I wasn’t sure what
I was going to expect when I was being led to Andrew’s car. I’ve never been in
a car, alone, with a guy that I liked. I’ve never even been anywhere alone with
a guy that I liked. It felt weird, mainly because I didn’t know what to expect.
I surely didn’t hope that it would be awkward.
“So”, Andrew said,
as he got into the driver’s side.
I nodded, not sure
knowing what to say. “So. Nice car”.
“Thanks”, he said
shyly. “Do you like music?”
I nodded. Who
didn’t like music. “Yes.”
“Well what kind?
Before we go on a great conquest, I would like to get some awesome music to get
us in the mood to you know.”
“To have sex? You
didn’t strike me as that kind of guy.”
“I meant to be on
this date…”
“Oh.”
Well so much for
making things not awkward, and I just have opened the biggest can of awkward
worms ever. Way to go, Cat.
“You sound sorely
disappointed.”
“No. Not at all.”
Suddenly, heat began to rise up in my cheeks. “I mean I’m sure that sex with
you would be very nice, and all, but I am only 16 years old, and this is our
first date, and I really need to you know fall in love with you and get to know
you before I can ever think about having sex with you. And even then, we’ll
have to get tested, and use protection before we do.” I was talking way too
much. Way to go Cat.
He looked at me
smiling. I could feel some sort of laughter in the mix as well. Probably he was
internally laughing at me inside.
“I’m sorry this is
awkward, weird, and I’m just talking way too much,” I said.
He began to laugh.
‘Oh great’, I thought. ‘I blew it. Way to go.’
“I appreciate
knowing that, but I was just teasing you.”
“Oh,” I said,
trying to hid my burning red cheeks, and my embarrassment.
“Sorry. But I do
appreciate knowing your views about sex”, he said. “Gives me a preview of what
I can expect.” He grinned.
“Is that okay?”
He looked into my
eyes. It was a good thing that we were at a red light. “Cathleen,” he said
softly in a tone that his friends would I’m sure mock him for using. It was
soft, careful, as if he was worried that somehow that he would break me.
“You’re more than okay.”
We got to the game
about ten minutes early. Although this was my third year of high school, I have
never been to a sporting event. Needless to say, I didn’t know what to expect.
I was half-expecting foam fingers to be wagged into my face. However, when I
got there, things were very much different. The football field was far from
packed, and it was a lot colder than I expected. The drumline (our school
didn’t have a pepband) was pounding loudly to anyone who would listen to them,
making it known to the other team that they wouldn’t be going down without a
difficult fight. Ollie the Otter, (our mascot) was dancing around to the beat,
while the cheerleaders were doing their last minute stretches. It was go time.
“Cat do you want
anything?” Andrew asked, handing me my ticket. Despite the fact that this was
our school, we still had to pay five dollars to get in. Well, Andrew did
because he insisted.
I turned around.
We were standing near where the food was being sold. I hadn’t had anything to
eat since my turkey sandwich at lunch, yet I wasn’t hungry. My stomach was too
tied up in knots of nerves to really be fed.
“Do you wanna
share a pretzel?” I asked. I figured I should at least eat a little something
before dinner.
He smiled. “Sure.
I would love to. But I wouldn’t mind getting you your own, you know.”
“Sharing is
caring.”
“Okay. Do you want
salt with that?”
“Sure, thank you.”
He smiled. I can
tell that he was happy to be able to buy the girl that he liked something to
eat. I can imagine him on a white horse or something.
Okay, I was
getting a bit too carried away. But, this just goes to show. Chilvery is surely
not dead.
“You’re welcome.
It’s my pleasure.”
I smiled. For that
brief moment in time, I felt like a diamond. I felt shiny, like everyone
thought I was beautiful. In reality, not many people probably did because not
everyone in the world even knew of my existence. There’s something about the
first flutter of love that makes every waking moment when you’re with that
person feel amazing. You feel like you’re sparking, and you just want to show
them off to the world. Because someone thinks that you’re amazing, and you
think they are amazing too.
“Shall we?” Andrew
asked, holding my hand.
I smiled. “Yes, we
shall.”
I could tell you a
lot of things about what happened next. I can tell you that Andrew put his arm
around me, holding me so close that I can smell the scent of his mint-flavored
gum on his breath. I can tell you that he smelled very nice, as I did expect. I
can tell you how warm his body felt, in comparison to the chilly fall air.
However, I can’t tell you who won the game, or even what the score was.
Everything else simply didn’t feel as important as Andrew. Andrew, this super
amazing guy, who liked me for some strange reason that I didn’t understand. I
wondered what he was thinking. I wondered if he was happy, or if he was
enjoying the pretzel, even though he had let me have most of it.
I had lost all
track of time however when people were gathering their things I could tell that
it was time to leave.
“Ready for dinner?”
Andrew asked. His eyes sparkled in the darkness, signaling that perhaps that there was more ahead.
I nodded. This
date was perfect, and I couldn’t wait to see what he had up his sleeve next.
