High School Reunion

When I graduated high school I never thought that in ten years I would be where I am now. A lot of things didn't turn out the way I had expected. My career had taken off a lot sooner than I thought which was a good thing but here I was almost twenty nine and not married. Yes I was engaged but after two years we still hadn't tied the knot and the way things had been I wasn't sure that I wanted to anymore.

My dream had always been to study at New York University. Since I was a kid my best friend Tristan and I made a pact that we would go to New York together for college. Her dream school was Columbia. When filling out college applications we applied to schools in the same cities so no matter what we would always be together. I still remember getting the letter from NYU and the heartbreak I felt when I read that I hadn't gotten in. I couldn't believe it. I was a straight A student and had been since the first grade. I was student council president, members of various clubs and played sports. Money certainly wasn't an issue and I couldn't understand why they had rejected me. I was devastated even though I had gotten into the other seven schools I had applied to. When Tristan found out she told me she wouldn't go to New York without me. She had gotten into Columbia and I told her she shouldn't give up her dream because of me.

"You are much more important than some dumb school. We made a pact and I don't intend on breaking it. Wherever you go, I go."

And that is exactly what happened. After many talks with my dad as well as campus tours I decided to go to my second choice. UCLA. I was born in Los Angeles and spent the first few years of my life in Beverly Hills before my mother decided to be selfish and left my dad to raise me alone. After that he packed us up and moved us to Huntington Beach. I was four at the time and the move didn't affect me at all. My mother on the other hand, that left me with trust and abandonment issues. Things that I still struggle with.

When we first moved to Huntington Beach my dad was still a struggling actor and hadn't hit it big yet. He had a small part in A Nightmare On Elm Street when I was three but it wasn't until 21 Jump Street that his career really took off. People had a hard time believing that Johnny Depp was my father. Not so much when I was a little but when I was a teenager people pretended to be my friend in hopes of getting to meet him. I was lucky to have a group of friends that didn't just look at me as Johnny Depp's offspring. They just saw me as Jen.

By the time I finished college I already had jobs lined up. A lot of agencies had seen my work during drama productions and wanted me to work for them. At first I was extremely cautious but my dad was a huge help. He knew who I could trust and who I couldn't. Once I signed my contract I was being hired left and right. I would design sets for television shows, films, and music videos. Some artists liked my work so much they even hired me to design their set for their latest tour. Now years later I am just as busy but I seem to work more with those in the music business than anything else. I actually didn't mind. Music videos gave my creative mind more to work with than doing one or two sets for television shows that would last for years.

One of the first music artists to hire me was Linkin Park. Their new album Meteora was about to come out and they wanted me to design the sets for the first single, Somewhere I Belong. They liked it so much I was then hired to do the set of Faint as well as the set for the Summer Sanitarium Tour with Metallica. They even asked me to go out on the road with them just in case anything happened to the set and I had to come up with a quick fix. It was the first tour I had ever been on and I had a blast, more so that the set never need to be repaired. I was able to just stand back and enjoy the entire thing. I did still work with other clients while out on the road. Mainly designing a 3D set and emailing it for approval. By the time the tour was over I had become great friends with the band and stayed in touch with them. If they had downtime and were home I would hang out with them if one of them called. It was usually Mike and we ended up getting close. So much so that he asked me out on a date. Four years later we are now engaged to be married.

Glancing down at the ring on my finger I sighed wondering if this wedding was ever going to happy. After being engaged for two years Mike and I finally chose a date. Which wasn't easy cause when it came to wedding plans he wants nothing to do with them. Sometimes I wonder if he wants to get married at all. He's always picking little fights with me over stupid things and when he isn't he'd treat me more like his child than his soon to be wife. Even my friends notice how he's been and he never fails to tell me how much he doesn't like them. Especially Nicole and Tristan. He never has a reason for why he doesn't like them but any time one of them is over he has to mention that they come around too much. I see them a few times a month if that.

Walking out of my home office I made my way into my living room where Mike was sitting on the couch playing around on his phone. Lately he thought he lived here and seemed to be either here or the studio which had now moved from Burbank to the art district. Mike claimed that on studio days it was just easier to stay with me since I lived so close to it. That may have been true but he could have let me know he was practically going to be living here first. I had been surfing the web with the little amount of down time that I had looking up wedding invitations. We had only recently set a date and now we could finally start planning our wedding. I just wish that Mike was more invested and willing to help. It seems as though he thinks he already did his part by asking me to marry him. Anytime I ask him to help he finds someway to blow it off. He's busy, he's tired, he has to do this, he has to do that. If he is being like this now how will he be when we start a family?

