Sliding Door Moment

It's not that I thought he was going to be wonderful or that we would end up rekindling our first grade romance, but I didn't expect him to be such a freak.

I dropped off the kids and the puppy at my mom's. I touched up the makeup and I was off to Starbucks to meet Elliot. A car turned in front of me and I thought, oh no I hope that's not him! He pulled into the gas station so I thought I was safe. I pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. I looked around at all of the cars, wondering which was his. I walked in, but didn't notice anyone looking around. I wondered if I would even recognize him. I went to the counter to order an iced latte, and the door opened. I turned around. There was Elliot. It was the guy who had turned in front of me. Ugh! He had on black baggy dress pants that were very long and a grey shirt, with a wool blazer and sneakers. It must have been 80+ degrees outside. I put my hand out and smiled. He said, "Blair? You look lovely." He leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. He said, "So this is Starbucks, I've never been to a Starbucks before. Do they have tea here?" "Yes", I said. I placed my order and his since he was not familiar with the "lingo" and we found a table and sat down to chat.

He was asking some questions about the old neighborhood. Most of the names he mentioned, I didn't even remember. In fact, I didn't remember much about him after 1st grade. When Missy Gildenberg told me to break up with Elliot because he had wax in his ears. He told me that he ran into Missy when he was 11 years old. He asked her about me but she had said that we weren't friends anymore. I told him about the falling out we had in the 6th grade and that we made up but things were just never the same. He went on to tell me that he moved in 3rd Grade because his parents got divorced. He said his life was pretty much down hill after that. He excused himself to go to the restroom, and asked me if I would watch his tea? I said, "Sure. I won't let anyone take it." I thought about bolting out of there. I was a little frightened of this guy. He was acting really strange. But I didn't. I stayed.

Elliot walked back to the table with a big smile on his face. This was probably the first time he has smiled in a while. He went on to tell me about the friends that he had and how many of them had turned to drugs. One guy died from an overdose another was killed by a drunk driver. Then he told me that his old babysitter had killed herself. I started to think that maybe this guy was the grim reaper. Then I remembered in first grade, our teacher had died. She was out sick for a while and then she just never came back.

He told me that he never married. He told me that he's been working at the same job since he graduated highschool. He does Opinion Research. I told him a little about what I do. A little about my kids. I told him I had a boyfriend. He said, "Well he's very lucky. You are very beautiful." I smiled. I felt bad for lying, but I didn't want him to think that I was interested. He asked me if he was cool back when I knew him. I said, "I don't know. I guess." He said, "I wonder if things would have turned out differently for me if I never moved away?" I said, "Well, it's not to late to change your path."

I wondered if this was the reason for us meeting up after all of these years. Was I meant to tell him this? He seemed to be searching for an answer. I guess that's why he looked me up on Classmates.com, I guess that's why he contacted me.

I looked at my watch and almost an hour had passed. I told him that I had to get back. He asked me to walk to his car. He had made a copy of our first grade picture. He put it in a cardboard envelope that he had painted. It looked like spin art. He said he had just done it and he wasn't sure if it was dry. It was as if he had never grown up. I thanked him and he walked me over to my car. I said goodbye. He gave me a hug. He said that he missed me. It was awkward, but I smiled and then said goodbye again. Got in my car and drove off.