Andi - Part 1
(music to set the mood of the period: Marillion - Clutching at Straws)
I met Andi at a high school football game on a Friday night in early September, 1988. It was the beginning of my sophomore year; I was 16 and had kissed all of one girl in my life... actually the same girl who introduced me to Andi that night. I just realized that I no longer remember the exact date, or what school we were playing, or what she was wearing...details that I'm sure were burned into my mind for a long time, but have obviously become casualties of age. In fact, I really don't remember much of anything about that night, other than I was there with my friends and she was there with our friend Jessica; the aforementioned recipient of my first lip-lock whom we had attended middle school with...they both now went to the local all-girls Catholic school. She wasn't what I'd have called my type before that night, but when you're 16, you can't let something like types get in the way. Regardless, she was very pretty; about 5'6 with long, curly, fiery red hair, freckles, and a face like a porcelain doll. Kirsten Dunst before her time. And she was also blessed with many of the other...qualities desired by the more superficial male types. Or by teenagers. Either way, I was intrigued.
After the game, I think we wen't out to her parents' farm & talked about tipping cows but never actually did it. I do remember we all had a good time doing whatever we did, but even though all us guys were competing for her attention in our own goofy ways, she didn't neccissarily warm up to me more than anyone else, but at the end of the night, I was better friends with Jessica, so I was able to give them a ride home & Jess procured her phone number for me. She prodded me to call her over the next few days....a kind of call I had never really made before....at least not successfully. Eventually, I was persuaded by Jess that the response would be positive...she did have the inside scoop, after all, so I made the call. I don't remember a single, solitary word of it, other than 'yes'. It wasn't the most enthusiastic 'yes' in the world, but I had no frame of reference then & I certainly wasn't going to second-guess anything. So, I had my first real date set for the next Friday night...if only I knew then what I know now.
I don't remember much about the week leading up to it, but I know I was excited. I remember recording.....wait, if I say the name of the song, it will give away a real name... Ok, for sake of argument, say there's a sing called 'Andi'. Well, I taped it off the radio and must have listened to it a hundred times that week while deciding what I was gonna wear and wondering if that was what girls did (and not giving a shit, I had a date, dammit!). Ya, I know...we're early into the story & I'm already goin' a little overboard. Just hang out...it gets worse.
The big night finally came, and I picked her up nervously from her house and we went to see a movie (I'm sure I must have taken her to eat somewhere first, but I don't remember). We tried to sneak into Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master but we were spotted by a power-hungry usher all of six months our senior, and forced to go see Liscense to Drive instead....thank you, Corey & Corey. We had a good enough time and I wasn't as nervous as I feared (the ego monster inside me was still in its infancy, but he was a tuff little young'un); we laughed about the lameness of the movie and talked about....something, I'm sure. We ended up back at her house and I didn't get a goodnight kiss, but I did get the o-k for a second date, and that was good enough for me...it was all found money in my book.
The next week I was, of course, even more giddy than before, and already totally convinced I had found the woman I was going to spend eternity with (we Italians are hardwired to work fast & young). I don't remember where our next date was or what we did, but at some point during it, I kissed her (after much prodding from Jess again), we held hands, and in that warp-speed way that only teenage love can work, by the end of the night she was my girlfriend, or more popularly at the time, we were going together...although where we were going & how long it would take to get there was never explained to us. As it turned out, the answer was absolutely nowhere, and about seven months...but we weren't privy to that kind of info just yet.
I met Andi at a high school football game on a Friday night in early September, 1988. It was the beginning of my sophomore year; I was 16 and had kissed all of one girl in my life... actually the same girl who introduced me to Andi that night. I just realized that I no longer remember the exact date, or what school we were playing, or what she was wearing...details that I'm sure were burned into my mind for a long time, but have obviously become casualties of age. In fact, I really don't remember much of anything about that night, other than I was there with my friends and she was there with our friend Jessica; the aforementioned recipient of my first lip-lock whom we had attended middle school with...they both now went to the local all-girls Catholic school. She wasn't what I'd have called my type before that night, but when you're 16, you can't let something like types get in the way. Regardless, she was very pretty; about 5'6 with long, curly, fiery red hair, freckles, and a face like a porcelain doll. Kirsten Dunst before her time. And she was also blessed with many of the other...qualities desired by the more superficial male types. Or by teenagers. Either way, I was intrigued.
After the game, I think we wen't out to her parents' farm & talked about tipping cows but never actually did it. I do remember we all had a good time doing whatever we did, but even though all us guys were competing for her attention in our own goofy ways, she didn't neccissarily warm up to me more than anyone else, but at the end of the night, I was better friends with Jessica, so I was able to give them a ride home & Jess procured her phone number for me. She prodded me to call her over the next few days....a kind of call I had never really made before....at least not successfully. Eventually, I was persuaded by Jess that the response would be positive...she did have the inside scoop, after all, so I made the call. I don't remember a single, solitary word of it, other than 'yes'. It wasn't the most enthusiastic 'yes' in the world, but I had no frame of reference then & I certainly wasn't going to second-guess anything. So, I had my first real date set for the next Friday night...if only I knew then what I know now.
I don't remember much about the week leading up to it, but I know I was excited. I remember recording.....wait, if I say the name of the song, it will give away a real name... Ok, for sake of argument, say there's a sing called 'Andi'. Well, I taped it off the radio and must have listened to it a hundred times that week while deciding what I was gonna wear and wondering if that was what girls did (and not giving a shit, I had a date, dammit!). Ya, I know...we're early into the story & I'm already goin' a little overboard. Just hang out...it gets worse.
The big night finally came, and I picked her up nervously from her house and we went to see a movie (I'm sure I must have taken her to eat somewhere first, but I don't remember). We tried to sneak into Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master but we were spotted by a power-hungry usher all of six months our senior, and forced to go see Liscense to Drive instead....thank you, Corey & Corey. We had a good enough time and I wasn't as nervous as I feared (the ego monster inside me was still in its infancy, but he was a tuff little young'un); we laughed about the lameness of the movie and talked about....something, I'm sure. We ended up back at her house and I didn't get a goodnight kiss, but I did get the o-k for a second date, and that was good enough for me...it was all found money in my book.
The next week I was, of course, even more giddy than before, and already totally convinced I had found the woman I was going to spend eternity with (we Italians are hardwired to work fast & young). I don't remember where our next date was or what we did, but at some point during it, I kissed her (after much prodding from Jess again), we held hands, and in that warp-speed way that only teenage love can work, by the end of the night she was my girlfriend, or more popularly at the time, we were going together...although where we were going & how long it would take to get there was never explained to us. As it turned out, the answer was absolutely nowhere, and about seven months...but we weren't privy to that kind of info just yet.
2 Comments:
Sounds like a great experiment, and it is certainly amusing. I will be following it, hope you find your answers :P
SO glad I found you. I'm actually doing the same thing you are doing but of course its the opposite. I've managed to start on something but you know remembering is so difficult. Anyways, good luck with your project and check my stuff out sometime. take care. by the way im new at this blogger thing so how is it that i can change the settings to things such as "rants and raves?" that was cute. ok let me know if u can help. bye bye
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