"I picked a few different designs for our wedding invitations."

"That's great babe." Mike mumbled never looking away from his phone. I sighed softly. I really didn't want to fight with him but I was getting fed up with this.

"What are you doing?" I asked not daring to peek over his shoulder. He hated that just as much as I did.

"House hunting." He said. "Found a few that would be perfect for us." He motioned for me to sit with him and once I did he handed me his phone. "What do you think?"

The houses were fine but they weren't anything that really made me think 'I want to live there!' They were more of what Mike would want in a house. Each one had a part of a house where he could have a home studio but the one thing I did notice is that each house was closer to where he grew up. One house was in Sherman Oaks, one in Calabasas, and the last in Mike's hometown of Agoura Hills. It was like he was trying to get me even further away from Huntington Beach than I already was and maybe even further from my friends too.

"They are okay." I said honestly. "But nothing that really speaks to me."

He gave a frustrated sigh before snatching his phone from my hands. "You've said that about every house I've shown you."

"Yeah and I am being honest with how I feel about them. They aren't anything I can see myself living in."

"So what do you see yourself living in then? Is it a house, a fucking apartment or this stupid ass penthouse? No wait, it's Huntington Beach right?" He was now yelling after having gotten to his feet. I narrowed my eyes when he mentioned my home town. I knew he had something against it but I still didn't know what that was.

"First of all don't you fucking yell at me. Second should it really matter what we live in as long as we are living in it together?" I stood up from the couch as well but kept my voice steady. Did I want to blow up at him? Of course I did but I also wasn't going to act like a spoiled child that didn't get what they wanted. "Living in LA we are both an equal distance from where we grew up and where are families still are. Why does every house you show me have to be closer to your family over mine? Why can't it be somewhere in the middle?"

"You really want to spend the rest of your life living in downtown Los Angeles? You aren't gonna find shit here unless it's an apartment and I would much rather raise my family in a house. One that I own at that. You're always harping on wanting to get a house and here I am trying to do that for us but as usual you aren't satisfied with anything." He shoved his phone into his pocket then started heading for the door. "'I have shit to do. I'll see you later."

I jumped when the door slammed and just stood there staring at it. I knew Mike's schedule for the day and I knew he had his entire day free. I was actually glad he had left cause he would have given me shit about my lunch date the following day with Nicole. We had planned on having lunch then going on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive. With how busy I was I didn't have much time to shop anymore especially in person so I was very much looking forward to it.

Hearing my work phone ringing I sighed and rushed off to my office to answer it.



"I'm sorry I'm late!" Nicole announced as she got to our table. I got up and gave her a hug before she sat down across from me. We had decided to have lunch at one of our favorite places, Caffe Roma. It was a bit pricey but the food was amazing.

"That's fine I've only been here a few minutes." I told her as the waitress came over to hand Nicole her menu and take her drink order.

I met Nicole in the third grade. Our assigned seats were right across from each other and we because instant friends. That day I met her best friend Casey during recess who happened to be with Tristan that year. After that day you couldn't keep the four of us apart. We did everything together. Casey now lives in Newport Beach with her husband Tony and their eight month old daughter Sage.

"So how you been sweets? Wedding plans going well?" She asked never looking up from her menu. She knew all about how Mike had been acting when it came to planning our wedding.

"They aren't going anywhere as usual."

Nicole rolled her eyes before setting her menu down. "Tell me again why you are marrying this fool? You can have any guy you want and you settled for a dude that looks like a monkey?" Tristan had always been extremely blunt but she also had a filter. Nicole didn't. She always said what she was thinking but she was usually right. She had great instincts and if she felt something was off she would always tell you. "Jen you know I love you and would only tell you this because of that. He's done nothing but treat you like shit lately. He sees you as arm candy and he gets extremely jealous anytime someone looks your way. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with someone who not only isolates you from your friends and family but treats you like you are their trophy? I am sure in some weird way he loves you but he doesn't love you the way he should. He should be excited to marry you not practically cringe each and every time you ask him to help you plan your wedding."

She was right and deep down I knew it. I thought we would have been married by now but we hadn't even made a dent in planning for our wedding. Why did he even ask me to marry him if he really had no intention of doing it?

