The Story of S

After A and I broke up (8th grade style), I had a brief summer "romance" with the brother of a girl I played softball with. He was cute and fun, but immature (even for a 15 year old), so when the summer was over, so was our little fling.

I spent the beginning of 9th grade having fun with my friends, going to class, playing sports--the regular things. My good friend, O, had just gotten her first job--working at a pharmacy in the next town over. My sports schedule was so heavy, that I did not yet have time for a job, but even the fact that O had one made me feel pretty grown up. I went to visit her occasionally while she was working. Soon after she started working there, she started dating a coworker. After a few months, they were still dating, and since he wasn't from our town, her relationship with him opened up a whole new social network to our group of friends.

One day, when I went in to visit O, her boyfriend's friend was there visiting him. His friend, J, was pretty cute and I definitely took notice. He had apparently noticed me too, because later that night O called me and said that J had asked for my number. She wanted to know if she should give it to him. I told her to go ahead, and he called me a couple days later. We made plans to hang out the next weekend. We didn't plan anything specific--just that he would pick me up on Saturday afternoon (he was 17 and had a car). I was pretty excited. It was my first time actually being picked up by a guy in his own car. I felt so mature.

The day finally came, and he showed up as planned. He came to the door and I headed out with him. As we were walking to his car, I noticed that there was someone else sitting in his backseat. He noticed me looking, and seeming a little embarrassed, quickly explained: "That is my friend. He just broke up with his girlfriend and didn't feel like being alone. Is it okay if he comes along?" I was a little put-off by the change in plans, but what could I say? The poor guy had just had his heart broken. I tried hard to give J a sincere smile and told him that it wasn't a problem.

In the car, I found out a little about J's friend, S. Mainly that he was also 17, had actually gone to my high school for 7th and 8th grade before going to a regional tech school (he had been in the grade above me, even though he was two years older, but we were only in the same building for a year and didn't remember ever running into each other), and that he actually lived about a 10 minute walk from my house.

The three of us headed off to the mall (what else is a group of teenagers with no money supposed to do?) and spent most of the time in the music store, where J and S bickered about bands. J was pretty hyperactive all day--he had trouble sitting still and carrying on a conversation (I later found out that he had ADHD and never took his medication), so I ended up talking to S most of the time.

When J dropped S off that afternoon, S yelled back to the car that he would swing by my house and say "hi" sometime. I figured he never would, but I said "okay," and then J drove me home. J and I didn't kiss or anything. I was definitely not feeling sparks between us.

The next day, my grandparents drove to my house to have lunch with my family. We had just sat down to lunch when the doorbell rang. To my surprise, S was at the door with a friend. I recognized S's friend as someone who was in my grade, but who I never had classes with. S said that they were bored and decided to stop by. I talked with them for a couple minutes, but told them that my grandparents were visiting and I had to go back in. S said that he would come by another time.

I didn't realize that by "another time" he meant that night. At about 9PM I heard a knock on the front door. My parents had gone upstairs to watch TV in bed (as they always did), and my brother was in his room reading. I went to the door and saw S standing there. I was pretty surprised to see him. I let him in and yelled up to my parents that S, the guy who stopped by earlier, was there. My Mom yelled down, "ok," and S and I went and sat in the living room.

We talked for awhile before he got around to telling me the point of his visit. He had apparently asked J if it was okay for him to pursue me, and J had given him the green light (later, J stopped talking to him because S "pursued me"--leaving me to wonder if anything S had lied when he said that J was okay with it). I was a bit surprised, but S and I had had good conversation all the day before, and I was definitely more interested in him than J. I did not expect him to kiss me that night, but he did. We talked for a few more minutes, but it was getting a little late, and I told him that he should probably head home. He left, promising to call me the next day.

When the door closed, I heard my Mom yell down, "What was that? Was someone here?" I went upstairs and told her yes, that S just left, and didn't she remember me yelling up that he was there? She and my Dad got MAD. Apparently, my Mom had not heard me say that at all. I still to this day cannot figure out why she yelled down "okay" if she didn't hear me, but there was obviously a miscommunication somewhere along the way. So they got pissed, and told me that I could not see S for awhile because they didn't know him or trust him (they thought we had been sneaking around). This, of course, only increased my desire to see him. We talked on the phone over the next week, until my parents finally relented and decided to give him a chance.

My Mom and Dad were pretty leery of S from the beginning. I guess they knew better than me. I thought S was great. Sure, he was a little immature. Sure, he made gross jokes, watched terrible movies, and listened to music that just sounded like yelling to me--but he seemed like a little bit of a "bad boy," and my slightly rebellious 15-year-old self liked that. We started spending a lot of time together, often at his house or mine (even though he was old enough, he had never gotten his license). My parents seemed to warm up to him a little bit, with all of the time they spent around him, which definitely made my life easier.


I need to continue later. I don't think I have the energy left for the rest of the story. So, TO BE CONTINUED.