Sweet Sixteen

At this point in my love life, I think it’s best to introduce one of my best friends, Mary Marks. Mary is tall, skinny, straight hair, hazel eyes and pretty. She is pretty great, except for the one factor that no best friends ever want to have in common…not just liking the same boy, but liking the same two boys.

It was sophomore year, my 16^th birthday party, and I had people over for a round of twister, Chinese food and cake. It was a great night, mostly. Then we pulled out the truth or dare Jenga. (Don’t play this game. It’s always a bad idea. No matter what you find out, you wish you didn’t.) The truth was mine. The question entailed me listing the boys I have liked. As I narrowed the list down to just high school, I recited: Jacob (no surprise), Richard (not that big of a surprise) and Casey Cook (shock).

Mary had known about Richard. We both discussed his dreamy-ness in health class. She had Spanish with him. I had SGA with him. It didn’t seem to bother us that much. But for Casey, who was in our health class, neither of us had discussed liking him.

Note that the problem of us liking these two boys did not surface until the following year. (I don’t think Mary ever saw it as a problem). Either way, that’s a story for next time. For now, let me just tell you a little about the less than greatness that was Casey.

He like the majority of the boys that make up my list had blue eyes and blond hair. He also was also very smart, not in honor society, but he was in all advanced classes. The thing which separated him from the pack, you ask? He play guitar. (No matter what anyone tells you, playing the guitar is a female magnet. So ladies, please stop saying it isn’t. We aren’t fooling anyone.)

I also felt a connection with Casey because his mom and my dad were good friends when they were in law school together. I like to imagine our parents playing bridge one night (they both played bridge together) discussing how they hoped their children would meet and be friends…and be in love. (The last one might be a stretch.)

So at the age of 16, I faced something I had never experienced before. I liked two boys at the same time. Neither of them were my NJBs, but both of them kept me doing well in school. (I know you don’t understand the correlation, but just as I think it’s attractive when a boy is smart, I thought boys thought the same way…I was wrong-ish.)