After my first relationship gone sour, I was enjoying the single life. However, after a while, I began longing for someone since my one and only relationship thus far had fizzled, so I was still trying to figure out how relationships worked. I had a lot of friends in the band, and because it's all one big family anyway, people tend to hear and see more than they bargained for. Let's just say everybody knows everyone's business. There are absolutely no secrets in a high school marching band.
The fall, aka marching season, of my sophomore year, we were en route to an out of town football game on the bus. I started out sitting towards the front of the bus with a friend, but wanted to talk to some more friends in the back. The only open seat was next to the big, countrified, guy who played the baritone. I had never spoken to him because he was a junior (I was still getting to know people and somewhat afraid of the upper classmen) and could be downright scary in marching formation. He would walk around and try to catch people moving at attention, when you're not supposed to move at all, as well as bark commands with his loud, booming voice. Needless to say, this big tough guy made me nervous. However, I wanted to talk to my friends and the friend I was sitting with, a senior, told me to go sit next to him.
Me: "Are you nuts?"
Her: "What? It's only ____."
Me: "Exactly!"
Her: "Oh he's harmless."
So I suck it up and trudge back there before plopping down next to him to chat. He seemed slightly surprised by this, but was super nice. Totally unlike had seemed to me thus far. Of course, no one paid me any attention in band, but as soon as I sit next to a guy, everyone decides to turn around to take a peek. Not to mention, talk about it like it's the only topic in the world when you stop to eat and during the whole game. I was grilled more than a patty melt.
On the way back home, I sat next to him again because he was turning out to be such a sweetheart and was a lot of fun. One of his good friends was sitting nearby and wanted to put his feet up, but the guy I was sitting with had his arm behind the seat. So friend asks if he could put his arm down around me so he could put his feet up. I will never forget what he said: "Well, uh, sure, but you'd have to ask her because I don't want to crush her or something." I obliged and found myself falling for this guy. Turns out he had liked me since the summer and had been caught stealing glances at me from other band members whenever I walked by. Weeks later at the homecoming dance, one of the girls in the color guard asked him, in front of me, "Have you asked her out yet?" He replied, "No." She chirped, "Oh. Okay!" and bounced off. I laughed at the awkwardness and he hugged me before whispering, "So, do you want to go out with me?" How could I say no to that?
We had a lot of fun together for the 4 months we were together. This relationship was so different than the first one, and gave me back my hope for love. I was able to be myself and still be liked for it. I guess being a tomboy and dating a redneck was the perfect formula. We would ride around his truck and find places to park and talk (yes, talk) as well as go out with our friends. Our song became "Red Strokes" by Garth Brooks because we listened to it one night on repeat snuggled up in the cab watching the night. I still think of him and get nostalgic when I hear that song.
But like I said, it only lasted 4 months, and that was my fault. At the time, I felt that maybe it wasn't as good as it could've been and maybe I was settling. So I called it off. I was still learning how this whole dating game worked. As soon as I said the words and saw his face, I realized what a huge mistake I had made. I tried to patch things up later that week, but it was never the same. He ended up doing something similar and tried going out with a freshman girl whom later he found in bed with another guy. We tried again after we had both healed, but we decided we'd be better as friends. We lost touch and I wish I could talk to him again. B2 was definitely one of my favorites.
By the way, the whole friend wanting to put his feet up thing? It was all a scam! The friend was good friends with B2 and had been trying to hook us up the whole time since he sorta had an in with me too. He was my drum captain. This hit me like a ton of bricks a year or two later after we had broken up. Talk about being slow on the uptake. Mind like a steel trap, I tell ya.
So, lessons learned. 1.) Realize what you have before you lose it, 2.) Even the biggest and toughest guy can be a Teddy bear (he drew pink and red hearts in a love note in Ag class in front of all his buddies to leave as a surprise in my locker one day), and 3.) How to make a cheap and effective bomb. Let's just say his redneck buddies liked to blow up mailboxes. Not that he ever did that. I don't think. He probably knew I'd kill him if I found out. Oh yeah, and 4.) Even the biggest and toughest guy can be scared of a girl.
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