Lil' Romeo.
When introducing me to your friends there’s always a dramatic pause after,” we’ve known each other since…” because it’s been that damn long.
When introducing me to your friends there’s always a dramatic pause after,” we’ve known each other since…” because it’s been that damn long. Back when I wore bright t-shirts and bought my first pairs of Nike Dunks, you wore blonde hair and classic skinny Levi jeans. As a teenager, feelings are fleeting. Crushes fluctuate from moment to moment, teenage relationships lasting only a bit longer. But like a high school tattoo decided on a whim, the instant I saw her I was certain this feeling would stay with me.
At 15, I felt like a late bloomer, finally shedding “baby fat” from my spaghetti sandwich days. I was a shy kid and my conversation with girls were confined to my imagination. In my daydreams I was suave like Smash Adams instead of stumbling over my words like Doug Funnie in front of Patty Mayonnaise. When you’re cute, you don’t have to talk. I only needed one girl to call me cute and my head ballooned. Still, my little high school confidence wasn’t enough for a grown woman, a girl one year my senior.
You were the most beautiful girl in the city on her way to college and I was a just a kid spending part time checks on Retro Jordans and fits from Wicker Park. My friends were older, so social circles overlapped. As my fondness for her grew, her time in the city was coming to an end. During her freshman year at college, I thought it would be a great idea to ask her to prom. Silly boys and their silly fantasies selfishly hope for unrealistic possibilities.
Extravagant prom send offs have always been the norm. Exotic car rentals for eighteen-year olds were more common than my parents knew. My send off was fairly modest, my lovely date and I posed in front of the tree that used to be in the front yard instead of a “step n repeat”. I wasn’t disappointed when I learned she wouldn’t join me as my date. She was busy with her life at college and I was just her lil Romeo back home.