Day 51 - Jon

A few things I knew about Jon: he played trombone, his little sister was a hoot, he liked 311, The Beastie Boys and Blink 182, he had long fingers, his dirty blond hair was adorably curly and his family was of the Aggie persuasion. I liked Jon, I liked flirting with him. For me, he was just too cute to believe. I thought he would be a fun guy to date the summer after sophomore year.

I assumed it would start if we went to see X-men like we had vaguely talked about. My friend Christie was in town and we met Jon and Vince at Tinseltown to see the movie. It became clear through the experience that it wasn't going to happen. What a bummer.

It's funny, but the nonchalant way I refer to the idea of dating Jon was really how I felt about it. If he had actually asked me out, I would have responded, "cool." It was a sign I didn't yet know to look for.

It's going to sound conceited, but at least it'll be honest: Jon taught me that I wasn't going to get to date every guy I liked. That's not exactly what I mean. I never thought I could date anyone I pleased. I don't over estimate myself. There were unattainable crushes, but then there were boys you had a chance with.

So far in high school, if I liked a guy I had a chance with, I got a date out of it. It was like magic. But now, a chance did not guarantee anything. Yes, we could flirt and hint at something, but it might not work. Things had happened far too easily with David, I just assumed relationships appeared out of nowhere as soon as two people liked each other. O, silly, naive Andrea, that's just not the case. Stars have to align, planets need to shift, cupid must aim well. (Or something less romantic, but still dramatic.)