Free The Right Equation by Tracy Krimmer Page A

clique Jenny and Stacia belonged to, but a few I remembered as decent people, those being two of them. Jenny stood out in her Elvira costume, right down to the cleavage spilling from her dress. Stacia's amber, braided hair fell over her shoulders, a successful Pocahontas. I offered only a smile, though, as I approached Tammy in her witch outfit.
    Right away I noticed the name tag. "Tammy Reynolds? As in Matthew Reynolds?" All through high school, Tammy dated one boy exclusively, and it wasn't Matt. Eric Dixon and Tammy met their first day as freshman, and dated ever since. Upon graduation, when we parted ways, they were still dating. I didn't recall her ever exchanging two words with Matt in high school.
    She pressed the tag against her black top. "Yep. We've been married nine years and have three beautiful daughters. I'm sorry...I can't place you."
    Cue the embarrassment train because I was conductor. Tammy and I weren't best friends, but we weren't strangers either. Sure, we last saw each other fifteen years ago, but besides my now short hair and long-gone braces, I looked pretty much the same. "Penny Radcliffe. Home Ec?"
    Tammy tipped her hat. "Penny? I didn't recognize you. I'm sorry. It's your costume. Who are you supposed to be?"
    I forgot my costume made me a little hard to place, uncertain if it was intentional. I spray painted my hair a mix of white and gray, styling it so it almost stuck straight up, and fixed a bushy mustache above my lip. "I'm-"
    "Albert Einstein," a male voice I'd remember anywhere said behind me.
    I whipped around to see a dapper Will dressed in a smooth suit smiling at me.
    "Will! You made it!" I went in for the hug, wrapping my arms around him, lifting up my toes so my head rested next to his as we embraced. His dark hair didn't show any shades of gray yet, and, most importantly, his eyes grabbed me like they did in high school. Will didn't have normal, run-of-the-mill eyes. No way. His eyes brought any woman to her knees. The color wasn't quite hazel, maybe more like a honey, and their transparency made them most beautiful. The light tone of the iris attracted me, and his smile lit me up inside. His black hair complimented his cream suit jacket, a sky blue tie around his neck. Obscuring the top of his hair, which I hoped still had a bounce to it, was a newsboy cap, completing his outfit. "You're Gatsby, aren't you?" I asked as I pulled away.
    "The one and only, my lady," he pretended to work the charm as the character he portrayed. "You went for Albie, huh? Love the mustache."
    I touched above my lip, making sure it stayed put. "Pretty sexy, don't you think?"
    Will took a step back to survey the costume in its entirety. "Despite your lack of academia in any science field, I find the choice bold."
    "Bold? I'm a math whiz, remember? Fits me perfectly in that respect. I thought you might comment about how I'm dressed as a man?" Not even sure why I put the thought into his head. I didn't want Will picturing a man when he looked at me.
    "Never. You're too pretty to be a man." He tipped his hat to me, and my body temperature rose.
    "Okay, Albert & Jay, break it up now. We've got a party to get to." I forgot Tammy even stood next to us.
    "We'll meet you at table seven," I told Tammy. After she walked away, I found Will's name tag and handed it to him. "Are you waiting for anyone else?" I didn't notice a ring as he took the paper from me.
    "Only some of my old crew. I'm stagging it tonight." His old crew meant Brian Jones and Marshall Yarbrough. Did going stag mean he had a wife, or a girlfriend, and was on his own for the night? I needed more detail than that. "How about you?"
    "Me?" Duh. Of course he meant me. "I wasn't even planning on coming tonight. I went to the ten-year reunion and it bored me to tears."
    "Why did you come, then?"
    A smile spread across his face, and in my mind I said "You" while background music played "Hum-a-na, Hum-a-na," but instead I said something that couldn't have made