Someone I never expected to see again

Speaking of Facebook, my high school Spanish teacher added me as a Facebook friend the other day. I liked him well enough, so I added him. Adding him led to me looking at one of his other friend's profile pictures and wondering just how in the world SHE ended up with THAT GUY. They were a strange looking couple. It was then I realized that the guy was probably the younger brother of a guy I dated once.

So, of course, I looked him up.

It was then I decided it's probably not the best idea to look up people who may not have turned out well when I was already a little nauseated to begin with (I didn't feel well yesterday).

There he was.

To start from the beginning, we met at the local skating rink when I was 16, a popular hangout for high school students and deadbeat adults. He was kind of cute, and I eventually discovered that he was 20. If I remember correctly, we held hands during a "snowball skate", and then kept catching each other's eye for the rest of the night. As I was leaving, he wrote his phone number on my arm.

We went out all of maybe once or twice. We did talk a lot on the phone and IMed on occasion, per the standard for a 16 year old girl.

He was a high school drop-out. He worked at Burger King. He was an ex-smoker. He wasn't active in the Church, and obviously didn't go on a mission yet, as he was 20 (LDS men typically go on 2-year missions when they are 19). He had been in the army, but had to be discharged for medical reasons. I later found out that he actually was an army washout. These were all things I discovered during our very short courtship. Had I known them from the beginning, I probably wouldn't have ever called him back in the first place.

Our first date was this weird double date where my best friend's date only made an appearance. I had to pay, because he forgot his wallet. I also drove.

He kissed me on that first date. Only the second guy to ever kiss me at all. My best friend had already gotten in my truck and my door was wide open, so she actually heard the whole thing. Just a peck, but I remember not really caring as I drove away.

On Valentine's Day, a delivery came to me in my choir class. Some white carnations, a teddy bear, and a handwritten note, on notebook paper, that read "Will you go steady with me?"

I knew I had to break it off.

That night, I took my best friend (who awkwardly sat across from us in his living room the whole time) and explained to him why he and I couldn't date. I was blunt, as is my habit. He then, desperately, tried to contradict everything I was saying with things he said he could do better. (But I want to be a computer programmer! I'm planning on going on a mission!)

I might have talked to him once or twice after that, but we eventually went our seperate ways.

The picture on Facebook reminded me that I truly had made the right decision. It was just a headshot of him sitting on a couch, but he doesn't look good. I doubt much has improved for him since I saw him last.

I really can do better than that.