"I know he's been busy in the studio lately but that never stops him from doing anything else. It's only the wedding that makes him act this way and I really don't know why."

Before Nicole could answer the waitress came over to take our order. Once she was gone Nicole took a sip off her drink and looked at me. "I think there are multiple reasons. This shit with him only started recently or at least started to show recently. He's been making up a lot of excuses lately to get out of plans with you. I'm not saying he hasn't had things to do but I find it kind of funny that it's always when you two have plans. He's either looking for a way out or he's seeing someone else."

Those exact thoughts had crossed my mind numerous times. Mike had changed a lot in the last six months. He was a lot angrier than he used to be and he seems to always take his anger out on me. Anything could set him off and I was really wondering if I was making the right decision by marrying him. I loved him but I didn't love him the way that I used to. He sure wasn't making it easy to love him. Nicole and I spent the rest of our lunch date just catching up and talking about our upcoming high school reunion. She also told me she had taken an Uber to get here and asked if I would take her home. I had no problem with that. It would let us spend more time together. I also wouldn't have to go home as soon and possibly deal with an angry Mike.

After lunch we got into my car and made the very short drive to Rodeo Drive. We were still talking about the reunion and wondered who we would see and who we wouldn't. One person we prayed wouldn't be there is Courtney Mariano. Courtney was a girl we knew in elementary school and junior high. She was the Alison DiLaurentiis of Huntington Beach minus the disappearance and what not. She was incredibly picky with who she hung out with and wouldn't hesitate to bully anyone she didn't like. I was one of the girls that Courtney desperately wanted to be friends with. She could be the best person in the world when she wanted to be. She would also snatch your crush right out from underneath your nose if she knew you liked them. Hurting someone's feelings was nothing to Courtney and thankfully by freshman year she and her family moved away. She would still come around every summer to visit her grandparents but thankfully no one had heard a word from her since we graduated. I would be fine never having to see her again.

"So tell me." Nicole paused as we got out of my car. I had parked in front of Gucci and we planned on going there first. "You think your crush will be there?" She teased. I rolled my eyes. I had been waiting for her to bring it up since lunch.

"I am sure he is busy." I said before reaching into my bag to put my work phone on silent. I was tired of hearing it constantly going off. Even Mike had called, texted, and left a voice mail on it knowing I always answered it. I didn't. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.

"I know you thought he was cute in high school but have you seen him now? Holy god is he hot."

"I'm sure Jack would love to hear you say that." I laughed as we headed into Gucci. There was a bag that Nicole wanted to look at. It was a bag that I already owned but she was going to look at it in a different color.

"Jack doesn't care. We said from the start there's no harm in looking as long as there is no touching. I'm sure monkey boy flies off the deep end if you do."

"I don't even try." I mumbled as I looked at the belts.

"You know.. you may have had a crush on Matt Sanders but I know someone that had a huge crush on you."

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Who?"

"Brian Haner Jr."

I just laughed and shook my head. "I highly doubt that."

A sales associate came over to help Nicole while I thought about what she had just said. Brian Haner Jr had a crush on me in high school? I wouldn't say we were the best of friends but I knew him. He was Jimmy's best friend who I had known since kindergarten. I've actually known Jimmy Sullivan longer than I have known Tristan. They along with Zack Baker were all in Avenged Sevenfold now. Along with some guy named Johnny Christ that I didn't know. I am sure that wasn't his real last name since they all used stage names now. I was actually a huge fan of their music. They are on the same label as Linkin Park. I remember them all being in bands in high school and thinking they were going to hit it big. They did and I'm very proud of them. Brian only went to the eighth grade with us. He ended up going to a different high school but I still saw him all the time.

"I'm serious." Nicole said as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked unsure about the bag and decided she would think about it and come back later. We left and headed into Prada next which was right next door. "Haner as had a hard on for you since the minute he saw you." Two older women glanced in our direction and I had to keep from laughing. Nicole didn't even notice them as we began to look around. "I think the only reason he never asked you out is because of your crush on Matt."

"Why would my crush have anything to do with it? Matt was dating Val." I said referring to Matt's girlfriend Valary DiBenedetto. She had actually become a great friend of mine and she didn't seem to care about my crush. She and I both knew nothing would ever come of it and I was okay with that. Like Jack and Nicole all I did was look. I never touched. "Brian wasn't exactly known for being faithful. Need I remind you of that one football game?"

