Lost In Pacific Time

It would’ve been simple if the letter had been asking for money, but it wasn’t. It was asking my presence for a high school reunion. Who has a five year reunion? Besides, I didn’t want people to see me as the Ugly Ducking turned swan, sure I had a nice life now but I didn’t need my former high school classmates sucking up to me because of it. I don’t think anyone ever wants to go back to high school, the days of teen angst and awkward first relationships. It didn’t seem that bad at the time, I could wear jeans 24/7 and every other day of my senior year, I got to spend an entire morning in two straight blocks of sciences next to the most amazing and thoughtful guy I’d ever met. On my drive home, I wondered if he would be there. Surely the only people who actually showed up for these things were people who had peaked in high school and only ever had a life in high school. Besides it wasn’t like I was horribly ugly went to Hollywood and became an Oscar winning actress, what did I have to prove to the so-called cool kids. I pulled into my house in West Hollywood, it was some sort of Spanish-style mansion with the red tiled roofs.

“Amber is that you?” called Milly from the kitchen.

“Yeah, its me” I called back. Despite what my glossy black design portfolio might tell you, I wasn’t very put together. Behind closed doors I was kind of a mess. Anyway, somehow after redecorating Milly Parker’s apartment downtown, I ended up in a relationship with her. I guess I should’ve seen it coming, every time I’d come over to her apartment she’d tell me how cute I looked and I thought that’s just how girls were with each other, I’d never had an actual girl friend before. After I finished redecorating she took me out to dinner and that’s when I realized we weren’t “just friends”. So our relationship kind of progressed while I was trying to figure out how to let her down easy. I feel bad, I truly do, I’ve always thought there was nothing sadder than unrequited love. So I guess that’s how Milly and I got here.

She kissed me when I walked into the kitchen “We finished up early, so I got us some take out.” She explained using her chopstick to dip a piece of raw salmon into soy sauce.

“Great,” I replied. Milly was an actress on this HBO series called “Boundless”, where she played the main character Kat. Boundless was one of those shows where every other week someone gets killed off and everyone’s sleeping with everyone else. I’ve always secretly thought the show was ridiculous but considering the nine Primetime Emmys currently on the fireplace mantle I could be wrong.

“So how’s work going?” Milly asked as I loaded up my plate with various pieces of sushi.
“It’s okay,” I replied “do you want some of these?” I asked offering her a California roll, they were her favourite.

“Can’t I’m on the no carb diet,” she replied dipping another piece of raw fish into her soy sauce. Milly was trying to lose about twenty pounds, Boundless was into its last season and Milly has decided that she would transition into movies after that. I wasn’t exactly sure where the twenty pounds was going to come from but it wasn’t really my place to comment.

“So…my old high school is having a reunion,”

“Really? That’s so great, Amber, I loved high school” I wasn’t surprised Milly had probably been a cheerleader and got invited to all the best parties. “Wait, does that mean we’re going to Vancouver?” she asked her navy blue eyes large and hopeful. Milly had always wanted to see the place where I grew up. She told me she wanted to meet my parents and see my childhood bedroom. Every year I’d take a trip to Vancouver for two weeks between July and August, but Milly was always shooting for Boundless during that time. Besides, even after three years together, I didn’t exactly want her meeting my parents, who still believed I was at UCLA studying to become an engineer.

“The reunion is on August 1st” I told her, hoping she had other places to be.

“That’s perfect” she replied “we shoot the finale the week before”

“Great,” I replied gritting my teeth.