I really enjoyed thinking back on these true events and I hope you enjoy it as well. This story is a bit more gentle than some of my other ones.
*****
I nodded my head and pretended to be interested as Lyndsey explained why this weekend's party was going to be better than last weekend's, and the weekend's before that, and the one before that. It's not that they weren't fun, they were, but it was hard to get excited from week to week as whoever's parents weren't going to be home got a chance to play host and pretend their ability to get a keg and play music was so much more awesome than the last person's ability to complete those tasks.
After Lyndsey stopped her rambling I stood at my locker a moment longer letting her move along, I didn't want to walk with her to my next class.
"Sounds fun"
I almost dropped my Chemistry book. Simon hadn't spoken to me in months, and maybe only once or twice all year. It was so awkward, we had grown up down the street from each other, we had played together on playgrounds, learned to ride bikes together, and pushed each other on the swings. Once we got to high school we went different directions, I was athlete, soccer and track, he got involved in drama (the school play, not teenage kid drama) and debate club. Some of my friends didn't really get along with his, and we eventually stopped talking. The fact that our last names were so similar kept our lockers next to each other. That meant we could never escape that awkwardness.
"Ummm ya, it'll be OK" I responded. He kept looking at me like he expected me to say more.
"Well ummmm, do you have plans for the weekend?" I asked to fill the silence.
"Well, actually ya, I do. It's my birthday, a couple of friends are coming over Friday night." He replied.
"Oh wow, ummm your birthday is Friday, Happy Birthday." I said with a bit less enthusiasm than I probably should have.
"No, people are coming over to my house Friday, today is actually my birthday."
Fuck, this was getting really uncomfortable. "Oh well happy birthday." I reply, at this point I would have been happy if an asteroid had struck me to end this conversation.
"Well I should get to class." He then paused, "but if you wanted to come over that would be great. Bring anyone you want." With that he gave me a genuine smile and walked away. He really was a nice guy, I wished I had made more of an effort to stay friends with him.
His house was six down and across the street from mine still. I could have walked through it in the pitch black and found my way easily despite not having been inside in years. I closed my locker and headed to class.
Thursday evening Lyndsey sent me some texts, she was so excited. It took me a few minutes to realize that this meant that she had a thing for this weekends host, a baseball player named Clint. Clint was a bit of a prick. He liked to grab my ass in the hall and act like it was hysterical. I wasn't flattering myself, he did it to a lot of other girls too.
It wasn't long after when I got my first text from Clint. It was to myself and about 15 other girls from school. It read:
"Rules for Friday:
1- No beer for girls in one pieces, BIKINIS ONLY
2- House rules for beer pong, You get shut out you streak, no exceptions!
3- Don't come if you're gonna pretend to have a boyfriend"
He was so gross, even worse than most of the guys.
The next day at school I was at my locker again when Clint appeared.
"I sent you a text, you got any questions?"
I looked at this prick and couldn't believe the balls on this guy. Did I have any questions about his requirements for his shit party? When I glanced away from him I noticed Simon looking at us from a distance. He didn't even want to come over to his locker when this moron was around. Then Clint actually snapped his fingers at me.
"You hear me? You got it? I want this party to be epic!"
I look him in the eye, and said "Hey Simon, that invitation for tonight still stand? I'd love to come."
I heard Simon clear his throat, clearly surprised to be addressed. "Umm ya of course."
Clint looked baffled, "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Sorry Clinty boy, I made other plans." I then turned and walked away. I wish I had come up with something better then "Clinty boy".
The rest of the day I debated if I really wanted to go to Simon's, maybe I should just not do anything. I knew who his friend's were, but I didn't actually know them, I felt like it would be an entire evening just like conversation we had the other day.
At the end of the day Kelly was waiting from me outside of my last class. Kelly was on the track team with me, she threw the shot put and discuss. She was very cute, but her large frame didn't attract much attention from the guys at school.
"I heard you're not going to Clint's tonight." She said.
"Ya just not in the mood, I think I'm gonna just stay in."
She stopped, "Oh I thought you were going to go to Simon's."
"Ummmm I thought about it, wait, do you know Simon?"
"Well I kind of know him but I do know his friend Sam." She trailed off.
I had never really considered who Kelly might have a thing for, but this made sense, Sam and Kelly had a few classes together. I had noticed they had become Facebook friends last week.
"Do you want to go to Simon's?" I asked while while nudging her side with my elbow, teasing her a little bit.
"I kind of do, but I can't go by myself, it would be weird."
"OK, we'll go to Simon's birthday party, I'll be your wingwoman."
"Oh no it's not like that, I think it'll be fun..." She was rambling.
"OK OK, just come by my house and we will walk over together."
I had no idea what I should wear, if I was going to Clint's I would have worn a short skirt with a thong underneath it, a tight top, or maybe something low cut. I would have spent the evening slightly self conscious and hoping not to be thrown into the pool.
I settled on a pair of jeans, and a "vintage" concert t-shirt. I had never seen the band on the shirt and had overpaid for it because I thought it would make me look cool. Kelly went a different route. She was really dolled up, with a ton of makeup. I almost offered to try and fix it for her but decided that would hurt her feelings. My parent's were so excited that I had decided to go see my old friend, they still spoke with his parents regularly and never understood why we didn't still get together everyday.
As we walked down the street I had such mixed emotions, I was afraid this would be painfully boring, I mean, I could see his parents cars' in the driveway. On the other hand, it was incredibly easy to remember all of the times when I had rode my bike down this short stretch and knocked on this very same door for his other birthday parties. As high school came to a close it seemed to come full circle that I was going to his 18th birthday party. I hadn't even considered inviting him to mine that had occurred three months earlier.
His mother greeted me at the door and gave me a big hug, his father a very warm hello. Simon was there with two other friends, James and Sam. Kelly was reduced to a middle schooler again, unable to even make contact with Sam. It's was pretty cute.
It was like travelling back in time, memories of eating mac and cheese at the dining room table flooded my mind, and while the TV was different, it was in the same room where we had watched cartoons.
Of course things quickly turned awkward. I realized I didn't know what to do with my hands when not holding a red solo cup, and Simon and his friends didn't appear to know what to do with girls around.
Eventually his parent's ordered some food which made conversation a little easier. After that we played a game that was similar to charades, and soon I was genuinely enjoying myself. It was amazing how much fun it could be when everyone wasn't trying to impress everyone else, it had been awhile since I had been in that position. All this time I had thought I had been with the cool fun kids, but now I realized Simon and his friends were the ones really having a good time.
As we finished up our game James announced that it was time for him to head out.
"Her parent's finally left?" Simon asked.
"I hope so based on what she is wearing in this picture!"
At this point I expected the picture to be passed around, basically every guy I knew always bragged if a girl sent him something dirty.
"Someday I'm going to steal your phone and see that!" Simon joked.
"No I delete them like she asked me to." James admitted almost sheepishly as he put his shoes on and headed out. While I respected that, it did feel a little after school specialish.
Kelly took this chance to engage Sam in conversation, about what I had no idea. She looked pretty funny all dolled up with Sam who had cargo shorts on. Nothing says "I didn't know girls would be here." more than cargo shorts.
Simon looked a little nervous as he offered me a soda before we moved to his back porch.
"Thanks for coming tonight, it's great to see you again. I'm sorry you probably thought it was boring." Simon said.