Brian's girlfriend at the time was a cheerleader. One that I actually couldn't stand. After one away football game she caught him having sex with her best friend behind one of the buses. To this day my ears still ring thinking about it. Those were high pitched noises that only dogs could hear and noises that no human should ever make.

"I think everyone remembers that." Nicole laughed before finding a bag she liked. It came in various colors but I knew her well enough to know it always came down to the same four. Black, red, blue, and nude. They were her to go color for just about everything. It wasn't often that she ventured out but when she did they were bold and right in your face. "I mean I think he changed a lot as we got older. Do I need to remind you of Senior Prom?"

Senior prom. That was a night I would never forget. I had my dress, my ticket, everything I would need. I was literally all ready to go when my date called to say he wouldn't be able to take me. Some kind of family issue. I was devastated and let girls know I wouldn't be coming. It wasn't long after that the doorbell rang. Much to my surprise there stood Brian dressed in a suit with a corsage in his hand. I knew that Brian's prom had been the weekend before but I had no idea how he had gotten that corsage so quickly. He ended up taking me to prom. My date however had lied to me. There was no family issue. He was there with another girl.

Feeling a tap on my shoulder I jumped and spun around to see Nicole grinning at me. Just like the Gucci bag she couldn't decided if she wanted it or not so we left and continued our way down Rodeo. We made stops Dior, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Fendi before crossing the street and heading back up Rodeo. Most stores we either didn't buy anything or came out with something small. Bottles of perfume from Dior, sunglasses from Burberry, and small leather goods from Louis Vuitton. Fendi was a bust for both of us.

I spent most of my money at Cartier. I had been saving for months to get myself a few gifts. I already had a love ring in gold that I wore on my right middle finger and my godfather had gotten me my first Cartier piece, a watch that I still wore to this day. It wasn't on my wrist this particular day but a Rolex I had bought a couple years before. It had butterflies on it and it reminded me of being a teenager when I still used to hang out with Jimmy Sullivan. He had been calling me butterfly since the eight grade. For Halloween I had dressed up as moth, something different than what anyone would have expected. Jimmy thought I was a butterfly and the nickname stuck. He has been calling me that ever since.

Nicole like myself had been saving up to treat herself. Her boyfriend Jack had also gave her money to get anything she wanted. She was usually the type that always knew what she wanted but when it came to luxury items she thought long and hard about it. I was glad that we had the opportunities to go in store because if Nicole had to buy everything online she wouldn't buy anything at all cause she would never be able to choose what she wanted. With the money Jack gave to her she bought a pair of Valentino rockstuds and a Clic H bracelet from Hermes. She went with the same color scheme as my bracelet. Gold hardware with black enamel. She could literally wear it with anything from dresses, to jeans, or even lounge wear if she wanted to. We had one last store to go into and that was Saint Laurent. Like Gucci they had a bag that Nicole wanted to look at. I had taken pictures of her wearing every bag she was considering so she could look at them before making her final decision. I've always told her just because you think it's cute doesn't mean it will actually work for you. Take into consideration will your items fit into it? What do you plan to use it for? I knew Nicole and she would want it as an every day bag. She wouldn't spend that much on something that she didn't intend on using.

"Oh my god I love this!" She said trying on a bag that was in a bigger size than the one she was originally looking at. It was made from a different material but that didn't matter to her. She put her current items into the bag and looked at herself again in the mirror. She still had plenty of room in the bag and it looked really good on her tiny frame even though it was a medium sized bag. "This is it! This is the one I want! Jen you have to try on this bag. It's absolutely perfect."

To humor her I tried on the bag and fell in love. It was the perfect size and I knew I would get a ton of use out of it. One thing we both agreed on was the fact that the tassle was detachable so we didn't have to use it if we didn't want to. I ended up getting one for myself. Mine in black while Nicole got hers in red.

"Anywhere else?" I asked as we reached my car. Our hands were full of shopping bags and both of us were more than ready to dump them into my car.

"I can't afford to go anywhere else." She pouted. I knew she wanted a pair of Gucci sunglasses she had been looking at earlier so I decided to get them for her. After putting the bags into my car and locking it up tighter than Fort Knox I began making my way back into Gucci with Nicole hot on my heels. "What are you doing?" She asked as I headed straight for the sunglasses. Picking up the pair she had been looking at I practically shoved them onto her face.

"Consider them an early Christmas present." I said and made sure to quickly hush her because I knew she'd scream with delight. She hugged me tight and thanked me what seemed like a million times before I went to pay for them. I think she was happier about the sunglasses than anything else she had bought today.

