Friday, November 05, 2004

Unrequited Love

No, I haven't been thinking of Charlie Brown and the little red haired girl.

My main character in my NaNoWriMo story (which has a title now: Wall of Windows - go me!) has met up with her secret high school crush (he's a priest now, so at the moment no romance there - though in the rewrite he might become an Episcopal priest...possibilities...) and it made me start to think about my own unrequited high school love.

His name was Mike. He was a CAS student, too, so we had quite a few classes together. He was a quiet guy, even if he was a headbanger. Wasn't the best looking guy, but he wasn't painful to look at either. And he had a wicked sense of humor.

I met him my freshman year, but I didn't really get to know him until one of my best friends started to get interested in one of his best friends (turns out they only dated because they were both tall - gotta love high school reasoning). But the fact of the matter was that I had a crush on him from the beginning. He was a little bit dangerous (to this Catholic school girl who had never even seen a PG rated movie up to this point) and that was cool. Plus, he was a writer, which I loved, since most guys had no interest in that.

Even if he had shown any interest in me whatsoever, I couldn't do anything about it because I wasn't allowed to date until my senior year. But, starting in junior year, there was a little something between us - a connection if you will. I'm sure it was completely platonic on his part, but it gave me a little thrill nonetheless.

Senior year we became closer friends. One of my best memories from that year was having lunch at Pizza Hut with Mike, Chris, Monn and Dave (he of He-Dave fame, though he doesn't know that) after taking the SATs. We all had so much fun that day, and Mike and I really clicked. I just loved his sense of humor. It was biting, and sarcastic, and dark. Just like mine.

A couple weeks after that, he was giving an oral report on the Illiad in English. Our teacher, Mr. McB. kept delaying and talking, and he was just standing in the front of the room waiting to start his report. He was getting impatient, and he gave me a look, which I returned with a grin. Monn noticed and from that day on, any time he walked by or was anywhere near Monn nudged me and said, "Ooh. Electricity, Sheryl. I see sparks!" or various other comments along those lines.

The problem with all this is that he was dating someone by that time. All we knew for sure about her was that she was out of school and didn't go to Langley. Rumor had it that she was 23 and in a metal band. Geeky ol' me couldn't compete with that.

I never really met up with Mike after high school, though I saw him from afar downtown a few times. I think someone told me that he became an accountant or something like that, but I don't know for sure. If he did, that makes me sad. I could see him collaborating with someone on an underground comic or something like that. Preparing tax reports and financial statements just doesn't compare.

Mike H., Langley High School class of 1989, if you happen across this site someday, drop me a line. You are one of the few people from our class I miss.

Alas, my love remains unrequited.

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