Tales from the Past

His name was Robert. He was in my English 101 class my freshman year in my two-year college, and he was gorgeous! Short, curly blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a bright, dazzling smile. I was not exactly the type of young woman men paid attention to, too skinny, flat chested, and awkward as hell, so I knew I stood no chance with him, but it was fun to fantasize that I did.

I went to a Saturday night dance at the college with a group of girlfriends and we were having fun dancing, and I noticed HE was there! He started walking toward our group, and amazingly, came up to me and asked me if I wanted to dance. Boy howdy, did I! After that dance I thanked him and turned to leave, and he asked me if I wanted to dance AGAIN! ‘Woo-hooooo!’ part of my inner self said. ‘C’mon, it’s just a dance, how could HE possibly be interested in YOU?’ the part of my inner self who was sane said. He danced with me through three songs, and then we went outside and sat in the grass.

My poor mother, worried that her eldest daughter would never find a man, had given me advice in talking to the opposite sex. It was rather archaic, she having grown up in the 1940s, but she said that men don’t want to talk about you they want to talk about themselves so that’s what I did, asking him questions about his family, his interests, etc. We probably talked for 45 minutes, and by this time I’d calmed down enough to come to the realization that he was just a friendly guy and really had no interest in me. That changed that following Monday when he asked me after English class, after having not even acknowledged me in class just like usual, to go to lunch with him. I should have been suspicious.

We went to a drive-in restaurant and I ordered a hot dog, french fries, and a Coke. His order was “just water, please.” Gulp. As I guiltily tried to eat my lunch he tells me as he was leaving the dance that night a friend of his had told him I might be more interested in him than he in me, or something, and maybe something about his already having a girlfriend. I don’t even remember the exact words, but that’s about the gist, (or grist, as my wonderful but prone to malapropisms friend likes to say). I don’t remember what I said at all, but I do remember wishing I could teleport myself out of his car somewhere else, anywhere else.

Long story short, I survived and have had a pretty excellent life. And Robert? If by chance you’re reading this and you recognize yourself? I looked you up online a few years back and you look like “Poor decision making Rob Lowe” from the old DirecTV commercials now, so there!

Related posts:

Pertanyaan itu sering saya dapatkan ketika bertemu rekan-rekan yang masih awam mengenai kerja seorang Public Relations, pertanyaan ini perlu di kemukakan kembali agar terbangun persepsi yang benar…

Portrait photography doesn’t always come to mind when thinking about neutral density filters. ND filters are more commonly used in landscape or street photography to capture movement, but ND filters…

Since moving into college, I have decided it would be a good idea to get a job (also, my parents have been telling me to get one). In high school, I never had a real job because my parents wanted me…