We continued talking about the reunion as I drove Nicole home. I was leaving the next morning for Huntington Beach and still needed to pack. I was tempted to leave tonight but I knew that by the time I got everything done I would be too tired. Thankfully when I got home Mike wasn't there but he had left me plenty of messages on both of my phones. All apologizing for yesterday. He said he wouldn't be over tonight because he had some work to do in the studio with Brad so once I got settled I got out of my suitcase and began to pack.



I woke up about a hour before my alarm was set to go off. The drive to Huntington Beach was less than a hour but I really just wanted to get there. Of course there were multiple ways to get there but I opted for the fastest route and the one that wouldn't get me stuck in morning rush hour. I knew that would be easier said than done since a portion of the drive would be spent on the 405. Thankfully I would be driving away from downtown Los Angeles and not into it. Mike always tried to tell me which way I should drive to Huntington as if I had no idea how to get there. He always would say why would you get off the 405 when you can take it all the way to the Huntington Beach exit? The answer was simple. Pacific Coast Highway. There was nothing more relaxing than driving back home with the ocean as my view. It was the way I always went and it took the exact same amount of time to drive as taking the 405 all the way in.

My apartment building also doubled as a hotel but residents got valet parking with their lease. The valet helped put all of my belonging into my car and once I was situated I pulled onto Olive Street before turning left onto W 8th which would take me to the 110. While I was at a red light I plugged in my iPod touch and selected the playlist I had made specifically for this trip. A 90's mix that I knew would take me back to happier carefree times where I had no responsibilities and spent every day with my friends. I put my foot on the gas once the light turned green and began to drive again turning my turn signal left once I reached the exit ramp to 110 south. I quickly put on my sunglasses and turned up the volume as I began to sing along. Going this early and away from the city the traffic wouldn't be nearly as bad. Another two hours and it would be packed.

It was so nice to not hear my work phone ring every ten minutes. Not only did I leave it at home for the weekend but I had completely shut it off. All of my clients knew in advance that I wouldn't be available this weekend but that wouldn't stop some of them from calling anyway. They could leave a voicemail and I would get back to them on Monday. I just wanted a nice relaxing weekend with no drama and to be able to catch up with people I hadn't seen in years. I was grateful that I had remembered to pack a couple pairs of sunglasses. They were keeping me from going blind as the sun did it's best to shine right in my eyes. I had my visor down which was also helping a bit especially getting onto the 405. Anyone that wasn't from around here weren't sure where exits were cause they kind of came out of nowhere at times. Cars would cut over multiple lanes to take their exit and nearly hit you in the process. I was much more used to it now then when I first moved to LA. If you weren't paying attention you would easily get taken out.

Eating had been the last thing on my mind that morning but I made sure to put a cereal bar in my bag in case I got hungry. I had planned on grabbing food once I got into Huntington but now that I would be getting there a hour earlier I decided I would stop at the beach before making the short drive from there to my dad's. It never took long for the beach to get packed but being that it was still early the only people that would be there would be the surfers and those walking their dogs. It wasn't until I saw the sign for PCH that I felt my body relax and I smiled to myself. I never thought that one road sign would make me so happy. Taking the exit I smiled even more when the ocean eventually came into view. There wasn't a lot of traffic so I was able to enjoy the drive even more. To me there was nothing better than this.

I was still singing along to my playlist when off in the distance I saw the Huntington Beach pier. The drive had been absolutely perfect and for a second I thought about having breakfast with Tristan but I remembered her telling me she had a long and busy day at work and wouldn't be able to but promised we would have dinner tonight instead. My dad had planned on making dinner tonight and said Tristan, her husband Shane and their three year old son Tyler should come over. Tristan was thrilled and promised to bring dessert. Like me she planned on spending the weekend in Huntington. She actually lived a lot closer to it than I did. She met Shane in college and after graduation she moved to his hometown of Long Beach and she's been there ever since.

With it being so early I easily found a place to park. Grabbing my bag I got out and locked my car before making my way to the sidewalk. I walked down one of the walkways towards the beach and just stood there, staring out at the ocean from behind my sunglasses. I never realize how much I miss being here until I've come for a visit. I miss the smell of the ocean, the warm breeze flowing through my hair, feeling the sand between my toes and the sunlight on my face. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I never heard anyone come up behind me that is until I heard an all too familiar voice.

"Jen?"