I had so many problems
with people who liked to tease me that when I finally met someone who actually
liked me for myself; I didn’t recognize it.
Doug was nice looking and kind of shy.
He was really smart, too smart for me, I thought. At any rate, Doug stopped me at my locker one
day—I had to be a senior in high school by now—and asked about a homework
assignment. I scrambled around in my
notebook until I found the information he needed and gave it to him. He thanked me and suggested that we get
together some time after school. Considering my
previous history with “not understanding males,” I ignored him and went to
class. A couple of days later, he
stopped by my table in the lunchroom and asked if he could join me. I nodded yes because I didn’t know what else
to say and didn’t want to sound like an idiot.
When
he sat down, he smiled and reminded me that I had not responded to his
suggestion about getting together after school.
“Charize,”
he started. “You never did say anything
the other day. You just walked off.”
“I
know. I wasn’t sure if you were teasing me or what. I get that a lot.”
“I
wasn’t teasing. I was serious. I’d like to take you to a movie. Is that possible?”
I
hesitated. I looked around the room to
make sure other people were not just waiting for a reaction. No one was paying attention to us. “I’d like that, Doug,” I finally said. When
would you like to go?”
“How
about this weekend,” he smiled. “Give me
your address and I’ll pick you up.”
I
gave him my address and phone number and then he left. I couldn’t believe I actually had a date
with a really great guy!
I
spent hours getting dressed for our date.
When he picked me up, the look on his face let me know it had been worth
it. We had a great time. After the movie, we stopped at a restaurant
for a bite to eat. I was really too
nervous to eat much, but I really enjoyed the conversation. Apparently, he did, too since he asked me out
again.
We
dated for two months and then I saw him with another girl. They were talking outside a store at the
mall. I couldn’t hear what they were
saying, but I could see him smiling at her and her smiling back. I got so mad; I left the mall without buying
a thing. When he called me later that
day, I let him have it with both barrels and then hung up. He tried calling me back three times before
he gave up. Hurt and disappointed, I chalked this
relationship up as another bad experience.
When I saw him at school, he tried to talk to me, but I wouldn’t
listen. Finally, he wrote me a note
asking what was wrong and left it in my locker.
I wrote back, “Ask the girl you were giggling with at the mall”. He caught up with me later that day and told
me the girl was his cousin.
“Charize,
you saw me at the mall with my cousin and didn’t bother to speak to me? And you’re mad about that?”
“I
thought you were flirting with her. She
certainly seemed to be flirting with you.”
“For
the record, if you want to know something about me, please ask. Don’t just make assumptions. I thought I’d done something to you.”
Instead
of being apologetic, I got snippy.
“Well, forgive me your highness.
I made a mistake.”
He
looked at me and shook his head. “I thought
we had something that was going somewhere.
I was wrong. I really like you,
but your insecurities are enough to drive a person crazy. I have done nothing to make you distrust me,
but here we are. And you don’t even
think you owe me an apology. Fine! You don’t owe me anything. Have a nice life.” And he walked away.
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