Earl Sewell - Boyfriend Shopping - Shopping for My Boyfriend / My Only Wish / All I Want for Christmas Is You

“Did you remember the tickets, Anna?” Lauren asked.

“Of course.” I snapped open the small purse I had carried with me. I presented our tickets and we were allowed to continue onward. We made our way over to the concession stand and Lauren ordered a hot chocolate with marshmallows like I had suggested. She took a quick sip of the warm liquid and I could tell by the way she sighed that it immediately made her feel better.

“I hope Jeremy comes like he said he would.” I searched the hallway, which was becoming more crammed with concertgoers.

“Well, if he isn’t, you can catch up with him next week.”

“No. I need to catch him tonight. The school holiday dance party is just around the corner and I need to make sure he understands that he needs to ask me to go with him,” I remarked as I scanned the area again.

“I hope Jeremy is nice and nothing like that Carlo dude you told me about.”

“Please don’t bring him up. I don’t even remember what I saw in that guy. Falling in love with him nearly killed me, literally.” The moment I tried to forget about Carlo, my conscience replayed the events in my mind, like a video that reminded me of the bad choice I had made. It began with the difficult time I had with the transition from junior high to high school. I had gone from being popular and the class valedictorian to the cute but nerdy freshman girl who no one noticed. I had trouble making friends and fitting in, and it didn’t take long for depression to settle in. My grades started falling, which disappointed my parents and caused problems for me at home because I wasn’t living up to their expectations. Then my cousin Viviana came to live with us, adding all types of new and unexpected tension in the house. In the middle of the chaos is when Carlo entered my life. He was an upperclassman and I felt fortunate to have an older guy take an interest in me. I didn’t have a clue as to how relationships were supposed to work. Heck, I wasn’t even supposed to be dating as a freshman. My parents said that I couldn’t date until my second year of high school, so I knew very little about romance except what I saw on television. I didn’t know what to say to guys or how to act around them. When Carlo came around, I felt clumsy, as if I talked too much. However, Carlo had a way of making me feel less awkward and before long I opened up to him about the issues I was having at home. He listened and I really enjoyed the attention that he was giving me. One day while I was visiting with him, I took some candy out of a dish when Carlo walked out the room. I ate it and suddenly felt ill. I went home and passed out on the floor. When I woke up, I was in the hospital and found out I had survived a drug overdose. What I didn’t know was that Carlo was selling drugs that were packaged as candy. Thankfully I made a full recovery, but afterward, I placed distance between myself and Carlo.

I exhaled loudly because thinking about that previous chapter of my life always caused me a little bit of anxiety.

“I still can’t believe that he had drugs in his house,” Lauren said.

“Huh? What? Oh, neither could I,” I said, realizing I had momentarily gotten swept away in my past and had tuned Lauren and everything else out like a dropped phone call.

“I mean, I would have totally freaked out if I had gone through what you had.” Lauren held her cup with both hands and took another sip.

“Well, I’m thankful that episode is behind me now,” I said, no longer wanting to relive the wasted history between myself and Carlo.

“So what’s so special about Jeremy?”

“Well, for starters, I’ve known him since sixth grade,” I said. I reached into my purse and removed a tissue to dab at a spot of moisture that had formed on my nose.

“Really? You didn’t tell me that part.”

“Are you sure? I thought I had.”

“No, you didn’t.” Lauren appeared to be saddened that I had not shared more of my history with Jeremy with her.

“Come on. I’ll tell you about it once we find a seat.” The auditorium had three large seating sections—on the right, center and left side. The stage was shaped like a hexagon, which meant that no matter where we sat, the view would be excellent. Since seating arrangements were not assigned, we were free to sit wherever we wanted. We decided to sit in the center section in row fifteen, which was right in the middle of the section. We took off our coats and draped them over the backs of our seats. Once we were situated, I looked around again for Jeremy. I heard a chorus of conversations that hung in the air as more concertgoers entered the auditorium, but I did not spot Jeremy.

“Do you see him yet?” Lauren asked.

“No, not yet,” I said, frowning.

“He’ll show up.” Lauren sensed that I had grown impatient as she settled into her seat.

“I hope so. I really want to get his attention. I really want him to notice me,” I said, wondering if I was foolishly setting myself up for a big letdown.

“Sit down and finish telling me about how you guys met in sixth grade.”

I sighed and then sat down. I uncoiled my scarf from around my neck and placed it across my lap. I recalled the many changes and interests that began to bloom like tulips in the spring when I was in junior high school.

“In sixth grade, I suddenly found boys to be fascinating. I found that I wanted to be around them and be treated like a girl instead of one of the guys. Jeremy was cute and he was a star on the basketball courts. Everybody loved him. He was funny, he dressed nicely and he didn’t smell like funky sneakers.” Lauren reached over and touched my hand, which caused me to pause.

“What?” I asked, feeling as if something was wrong.

“It’s funny that you mentioned guys and smells. It brought back a memory for me. When I was in sixth grade, there was a boy who liked me. His name was Mark and he smelled like a skunk.” Lauren’s expression soured like milk that had curdled.

“Really? It was that bad?” I asked.

“Girl, every day he came to school smelling like he had peed on himself or someone had peed on him.”

“Gross!” I raised my eyebrows into an expression of disbelief.

“I’m serious. Nobody wanted to sit next to him because his body odor was so foul. Anyway, he had the audacity to approach me one day on the school yard. When I saw him coming, I cringed at the sight of his square head, chapped lips and goldfish eyes. He also had bushy eyebrows that reminded me of Frankenstein. Creepy was his first name and Weird was his last.”

“Gross!” I said again as a visual of what he looked like formed in my mind.

“What did he want?” I pried more than I really wanted to.

“Girl, to ask me if I thought he was cute.”

“Seriously?”

“That boy didn’t have any sense whatsoever,” Lauren said.

“What did you say to him?”

“I was really mean. I told him that I thought a dead animal on the highway was cuter than he was.”

“That was mean, but funny,” I said.

“I’m sorry. I threw you off track. Finish telling me about Jeremy,” Lauren apologized.

“Well, he was nothing like Mark, that’s for sure. Jeremy sat next to me in class. One day he asked for permission to go to the bathroom. Once he’d stepped away I wrote him a note, folded it up and placed it on his seat.”

“What did your note say?” Lauren leaned close to me so that she wouldn’t miss a word I said.

“It said, ‘Do you think Anna Rogers is cute? If so, fake a cough when you read this,’” I explained.

“Did he cough after he read the note?”

“Like he smoked cigarettes every day,” I said proudly. “Anyway, after school I lingered around to see if he would approach me.”