We all have experienced it. We see that one person everywhere we look. Thousands of faces a day are not noticed, but for some reason, we keep noticing That One Face. Mine was an angel. Even on a cloudy day the sun shone through her hair and the angels shined lights that made her eyes sparkle.
And today, in HDFS 376, or Human Sexuality class, at a major US university somewhere in the Midwest in the year 2000, she was sitting next to me.
I ignored my good friend, roommate, and ROTC classmate Wendy sitting next to me so I could talk to this beauty. She was fairly tall, about 5'7" or 5'8". Blonde, darker than if it had come from a salon, but appeared to be natural. Great figure, probably an athlete, not a hint of makeup to ruin her looks. The eyes- a perfect blue, sparkling like a mountain spring on a perfect summer's day. And sexiest of all, she appeared to not even realize it.
So, I tried the oldest, most tired line used a million times in HDFS 376 Human Sexuality, "My buddy took this last semester. He said there is a lot of notes, the tests are difficult, and there are a lot of worksheets in the workbook, but he said the lab was worth it."
"Did he try that line, too, and did he also swing and miss?"
Strike one, but a baseball analogy. I had two more misses. "He said it didn't work on Day 1, but he still is dating her..."
"Next time, try something like, 'Hi, my name is Amanda.'"
That was a good pitch to swing at. "'Hi, my name is Amanda!' How's that? Even if my name is actually Brent."
"Well, 'Amanda' or 'Brent', it's nice to meet you. And I heard the lab was fun, but I didn't see where to sign up for that, so I am only in the lecture..."
I appeared to be in!
Over that fall semester, Amanda and I became friends. She became friends with my roommate Wendy since they were both psych majors. We spent time together. Amanda would come over to study HDFS 376 or study with Wendy. I would occasionally show off my cooking skills.
Since I lived in a house of 4 ROTC cadets, we all would come and go and were not there together too often, but we usually had a movie night on Sundays, and some of our friends would periodically join us. Amanda- or Mandy to her friends- became a semi-regular fixture at our place. But I could never quite get to that level I wanted.
After the fall semester and my thus far failed attempt at our "Lab" partnership, I went home for a few days around Christmas. My mom said I should join them at Aunt Fran and Uncle Johnny's 50th Anniversary party. I did like Uncle John. He was a southerner who liked to tell jokes and stories, and I always liked to talked to him. They also had a couple of grandsons who were minor league baseball players who hopefully would make it to the majors someday.
So I went to the party on my way back to campus. I talked to the brothers who expected to play some Triple A ball in Des Moines and Omaha, so I was excited to think this coming summer I had no ROTC commitments since I would be done with the 4 year program, but not graduated just yet. Then Fran and John asked if I remembered their granddaughter Amanda. She was going to the same university that I was going to and maybe we had met. I remembered the gangly, all legs and elbows, big glasses and braces girl from about 10 years ago. I said, "yeah, I remember her. Is she here? Maybe I can see if we have any of the same classes or what she's up to."
They called her name and when she turned around, she was wearing glasses, but it was the beautiful angel that had become my friend Mandy.
My heart skipped, jumped, then shattered. Shit, Mandy was my cousin. Something like my 6th cousin but still family. And she realized it at the exact same moment I did.
"Mandy! Have you seen your grades yet?"
Aunt Fran said, "well, if she's 'Mandy', you must be friends."
"Yes, Grandma, he is the ROTC guy I was telling you about. I am friends with his roommates too." And then she looked right at me, "but I had no idea we were related."
I didn't have any classes with Mandy that semester, but Wendy did. Now I have no idea what Mandy and Wendy discussed, but Wendy heard my "whoa is me, my broken heart " song a lot. She informed me that as distant as we were, we could still get married in any US state or country in the world. She gave me hope that there could still be a chance. And, as I kept telling myself, she talked with Mandy on a daily basis. And Mandy was still a regular at movie night and study times.
I liked "Full Metal Jacket" or "Animal House". Wendy and Mallory (an air force cadet roommate) liked "Top Gun". Mandy liked "Dirty Dancing" or some romantic comedy junk. But we watched a lot of different movies and genres.
As the spring semester wound down, my other 3 roomies got their summer assignments, i had planned on taking a summer class and would have the house to myself for a good chunk of the summer. Mandy asked if I knew of a place to rent for the summer so she could take a summer class. I asked my roommates and they said she could stay. She might have to move around bedrooms depending on who was around, but sure, she could stay, she was more than welcome for the summer.
All the roomies were gone right after finals, and it was just Mandy and I at home. We were watching "Dirty Dancing" (again). She was cuddled up next to me on the couch, giving me a painful hard-on and an emptiness in my heart because she seemed to be unavailable for me. She commented on how sexy Patrick Swayze was because he could dance, and I said, "Oh, I can do that. He's not that good of a dancer." It was the same banter we always had during this movie. But this time, she called my bluff: "Prove it."
"Prove what? That I can dance? Are we gonna do 'the lift' at the end?" I asked...(heartbeat and hard-on about to cause a heart attack)
"I don't know that I trust you that much, but show me how sexy you can dance and maybe we will see what it leads to..."
Ohmigod ohmigod OH! MY! GOD!! Was this it?! So, I got up, extended my hand, and said, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" and she took my hand! Yes, I used the cheesiest line from the movie, but the line that seems to make every woman cream her panties. And even though I cannot dance, I tried to mimic every step that I ever saw in the movie, short of the lift.
"Not bad, Sexy. I woulda never guessed you could dance Brent."
"Thanks, now watch this". I am not sure of the mechanics or movements involved almost 20 years later, but I somehow pulled her in close, spun her as far out as our arms reached, and twirled her back into my arms.
Time stopped. We were both looking down at the others chest, breathing hard. We both slowly looked up at the same pace until our eyes met. Now, when this crap happens in a movie, I call bullshit. Life doesn't happen like that. But it did.
And then I went in for a kiss.
It took two semesters after the initial strike. Many meals, hundreds of hours watching movies and studying, and jacking off to thoughts of her. This was all before everyone had their own smartphone with a camera so I didn't even have a picture. I just had memories, hopes, desires...
And dirty thoughts.
And our lips were touching! First Base never tasted so good!
