sequel to the prequel

a beginning, a prequel

It was after 1 AM when I went upstairs, but Marc keeps late hours, so he was still up. Like excited schoolgirls (although Marc came off, of course, as a most manly schoolgirl), I confessed that I'd just made out with a boy downstairs. After recounting my day's details and catching up on his activities, my excitement dissipated; it was after 2, and I needed to crash because there was a brunch to attend in the morning.

The alarm went off at 9:30, and I begrudgingly got out of bed. The brunch was from 9 to noon, but I figured other people who'd been out late would probably show up around 10. I took a shower and walked over to the Alumnae House enjoying the unusually pleasant November weather.

When I walked in, it looked like everyone was already there. I'd failed to take into account that many of the guests were staying at the Alumnae House. The brunch was buffet style, so I picked up a plate and scanned the room. Ted topped his plate with a croissant and walked over to say hello. The seats at his table were all full, but he told me he had plans to walk around campus with a couple people later and invited me to join them.

I filled my plate and sat at a table with friends of the groom that I'd briefly met the day before. The guys were friendly, but one insisted I should move to San Francisco and had all sorts of career advice for me. After my second plate full, I wasn't in the mood to hear it anymore, so when I got up to get some more fruit, I looked for a new table. The crowd was thinning out as people had flights and trains to catch. I saw Ted making the rounds of goodbyes, so I caught up with him to see when and where we should meet to walk around campus.

"I just need to go upstairs and pack, so I can check out. We're going to see if they'll let us leave our luggage in the lobby until we need to leave for the train later," he explained. "I'll stop back in when we're ready to go."

"Ok. If you can't leave your stuff here, I'm sure you could leave it at my friend's house if you need to," I suggested.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll see you in a bit."

"All right."

He walked upstairs with his traveling companions, and I returned to the brunch. A seat was open next to Splice, so I walked over and sat down. We chatted a bit, but mostly we sat in companionable silence because we were both exhausted. Periodically she would get up to say some goodbyes, and then she'd return. I felt a little guilty for monopolizing the seat next to the bride, but another friend of hers told me not to worry about it. "I bet she's glad for the reprieve from all these people."

A half hour had passed so I started watching the door more, still no Ted. When an hour had gone by, I felt like a heel for hanging around near Splice and the line of people she was saying goodbye to, but I didn't know anyone else there anymore. I kept expecting to see Ted walk in at any moment, but he didn't.

I was reluctant to ask, but when an hour and a half had passed and he still hadn't returned, I made myself do it. "Have you seen Ted?"

"He left about an hour ago," Splice said simply. He'd probably said a straightforward goodbye to her before he went up to pack, but it didn't seem worth explaining. He wasn't coming. I said my goodbyes and thank yous and left.

As I walked down the hill breathing in the leaf-tinted air, it occurred to me that I'd been stood up. I had never been stood up before: rescheduled, cancelled, left waiting for people egregiously late, sure, but no one had ever made plans with me and then not shown up at all, not even called*. I felt like an idiot and didn't understand what had happened.

Maybe he just forgot. I wondered if I'd run into them if I walked around campus, and if I did, if I wanted to...


*Neither of us had cell phones in 2001.