – sleeping with any and every girl she could.  Anyone to try make her forget Jessica…forget Jessica and her new lover.  She was surprised how much that still hurt.  Twenty years later she could still feel the sting, still feel the jealousy, still see the other girl’s face.  She smiled, finding some humor.  She could remember her face but she couldn’t remember her name to save her life.

~~~o~~~

Jessica exited off the interstate east of San Antonio, and then turned south, taking the familiar country road to Calloway.  She still had nearly an hour’s drive but her nervousness increased tenfold as she left the highway.  She could have flown from Houston to San Antonio and rented a car, or taken her mother’s offer to be picked up, but she wanted this time to think, to prepare.

First of all, she was still shocked that Yuri was even going to the reunion.  As far as she knew, none of their classmates had ever heard from her in the last twenty years.  But nervousness and trepidation had replaced the shock weeks ago, so much so that she’d actually called Hara to tell her she wasn’t going.  That plan obviously fell through.  Hara was so excited about the whole affair;  Jessica just didn’t have the heart to cancel.

So now her nervousness was mixed with a healthy dose of anxiety, the feeling of dread weighing heavy on her chest.  Which, as she’d been telling herself for the last fifty miles, was ridiculous?

Kwon Yuri meant nothing to her anymore.  She was a former classmate, that’s all.  She had no bearing on her life and it was just crazy to be dreading her twenty-year reunion because of her.

“So I’m crazy,” she murmured.  Because, yeah, she was dreading it.  The only silver lining she could find was that Hara had said Yuri had sent in her RSVP for only one.  Which meant Jessica wouldn’t have to be subjected to seeing Yuri with her lover.  Well, regardless, she had already decided that if Yuri asked if she was seeing someone, she was going to lie and say yes.  She’d be damned if she’d let Yuri know she was still single.  She tried to imagine how it would go when they saw each other.  She didn’t want to cause a scene so she couldn’t very well ignore Yuri.  After all, they’d been best friends in high school.  None of their classmates ever knew of their affair and as far as she knew, none would know now that Yuri was gay.  Jessica?  Yes.  After that first semester when she’d returned home for the holidays, she’d been in such a state of shock, still heartbroken, that she’d come out to her parents, had come out to Hara.  She never told them who it was, never mentioned Yuri’s name.  To their credit, her parents hadn’t totally freaked out, at least not in front of her.  Mark was the one most shocked, but Krystal had put her hands on her hips and smiled.  “ Cool.   My sister’s a lesbian, I guess you’re not as uptight as I thought you were.”  Jessica laughed.  This coming from a thirteen year old who was as uptight as they came.  But all of her studying paid off.  Krystal went on to medical school, specializing in – of all things – gynecology.  Which Jessica found extremely funny, seeing how she was practically celibate, yet her sister made a living touching female bodies.

She tilted her head.  What did she mean practically celibate?  It had been more than a year since she’d slept with anyone.  In fact, since she couldn’t recall exactly when it was, it may very well be creeping up on two years.

“Yeah, practically celibate.

This brought her back to her original thought.  How would her first encounter with Yuri go?  Would they hug and exchange pleasantries?  Would they only shake hands and be cool towards each other?  Would they say “hello and “how are you” and then go their separate ways, never to speak again?  Or would someone like Hara, who had no