I hated being 18.
This was not a new or even revolutionary feeling, nor was my hate something unique or different. No, I simply hated the frustration that being 18 involved. When reaching 18, society likes to claim you are an adult, they then fail to remove the restrictions that prevent you from being an adult. Smoking? Nope, another year before you are allowed that. Drinking? Nope, got to be 21. Property? Oh, I'm sorry you must be 21 as well. Rental car? Better not try that until you are 25. You can now even be claimed as a 'dependent child' on your parents' insurance until you are 26!
So, I was an 18-year-old adult, who could not do anything as an actual adult. This frustration was worsened by my being 18 and already finished with my first year of college. Nothing makes you feel less of an adult than being a child in college. Do you think any college girl was interested in a kid who can't even go out and get a cigarette, let alone a drink? I hate being 18.
So, I spent my first full year of college single and frustrated. And by frustrated I partially mean the ability to be an adult, but really I was most frustrated sexually.
I was no prize. Athlete? Nope, I stood all of five and a half feet tall, with the glorious 140 pounds that goes along with such stature. I had begun working out when I was 15 and still did, but while I had toned and defined, even bulked up a little, I had no coordination. Smart? Smart aleck maybe, but a solid B-C student. I was just not that interested in books and learning, especially since girls had captured my attention. Rich? Did I mention I was paying my own way through school and was back at home working at the local burger place to earn money for next year? To sum it up I had developed into the awkward kid, who hangs around, nice, but unnoticed or missed.
I was an only child but was very curious and so would even spy on my Mom's friends when they'd come over. I was small, younger than most of their kids, and generally unnoticed so was able to discretely listen to them talk or watch as they would come and go. I was always hoping to catch an unguarded glimpse under a skirt or through a blouse, but never did. Once I got to high school, I was ready to date and quickly set my heart on various girls. It was always the same, interest, a few dates, then the dreaded friendzone. I was the best friend to some of the cutest girls in my class. My life sucked, but the girls never did.
Going to college had re-invigorated my hopes and with a new positive attitude I had gone, only to find myself now a friend to several more girls and still a virgin.
Getting home from an early shift at work I was headed to my room when my Mom called from the other room. "Michael? Before you go upstairs, I'd like you to meet Carol."
Pausing with a foot on the step I thought crap, nothing makes you feel more an adult than having to parade and present to your Mom's friends. I almost kept going, I could claim I didn't hear her or maybe had my earphones in... but that was not who I was, so I grudgingly walked into the living room.
"Michael, this is Carol Albertson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Johansson across the street. She and I were best friends all the way through college. She and her family have just moved back into the Johansson's old house." Mom said. I remembered the Johansson's they had passed away last year, and the house had been empty since then. I never knew they had a daughter, but I could see the resemblance. Carol was almost the definition of average. She was of average height, in a pair of average jeans, with a plain t-shirt, of average weight, with brown hair and brown eyes. If I had been forced to provide a description to the police, it would match half of the women in town.
"Hello Michael. I have heard so much about you." Carol's voice was also unsurprisingly - average.
"Hi Mrs. Albertson." I replied in the tried and true manner I had been taught.
"Oh dear, call me Carol please. My mother-in-law is the only Mrs. Albertson I know." Carol said with a laugh. And there is was... something that was not average. When she had laughed her eyes had sparkled and her face had blossomed, and the sound had been surprisingly sweet. I was momentarily taken aback at the brief transformation and had missed the next things that was said.
"Excuse me I missed that, long day at work." I lied.
"Carol was asking you about college and what your major was?" Mom repeated with a smile.
"Oh, it was okay, a lot harder than I expected. I'm majoring in Biology." I answered.
"Really? How wonderful. You know I started in Biology." Carol said with excitement.
"Which is true." Added my Mom "but you also majored in Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology. I'm not sure what 'ology' you finished in, but you did try them all."
Carol laughed again, that sunshine on a cloudy day laugh, and replied "Ouch that was mean... true, but mean. And I finished in General Studies, if you must know." We all laughed then. General Studies was what you got when you had taken every core class needed for graduation, but there was no clear pattern to all of the other classes that filled up the minimum hours needed to earn a degree. "Besides," Carol added "the boys kept majoring in different things." This resulted in another round of laughter. By this point I had sat down on the footstool and joined the two old friends in the living room.
Carol and Mom shared stories of each other in high school and college. I was amazed at the wild life that my heretofore sedate mother had lived while earning her education. I was reevaluating my opinion of my mother as the conversation continued. Mom had been 22 when she and Dad got married during her what should have been her senior year of college. Dad had already graduated the year before and theirs had been a whirlwind of dating and then marriage, I was not born until ten years later, a bit of a surprise for my parents. To hear Carol tell the story my grandparents had been furious with both Mom and especially Dad, convinced that Mom would never graduate. Carol's face was in constant smile mode the entire time she was reliving their youth. Each new adventure and event would reignite her eyes.
That was until my Mom mentioned Carl, who was Carol's husband. I could see the light fade from her face as Mom described how Carol and Carl had met and after almost a year of dating gotten married a year before Mom and Dad.
Mom must have noticed the change as she said, "Carol are you alright?"