LOGINhad been a long time since she had been so painstakingly dressed up. Wilhelm had suggested to her, just like him, to show everyone impressively that they were no longer the ridiculed children of that time.
But she didn't feel as adult and self-confident as she outwardly appeared today. Sabine possessed the ability, which she did not appreciate very much, to adapt her mental age to the respective situation and her human environment. For example, when she filled out her tax return, she felt right at home and as if she knew where the hare was. She was at least forty years old then. If she was talking to clients at work and had to appear competent, she was definitely thirty. In the presence of her parents, she automatically became a minor child with an open age limit, who had to be protected and instructed. She usually kept her biological age among friends, but occasionally slipped back into puberty.
Tonight she was as insecure and overwhelmed as she was at school and definitely didn't feel more than sixteen. That is why she stuck to Wilhelm and usually only attended the conversations as a listener when she was not actively spoken to.
Contrary to their assumption, all of them treated her with at least fake, if not honest, friendliness. Like Wilhelm, she was clearly slim compared to the past and even got a little praise or two for her appearance.
She had never been able to handle compliments well. On the one hand, because she wasn't sure whether the person she was talking to was serious. And on the other hand, because she mostly saw herself in a completely opposite light and usually considered the highly praised things to be and in no way worthy of praise.
Sabine noticed that some of her former classmates had also changed significantly, while still others looked and behaved almost exactly as they did then. Above all the men quickly found themselves together in their old groups and, thanks to the rising alcohol level, were soon fooling around like pubescent boys again. Of the women present, a good third had definitely become mothers by now and exchanged ideas about raising children and the fight for daycare places.
After two hours, she felt as though she had heard part of their life stories from everyone after school and sat down briefly to freshen up on the toilet and then get a new drink at the bar. While she waited, she heard from the corner of her eye how a blond young man with a black baseball cap was leaning casually next to her against the counter and obviously wanted to place an order. He turned his face to her and looked at her unabashedly. Then she felt his hand on her hip.
"All these curves and I without brakes," he said and raised his eyebrows once when their eyes met. Sabine immediately held her breath when she recognized him and froze on the spot. He leaned over to her and smiled smugly.
"Do you believe in love at first sight or should I come back later?" He continued to flirt.
Sabine got hot immediately and her hands started to sweat. She continued to look at him, intimidated and speechless. Was this really happening or was she just dreaming?
Since a reaction on her part was still a few seconds later, the fair-haired handsome tilted his head slightly and looked at her face thoughtfully instead of suggestively due to her silence.
She thought she heard the penny drop loudly in his head when he finally recognized her too.
"Fuck! Maja? Is that you I'm going crazy, "he said with a stunned grin and grabbed his head.
It flashed through Sabine like lightning when he addressed her with this nickname.
“It's me, Erik. Erik Seibert. Do you remember me?"
Her heart pounded against her ribs. Her worst nightmare had come true. Why the hell was he here? She was absolutely certain that he wouldn’t show up for that stupid meeting. But here he was now in all his splendid insolence and, amused, scanned her from top to bottom with his dirty pupils.
"Of course I remember," she finally replied as quietly as a mouse.
At the beginning of the evening she had thought exactly the same thing. But as it turned out, for the most part it had been nice to chat with her old companions."W-do we want to sit down at one of the pools over there?", Suggested Sanjay as a substitute and pointed to one of the paddling pools a little further on the edge of the area, where a small group of guests was in the mood for optimism."Gladly," agreed Sabine and made her way through the crowd on Sanjay's back.In doing so, she suddenly realized how surreal this situation was that she was in right now.She and Sanjay had been neighbors and thus more or less sandpit friends. Zoe and Elvira had had a very good relationship with the Patel family from the start. Nothing was more obvious than sharing the burdens of being a parent and always having breakfast together for the expenses of the children of the same age. Because suffering shared was still suffering half. So it happened that Sanjay and Sabin
What are you two standing around here so apart?", Wilhelm suddenly approached out of nowhere and cast a scrutinizing look at his roommate before he and Erik greeted each other with a manly handshake.It had not escaped him that Sabine made an uncomfortable impression. So he stood next to her and put an arm around her middle."Are you okay?" He asked quietly and looked at her waiting with warm eyes. She nodded and gave him a small, grateful smile.Erik had not escaped this familiarity, of course, and drew his own conclusions from it."Didn't even know that you were dipping your stick in Maja's honey pot," he commented on the scene and took another sip, amused.Sabine's features slipped easily and she was glad that she could hold on to her glass.Wilhelm froze next to her for a second, before he deliberately pulled her very close to his side and kissed her on the temple."Envious?" He smiled provocatively.A mocking sound escaped
She had secretly raved about Erik Seibert all her school days. He, on the other hand, had mocked and teased her over the years for her bulky body, for her braces, for breasts that were too small and, last but not least, for her acne. Despite all his meanness and insults, she thought he was great. Apparently she had a slightly masochistic streak even then.Erik had just been terribly cool, how he was always casually cruising around with his skateboard in the schoolyard during the breaks and performing small stunts and jumps with the part. As a real rebel, he had provocatively chewed chewing gum during class despite the prohibition, started smoking in the seventh grade, had argued with the teachers several times and disrupted the class and was therefore regularly shown outside the door. His grades were mostly bad because it was not cool to study and nerds like Sabine were ostracized for their hard work. A bad boy like he was in the book. He had also looked good on top of that.
had been a long time since she had been so painstakingly dressed up. Wilhelm had suggested to her, just like him, to show everyone impressively that they were no longer the ridiculed children of that time.But she didn't feel as adult and self-confident as she outwardly appeared today. Sabine possessed the ability, which she did not appreciate very much, to adapt her mental age to the respective situation and her human environment. For example, when she filled out her tax return, she felt right at home and as if she knew where the hare was. She was at least forty years old then. If she was talking to clients at work and had to appear competent, she was definitely thirty. In the presence of her parents, she automatically became a minor child with an open age limit, who had to be protected and instructed. She usually kept her biological age among friends, but occasionally slipped back into puberty.Tonight she was as insecure and overwhelmed as she was at school an
That will be really nice. You'll see, ”Wilhelm was sure.“For you maybe. You got on well with pretty much everyone. I have absolutely nothing positive about these idiots and I don't know any good reason why I shouldn't just let the past rest. That's why I won't go there either. Sorry. "Wilhelm scratched his beard.“This is a little inconvenient now. I've already promised Bianca that we will both come. ""Are you crazy ?!", Sabine briefly indigned, "You can't just decide that over my head!"“There's nothing to it”, Wilhelm didn't understand the vortex and shrugged his shoulders, “I thought you were happy. That will be fun. I'll take care of you. In addition, these Honks are all older and some may even have become more mature. "He gave a short laugh. Sabine, on the other hand, exhaled very clearly audibly.“When is this unnecessary gathering of the insane actually going to take place? Certainl
She thought back to the conversation about her non-existent boyfriend and, like every time this topic came up, immediately felt a little depressed again. What could she do that nobody wanted her? Well, she didn't do much to get noticed, of course, but still it was an absolute mystery to her how other people did that. Or how a Wilhelm could tow away a new bed companion every evening if he wanted. No matter where you looked, it looked so incredibly easy and natural to love and to be loved too. As if it wasn't scary and difficult to let another person get so close, emotionally as well as physically. So if it just wasn't working for her, she must be the problem herself, willy-nilly. She had no other explanation.There were always moments when she wanted a partner by her side from the bottom of her heart. Someone she could lean on and let go of. But when she then noticed all the relationship drama of her friends, the good feeling sprang up again very quickly in her, not to see her