It's been a few years since I've written a new story. If you've read any of my stories, you know I pretty much just write from the heart and off the top of my head. So here it goes. Oh, I want to thank one of my old writing friends for taking a chance on me and editing this story. She knows who she is. I really do appreciate her.
It all started when I was in high school. We lived in Michigan but my dad got a great job offer in Ohio. We had to move right after Easter so I had to start in a new school. I had two older sisters. One was recently married and the other stayed with her because she was graduating soon and starting college.
Where we moved had two high schools: a Catholic school and a public school. Seeing I wasn't Catholic it was a fairly easy choice. I started on the following Monday. It wasn't easy starting over and not knowing anyone, especially as an eighteen-year-old. Then there was always the problem the Ohio State followers had about the Michigan and Michigan State teams. They were always a big rivalry. I was never big into sports and just explained that I didn't care what team won. I said when I was in Michigan, I rooted for Michigan and now I was in Ohio, I'd root for Ohio. That seemed to handle the sports situation.
I didn't mention that I was an excellent student. Not to blow my own horn but I was an all A student and rarely had to study. If I saw someone struggling in a subject, I did my best to help. I made some new friends pretty fast by doing that. My pastime was working with computers. I wasn't all that good on the games but I loved the inner workings of them. In fact, I was hoping to go to college to study technical engineering. When it came to computers, typewriters, copy machines, and other electrical machines, I wanted to know everything about them all.
I had dated a lot when I was in Michigan and hoped to find someone here in Ohio. Even though I wasn't into sports I kept myself in good physical condition. Not to brag but I thought I was a rather handsome young fellow and was told so by many girls.
One of the first girls I met was Jenny. Damn, she was a cutie. She ended up being my partner in biology class. We hit it off great until I asked her out and she told me she had a boyfriend that went to the Catholic school. His name was Rod. I met him a couple of weeks later.
I loved dating and making out with the girls. I really never tried to get into their pants but a couple of times thing went further than they should have. See, my mom constantly reminded me of how to treat girls. She would say, "treat them the way you would want boys to treat your sisters". For some reason that always stuck with me and I did treat the girls I dated with courtesy.
Summer came and I spent a lot of time at the beach. The girls were plentiful and I was gone all the time. Between the girls and learning what I could about computers, time flew by. I dated dozens of girls but never really got serious about any of them. My best friend was still Jenny. She was the one gal I could have fell for but I didn't go after another guys girl.
The following summer I got a job at a super market. My dad said if I needed money to go out and earn it, which is what I did. I started my senior year and went into a Co-op class. What this was about was I would spend half a day in school and the other half I would have a job to go to. I asked the teacher if my job at the supermarket qualified and he said it did.
I took advanced typing and found that I was the only guy in the class. Talk about getting the pick of the litter. I probably dated half of the forty girls in class. If a typewriter broke down, Mr. Willis, our teacher, asked me to look at it. Most of the time, I was able to repair it.
It was during the Christmas holiday that I was working in the store with my buddy Don. He went to the Catholic school but we became really good friends. A girl came into the store that I didn't remember seeing before. She said hi to Don and talked to him a few minutes before she went shopping with her mom. All I could do was stare at her.
She just caught my eye and I knew I needed to know more about her. Don told me that she attended the same school as him and was a senior like he was. He mentioned she lived on the other side of town but just happened to be in the neighborhood. I must have asked him a dozen questions about her until he told me to ask her myself. She and her mom were checking out in my aisle. He told me her name was Kathy.
I said, "Hi Kathy."
She just looked at me.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
"No, my name is Jerrod and I would really like to get to know you. Are you busy Friday night?"
She stared at me and looked back at her mother. I know she was lost for words.
"Kathy, do you believe in love at first sight? I do and I want to get to know you better."
Her mother started toward the door with her groceries but Kathy was still standing there. She took out a piece of paper and gave me her phone number.
"Call me," she said and quickly headed for the door.
I called her that night and she said she didn't know what she was doing since she never met me until that day. I told her that I felt something between us that I never felt before and I want to know more. All I wanted was a simple date so we could talk and get to know each other. She finally agreed and we were going to a restaurant and maybe a movie.
When I picked her up in my little car she said her mom wasn't thrilled with her going out with me and to be home early. We talked during dinner and after the movie, I took her home. She invited me into the house where I met her mother. She was nice enough but I don't think she was too keen on me dating her daughter. Her father was a truck driver and I never met him until a couple of weeks later. He didn't seem very happy with me either. I guess my feelings for their daughter showed.
We went down to the finished basement, which was a finished rec room and had a TV down there. We sat on the couch and talked some more. That's when I leaned over and kissed her for the first time. We both knew that after that first kiss that we would be a couple.
She told me that she never dated a lot and that her parents were quite strict. But since she turned eighteen, they loosened the reins. She'd never been with a guy and said she was saving herself for marriage. I was only the second guy she invited into the rec room. I asked who the other guy was and she smiled and said a guy from school. His mother and her mother were good friends and worked together.
We changed the conversation and she told me she was going to go to the community college and take some pre-nursing courses and if she liked it she was going to a major college to earn a four year degree. I explained to her that I was going to college for my engineering degree. She knew I was big on repairing computers. I told her I wasn't sure what college I was going to but I had a number of scholarships to choose from. What I really wanted was to be close to her.
I can't explain it but Kathy was the only girl I felt so strong about. It just wasn't like me to feel that way. Was it truly love or what they call puppy love? I just didn't know.
