When I was in middle school, my mom took a job as a nurse at the local hospital which meant she had to work all kinds of crazy hours. So, on the afternoons after school when she had to work, Mom would have my younger sister and me stay with the Thompsons, who lived next door.
Unlike us, our neighbors were devout Christians (I couldn't tell you the exact denomination, but they were hardcore) who lived particularly WASP-y lives. That was quite the culture shock to us Jewish kids, who had no idea how to process an existence filled with potpourri, large paintings of Jesus, and quiet condemnation.
The Thompsons had two children: a son who was my sister's age and a daughter, named Krissy, who was a year younger than me. They had a playroom in their finished basement, and we'd all hang out down there till my dad came to pick us up and take us to Roy Rogers for dinner.
Krissy wouldn't have anything to do with boys. So, she and my sister would play 'family' with her dolls. That left me to do my best to dodge Krissy's younger brother -- the definition of a little shit whose favorite activities included kicking, biting, and crying to his very sympathetic mother when I tried to defend myself.
It should have been a miserable experience (and mostly it was), except for one thing: I had a thing for Krissy. She was thin, blonde, and quite pretty; always dressed in fuzzy sweaters and tight jeans. The chance to stare at her all afternoon (when I wasn't dodging her little brother), almost made it all worthwhile.
Not that Krissy was at all interested in me. That girl was untouchable. She kept everyone at arm's length, haughty and reserved. Like she was a higher being and all of us were supposed to be supplicant to her superiority. This all happened well before Frozen was a thing, but I can tell you, even Elsa would have called Krissy an ice queen. Yet none of that stopped young me from crushing on her, hard.
When I turned 13 (and my sister was 11), Mom got comfortable with leaving us home alone for a couple hours and we stopped going to the Thompsons' house. In high school, I mostly lost track of Krissy. She wasn't in my grade, and it's not like we ran in the same orbits or even the same solar system. I'd see her sometimes -- randomly, at a distance -- and be reminded of how pretty she was. But that was all.
And then I graduated high school, left for Boston, and forgot all about that stuff.
*
My sophomore year, at age 20, I came back home for the summer for the first time since I'd started college. The year before, I'd managed to pick up a bunch of temp jobs and stay near school. But the most recent semester had been rough, and I needed a reprieve.
There were a lot of factors. I had no idea what to major in -- the strong feeling I had about my original degree turned out to be hatred. My grades, understandably, suffered. I'd had my first serious girlfriend that year and it was a nightmare relationship, in retrospect. Dysfunctional and disastrous, in almost every respect.
Also, my roommate was a tremendous asshole, my friend group fractured over some dumb drama (not worth going into), and I got a nasty flu in February that lingered till April. In other words, I'd had my annus horribilis. I needed to retreat and regroup.
Home was not my first choice. I got along with my family OK, but we lived in one of those stereotypical small-minded small towns with nothing to do and lots to resent. The few friends I had from high school, that could have made things enjoyable (or at least bearable), were all away on their own adventures.
To give you an idea of how long ago all this happened, I got a job that summer at the local Blockbuster Video. An undersized store in the strip mall across from the A&P, it wasn't a bad setup for the summer. It paid minimum wage, but the hours were good, and I got lots of free movies. Mostly I stayed behind the register, joked around with my coworkers, and watched the summer float by.
And that's how I ran into Krissy again.
I hadn't seen her in at least two years and the time had been
kind
. She was still thin, but her body had filled out. Krissy was wearing her standard uniform of a white, fuzzy sweater and blue jeans, but on her current body it all curved and swelled in the most scrumptious ways.
Her face had gone from 'pretty' to 'flat-out gorgeous' with a sharp nose and chin, and ice-blue eyes. Her golden blonde hair, pulled back with a hot pink head band, hung poker straight down past her shoulders.
Krissy was in the store by herself, eyeing the new release wall like it had done something rude to her. It was a Thursday afternoon, the sun streamed through the glass storefront, and so it was mostly quiet. There was another woman with her two kids browsing the family section, but that was it for customers.
I stood behind the register and, I'm embarrassed to say, straight up stared at my former crush girl. My co-worker, Steve, was standing next to me and he noticed her as well.
"Who is that hottie?" he asked, elbowing me in the ribs. He was a tall guy, pale, and built like Grimace from the old McDonald's ads. He was constantly sweaty, regardless of the weather, and smelled strangely of baby powder.
"She's my neighbor," I said, doing my best to sound disinterested. "We used to play together as kids."
"I'd like to play family with her right now," he said, and licked his thick, purple lips. I forced out a nervous chuckle. Krissy was going to spit in his face. Although, knowing Steve, that might have been exactly what he was hoping for.
The woman with her kids came over and asked a question, drawing Steve reluctantly away. A few moments later, Krissy came up front to the register. I don't think she recognized me at first. But then I saw her azure eyes round into recognition.
"Hello Jacob," she said, and smiled slightly.
It took me a moment to process that she was talking to me. I'd been 'Jake' for over a decade by that point and (I'm aware of how dumb this is) I didn't realize right away that Jacob equaled me. Krissy was seen as one of the 'smart kids' and while I wasn't so bad myself, I knew she'd always seen me as a lunkhead. My current behavior couldn't have been helping with that image. Finally, I was able to gather my wits and say hi back.
"You're at school now?" I asked. I assumed that, since Krissy was a year younger than me, she'd have just finished her freshman year.
"Yes, at Messiah," Krissy said.
I knew that was a Christian college out in Pennsylvania, but that was about it.
"It's nice," she said. A slightly more genuine grin played on her lips. Like she was remembering a private joke.
When I reached to scan her movies, I noticed that Krissy had chosen two romance films -- both famous for having particularly steamy sex scenes. That didn't seem very Krissy-like at all. I had to assume that she wasn't aware of the content, but there was no way I could think of to warn her without coming off as a perv, myself.
