The Story of a Stupid Girl (Part One)

Let me introduce myself; I am a 19 year old girl who is trying to get by in life and do it to the best of my ability. I have shoulder-length dark blonde hair, hazel eyes, and am a whopping 5 foot 1 inch tall. This is the story of my crazy love life that I am honestly too scared to let anyone know. So, here we go...

It started off on a bright sunny Saturday in the summer of 2016. I had just graduated alongside some of my best friends. I was at my friend Cassidy's graduation party with my other friends Chyna, Cindy, and Will. My friends and I are not too keen on parties, but we came to support Cassidy as well as eat as many cupcakes as we pleased. Cassidy was socializing, and I had found a single table that was on the balcony overlooking the rest of the party. Since it was far from the commotion but where we could still see, we stayed there "guarding" a whole platter of cupcakes. Cassidy finally found us and decided to sit down as well.

"Ok, y'all, who took the whole plate of cupcakes?" Cassidy asked.

No one looked up. Normally, it would be my idea, but this time, it wasn't. Cassidy automatically blamed me for it, but Will fessed up to it.

"You stinker!" Cassidy shouted at Will playfully. "You have to share!"

"Oh. My. God," I say.

"What's up?" Cassidy asks, now focused on me than our secret stash of cupcakes.

"Someone commented on my Facebook profile picture. And it's this guy who used to go to my church a LONG time ago. I barely remembered we were friends!" I reply. My profile picture at the time was a picture of me in cosplay with a long pink wig on.

"Well?!" Cassidy asked. "What did he say?"

"He said that it looks really cute," I say still weirded out that an old acquaintance at best had commented saying that I am cute. I had never even thought of Brody like that; and that is saying something because I used to be boy crazy.

"O.M.G!" I cry out again.

"What is it now?" Cassidy asked kind of annoyed but also curious.

"He asked me to go skating with him!" I say. I hate skating, but I am always up for whatever.

"Oh, no. It's on the same day as this birthday party I agreed my friend I would go to," I say sadly.

"Well, just go to the party and then go skating later that night," Cassidy says thoughtfully.

"Ok. I think I will!" I reply, happier now. So by this time, the party was dying down, Cassidy had already opened her presents, and it was time to go.

That next Saturday, I drive separately to my friend's friend's birthday party. I never drive myself unless I have to, and the party was utterly boring. It was all 17 year old boys LARPing in this small side yard. There wasn't even a cake, and so by the time I was completely bored out of my mind, it was time to leave. I said my goodbyes, thanked the parents, and left. I agreed to meet Brody at his house, and I couldn't have been more excited. It was the first time I met a man at his house and he had his own car. So I go, and text him that I'm there. He comes straight out, and quickly comments on my lack of long, pink hair. I told him that it was just a wig, and then he asks,

"Could I get a hug? I haven't seen you in so long! Last I saw you, we were little kids at VBS. You were so shy, and I was so ugly. But you were always cute!"

At this point, I gave him a begrudging hug, and I was very scared. So we climb into his car, and he smells like Heaven. As we make our way to the skate rink 2 towns away, we talk about the good ole days and what has changed since then. He tells me he has a great job at Amazon and that he shares a house with his little brother. He tells me this short sob story of how he was homeless for a year because he dropped out of college, and his parents kicked him out. So we finally arrive at the skate rink, he buys my way in, and he automatically introduces me to EVERYONE there. He comes every week. And at this point, I was 18, and he was 20. Skating every Saturday is not something to expect from a 20 year old, but I shrug it off. I suck at skating, and I tell him that right off the bat.

"I've never been good. I can go pretty well once I get started, but until then, I have to hold onto the wall!" I say pretty embarrassed since I was getting lapped by an 8 year old.

Brody just laughs, and I start to feel more and more comfortable around him. When I begin to sweat, I struggle to take a seat. Brody follows behind and offers to buy me a drink; I decline. He sits down next to me and starts "introducing" me to the other skaters in the rink.

"That's Perla," he points to an older lady spinning around and doing some fancy moves in the middle circle. "She's the oldest one here. Her husband never comes because he has a bad hip; she's really nice. Just a warning though, she can be pretty annoying to newbies, but she means well. She tries to help." Speaking of the devil as if she had heard us, Perla skates over to us.

"Hey, Brody! I haven't seen you the past couple of weeks! I thought you finally decided to quit coming!" Perla yells.

"Nah, I'd never quit coming here," Brody replies.

"And is this your new girlfriend?!" Perla yells again.

Brody laughs, and I blush. "Nah! Not yet, anyway!" Brody says. "This is Hannah," he gestures to me. "An old friend of mine."

"Ahhhh...." Perla replies and gives us both a quick wink. Then she skates off back into the middle circle.

Brody and I decide to get back on the floor and try again at skating. "Here!" Brody yells to me. "Hold my hands. I won't let you fall, and I'll teach you to skate without holding onto the wall." Brody laughs again, and I take his hands. He effortlessly skates backwards while I struggle to go forwards. I'm shaky, but Brody has a tight grip on me. I look up from my feet to his face and automatically blush. He's smiling at me, and never have I been more attracted to him. We go on like that for a while, then I confess to him that skating isn't really my thing, but I would be happy to watch him skate with his friends. So, he drops me off at the half wall so I can lean against it. "I will never understand how he makes it look so effortless," I say to myself. He skates back up to me and reaches for both of my hands. I oblige and hold both of his hands. He skates back and forth away and towards the half wall.

"So..." Brody says. "What do you want to do now?"

"Oh, um... I'm ok with anything!" I reply. I didn't want the night to be over, but I definitely didn't want to stay at the rink.

"Movie at my place?" Brody asks.

"Sure! Sounds great!" I say. Then we both turn our skates in, and Brody says goodbye to all of his friends.

We are heading back to his place and we don't say much. He has R&B playing on the radio, and we are both too white to be listening to it. Two blondies listening to R&B with one dancing and acting like he knows how to rap. He thankfully changes the channel and then reaches for my hand. I blush again, and I hold tightly onto his. He glances over at me and smiles, and I smile back. "Man... I really like this guy..." I say to myself. "I wonder if he's going to ask me to be his girlfriend..."