CLOSED STARTER for @lipstcklover PLOT: based on this post from your tag
IT WAS PRIDE AND A PROMISE that brought her to their 35-year reunion. she had heard from a friend who heard from a friend that there was a lot of gossip going around about val and her career and her marriage. about how they all just knew that it was never going to last ⏤ that she was long overdue for a fall from grace. but she had promised the very few people she kept up with that she would go. not just to show them she was holding her head high, but to just get away and try and forget about how her life kind of was falling apart. maybe she was being a little dramatic but the smiles started to feel more forced every time she had to make the excuse that her husband couldn't get the time away from work to be there, and that's why she was flying solo. after what felt like an endless barrage of people and small talk, she excused herself to go get a drink. stepping up to the bar, she ordered a vodka tonic, leaning against the counter while she waited. she did a double take when someone else stepped up to the bar, a slow smile spreading across her face, "anna told me you weren't coming."
