young love [part 2]

if you haven't read the first installment, go here...

school started in September. 

and the very first day of school, i met him.

oh great. 

now what about my no-dating-this-year-because-boys-are-useless-and-terrible pledge?

yeah, that went out the window at first glance & heart flutter.

this boy. 

this boy was different. 

i mean, he lit up every room and every conversation that he walked into. 

he was fearless and funny and ridiculously good looking.

all 27 pimples and nose-too-big-for-his-face and 140 pounds and 6 feet of him.

skinny, pimply...

and so captivating

[he still is]

see what i mean? :)

so the no dating resolution went out the window.

and we started to talk a lot, and we started to feel those butterflies. you know the ones.

he invited himself to sit with my friends at lunch
now that i think about it, we were the popular sophomore girls. 
my friends were very cute girls. this wasn't just about me, but that's ok ;)
and he'd walk with me to class and find me during passing periods. you know, on purpose.

it must have been the first or second week of school
there was a youth-group "see you at the pole" rally that all the cool kids were going to.

out of the whole huge crowd of people on that football field,
he was wandering around and apparently looking for me?

he asked me for gum, we held hands when it was time to pray, we hugged at the end of the evening.
pure bliss for my 15-year-old-shy-girl heart, right?

the next week, our school went on a school-wide retreat

we chatted and ate together and became fast friends.

he even put his arm around me as he walked me to my cabin after the school wide 

"bear-your-entire-soul-around-the-bonfire-night"

but then it all went terribly wrong.

my insecure, awkward, no confidence ego reared its ugly head.

you see, this boy was funny.

and he liked to joke around and tease people. [mostly me]

and the last morning at breakfast, he teased me about this face i made while singing.

[i was on the worship team so i was singing in front of everyone 

and he was watching me the entire time, of course.]

apparently i would raise one eyebrow? who knew?

so he made fun of me for that, and his friends joined in, and at the end of the little roast it was decided that i had tourettes syndrome. which was actually something that hit me deep down because i think i had a mild case of it when i was younger [no joke]. i've grown out of it now, but i definitely used to have strange ticks and uncontrollable things i would do. just ask my family, they'll tell you allll about it.

so i was hurt and embarrassed and couldn't talk to him anymore.

unbeknownst to me, he was confused and shakin' in his boots, thinking that he'd just ruined it.

after a long bus ride home, where we rode in separate busses,

we met up after the JV football game that night [which he'd played in] and he apologized.

and i melted.

and we sat together the entire varsity game.

the conversation was as easy as anything i've ever experienced. 

i think that's what drew me in so quickly. 

because the shy, scared-to-say-5-words-to-a-boy, 

socially awkward gal does not know easy conversation.

he gave me his jacket to wear and i chewed on ice until about 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

this was very strategic because i knew he wanted to hold my hand.

a friend had told me earlier that night that he really liked me, and was devastated over the whole tourette's incident, and was going to do anything he could to get back in my good favor.

so i chewed that extra large cup-o-ice until there was almost no more time.

and then he grabbed my hand :)

that night i also i met his grandma and probably his parents, 

and then he asked for my phone number before he left.

i guess he repeated it to himself the entire ride home. that's what he told me.

and the minute he walked in his house, grabbed the phone and called me.

i think we must have talked for four hours.

easy breezy conversation, i'm telling you.

and it was all over from there.

i was done for, won over,
totally forgot about what's-his-name-who-kissed-dating-goodbye.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  [click here for part 3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .