our story: the first date

After that infamous swim suit meeting, the next week at school was very different. I started looking for that tall shy kid. In History class I moved a few rows over and sat behind him (bold I know!). In PE he would look over, and smile when I saw him.  One time he even sat down in the weight room and said "hi". Swoon.  He was a regular Casanova.

After school we started seeing each other a ton. A bunch of us, were all of a sudden, always hanging out.  He had an entire posse of friends who always followed Ty's doings. We went fishing in the river, we would hike over to their "fort" that they built during basketball season. Four-wheeler rides, off roading in either his truck or my suburban.  He would tell me to call him when I got home from school, so I would, and just writing this down I'm remembering why I don't often tell our "story". We were BABIES. If I find anything embarrassing, it's admitting that we were "high school sweethearts". I don't know why, it just does.

If I could find a magic lamp with a genie inside I would give just one wish, "my kids will not date until college". And in a few posts you will understand why, and no, not in some kind of sordid risqué way. Sheesh, your minds.

So, hanging out every day after school, yada yada yada. My memories of those times are becoming hazy. I thought he was cute, and he was always kind. His friends were fun to hang out with and he always had great stories to tell. Anywhere we would go in our Valley he would say, "this one time...". Or "my grandpa...." or "we crashed/camped/shot something here..." It was fascinating. All of a sudden this small, strange town felt like a wonderful Mayberry and I had Opie to hang out with. He knew everyone and everything and if he didn't someone in his family did.

On May 25th, the phone rang later in the afternoon. I was in my mom's bathroom and my sister brought in the phone, "It's him!" she whispered while covering the receiver with her hand. I got all excited and flustered and answered the phone. "Hey, a bunch of us are going to the movie tonight, do you want to go?"  he asked.

"Oh man, I wish I could, but it's my sisters birthday party" I answered. No big deal, I thought. We could hang out later.

"oh, um, ok." he stammered back. See you tomorrow.

"ok, see you tomorrow" I answered.

I put the receiver down on the bathroom counter and it instantly rings. "Hello?" I answered.

"Annie!", it was Shawn. Seems like he was always shouting that at me.
"What?!" I asked.
"He's asking you out on a date!" he shouted over the phone. See?
"What? Oh! I didn't know, oh, um, it's my sisters birthday party though. Hold on,"- I motioned to Sarah and whispered "He's asking me out on a "date" tonight!". Her face lit up, "Go go! I'll have tons more birthdays!"
"Shawn?" I asked, "I didn't know it was a date. I can go."
"Ok, he'll pick up you up at ..." I can't remember the time.

You'll have to excuse me if the details are fuzzy, it was almost 15 years ago. And I just realized that next year I will have been dating my husband for half of my life. Insert Twilight Zone music.

After I had primped and lotioned and make-up'd and preened, I heard a deep rumbling outside of my house. A very loud and deep rumbling. A grey and bondoed up 1970 Ford short bed pick up truck was in my driveway. Pay close attention my friends, this truck plays a vital role in "our" story. It's actually sitting in my driveway as I type. Sometimes I refer to it as "the other woman" in our relationship, but only when I'm really tired and cranky.

I digress, the door knocks. In walks my tall, squeaky clean great gatsby date. Sometimes I wish he still had that sweet hair cut. He meets Dad, he meets Mom, we awkwardly walk out to the truck. He lets me in, and slams the door. Don't worry, you still have to slam that door to get it to stick right. The dome light was on and it was...red. Hmmm, strange I thought.  I could see all the stickers on his dashboard. Fox, Edelbrock, Ford, Calvin peeing on something, LBZ, and others.  Hmm, strange again. We drove the 5 minutes down the boulevard and were at our date. The Pioneer Theatre.

If you've never been to our little town, when you do come, you must watch a movie at the Pioneer. It is quaint, and old, and has red velvet seat cushions and red velvet wall covering. The sound quality is horrible and the screen is poor, but it is perfect, all the way down to the plastic rope lighting in the aisles. The wood paneling in the lobby is lovingly adorned with some of the most beautiful men in the entire world. Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, John Wayne (wait, sorry, he's not hot at all). There are others, but I always just wink at Steve when I'm there. And yes, they are STILL there. Thank goodness, I'll cry when they take them down. We ordered popcorn and a drink and sat down next to Chandra and Shawn. The lights go off, the music swells, the movie starts.

Can I just say something? City of Angels had to be the worst first date movie in the world. The only good part is it was filmed at Lake Tahoe so I could whisper to Ty that I had been to most of those places. Other than that? Snooze fest and awkward town. Nothing like watching people make out and die to make a first date when you are 16 horrible. We sat there frozen like mummies for 90 minutes. He didn't hold my hand, which was ok. I was really nervous about that happening anyways. When it ended we whispered a few stupid things, chuckled and he drove me home.

I still liked this cute boy. But those dash stickers had me a little worried.

Next installment: The summer of dating...and maybe a first kiss