Unexpected Reunion Ch. 01

"I thought it was customary to send flowers to someone who makes you the happiest man alive." I was trying not to let my amused tone come through, but I was failing miserably.

"You have every woman in the place trying to figure out what's going on." His fake anger just wasn't cutting it.

I started to laugh. "And what am I supposed to do about it?"

I could feel his grin through the receiver. "Pick me up for lunch."

I swallowed. "The office ready for that?"

"They better be. If I'm changing my contact information, I'm damn well going to show off the reason why."

I really didn't think I was worth of being "shown off", but the fact that he wanted to just melted my heart. "I'll get out of here in a half hour. I should get there by twelve."

"See you then." He hung up and I found myself sweating as I buzzed my secretary and told her I'd be leaving for an early lunch.

I got to Josh's office a few minutes before twelve, gave my name at the front desk and was directed to his office. I think the eye of every woman I passed on the way there was on me. I had no idea what he told them, but when I got to his secretary, she looked up at me but seemed a little distracted. "May I help you?"

"I'm Zachary Johnson; I'm here to pick up Josh for lunch?"

I almost laughed at her reaction. The startled expression on her face said everything. Obviously, Josh had told them something like "the reason for the flowers will be picking me up for lunch".

She fumbled with the phone and buzzed in. "Mr. Winters, your date is here?" I could hear him chuckling on the other end. "He'll be right out."

I waited, and Josh came out a few moments later with his coat over his arm. As usual, he was cool as a cucumber while I was sweating like a pig. He leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Hey babe."

I think his secretary was about to pass out. Josh noticed. "Breathe Jesse." He smiled at her and she just shook her head.

"That wasn't a nice thing to do, Mr. Winters." She didn't sound hurt so much as embarrassed. "You could have at least told me the gender of your date."

He chuckled. "Well, now you know. You'll be seeing a lot more of him, so ask the front desk to just let him through in the future."

Jesse did get to see a lot more of me. Josh and I made it a habit of having lunch at least twice a week. Half the time he came to my office and the other half I came to his. We caused quite a stir, but we worked for progressive companies so there wasn't any backlash.

It was five years later, at the twenty-fifth reunion, when we shocked our classmates with another unexpected surprise by being there as a couple. Most of our classmates either approved or didn't care; the others could just go screw themselves. We had our family, our friends, and each other. In the end, that was all that really mattered.