History of Love: Part II

Okay, now it gets juicy. Actually, strike that. With me, it never got JUICY, but it did get better.



Ninth grade is one I would like to forget (crush-wise). I started liking this boy named Clint Barney after he asked me to dance at a stake dance one time. He smelled good. I think it was Eternity. That did it for me. I think I liked him all year. I had a friend who was always trying to hook us up. She convinced me to write him a note that she would deliver to him. I am pretty sure it was about the NCAA March Madness tournament. I also am pretty sure she added some things to the note before she gave it to him. He started avoiding me after that. And one day in Geometry, I found a note on my desk from Clint's "anonymous friend." Basically, it said "Clint doesn't like you. Leave him alone." I didn't tell anyone about it; I was humiliated. I mean, I wasn't some crazy stalker girl. I was a nice, quiet girl who happened to have some very vocal friends. I still to this day wonder what Melody wrote in that note...



Let's leave that painful memory behind us. Tenth grade brought with it my all-time #1 crush, my "comebacker." Over the next four years, and in between many other guys, I always seemed to come back to this one. His name was Jake Stevenson, and I still smile when I think about him. He had dark skin, dark hair and the best smile you've ever seen. We were friends in ninth grade, but my bff Melissa had a thing for him, so I refrained. But by the time we were sophomores, she had moved on. And that left the door open for me. One of the best things about Jake was his voice. The boy could sing. He also played football and baseball and was just about the best thing ever. Needless to say, girls loved him. And he loved girls. He knew the power he had over girls and flaunted it to his advantage. The years have made the details a little fuzzy, but we started hanging out. I asked him to Preference at the end of the year (he turned 16 just a few weeks before--I was his first date). We danced close. He held my hand (my first real hand hold, not counting the one at EFY). I was smitten. I wanted him to kiss me good night, but I was scared, so I took him home before the other couple in my car. After that, things got weird. He sort of acted like that date never happened, and that we were just friends. For the next year, I went back and forth between hating him and falling for him again and again. Like I said, he was my comebacker.

Junior year, as I tried not to think about Jake, I dated two very different guys. First was Russ Broadhead. He was the tallest guy I dated, at 6'4". He tricked me into liking him. I told him I had a crush on someone, he told me he liked someone else, and so I thought it was safe to hang out with him. I asked him to be my date to movie night in the park, as the guy I asked first (Tyler Campbell) couldn't come. There is a park behind my parents house, and a bunch of my friends from the volleyball team decided it would be a good idea to run an extension cord from the house down to the park, set up a tv, and have a movie night. We chose The Sandlot, although I can't remember why. We all invited dates, took blankets and snacks, and watched the movie. Russ kept me warm (don't read too much into that). I realized by the end of the night that he liked me. That was a surprise. I had never thought of him like that. But there's something very appealing about a boy who likes you. I fell for it. He took me on a date. Finally got the courage to hold my hand. It was fun. And then another boy asked me to a dance, and so Russ thought it would be okay to ask my sister. And that bothered me. He didn't really even know her. Why did he have to go there?

The guy I went to the dance with was Mark Madsen. He was super smart, probably the smartest person I have ever met. He was also very skinny. I bet I weighed more than he did. He wasn't really all that handsome, either. I don't know what it was about him that attracted me to him, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he liked me, too. It's so nice to be liked. After the dance, I had sort of a love triangle with Mark and Russ. I had feelings for both of them (which was great, because it left me very little time to think about Jake), and spent many hours trying to decide what to do. I eventually chose Mark. I think it was his intelligence that won me over. That, and the fact that I didn't get a pain in my neck when I danced with him. I asked him to Preference, the last dance of the year, and he kissed me. It was my first kiss. I was 17.

This is becoming a marathon, so I'll end for now. I'm going to go see if I can dig up any pictures. Now that would be fun...