The Long First Date

When I was around 14, I attended a church youth conference that summer, sleeping in a dorm at a college campus and attending fun events with kids of my same religion. The group I was with one day was strolling along a green shady path when ahead of me I spied a young man, very tall, slender, and blonde. He had a Justin Bieber kind of face but with cool piercing eyes, to put almost any young girl’s heart aflutter. I immediately began to think of a way to meet him, and to my surprise, I noticed that he was also noticing me! Meanwhile, another boy, also with a strikingly cute looking face, appeared at my side and began walking with me. He introduced himself as John Spencer. I would compare him to an elf because his features were so delicate. His ears were elflike and his doll face reminded me of the face of an angel. His body was extremely thin and later I learned that he worried so much for his family and friends that he had given himself ulcers before the age of 14! As we talked, I kept looking ahead at the blonde boy, whose name I later learned was Chris. Upon seeing me with John, the incredibly gorgeous Chris gave me a disapproving look and vanished into the crowd. After that, I soon realized that John and I were turning into a “couple” and the rest of my waking moments at the conference I would have my “Johnny Angel” constantly by my side. It was young love, first love, fresh, and sweet, and holding hands with John I felt electrifying chemistry as we intertwined our fingers, playing “handsies,” my favorite new activity! We ate together and attended together all the activities planned for our group, and so my first time with a boyfriend was like an extended date, lasting from the beginning of the week until the end when we rode home together snuggling on the bus and planning when we would see each other again. John lived one town away from mine, in the same city where Chris, the blonde boy, lived too. At future monthly church dances in their city, Davenport, Iowa, I would see them both and learn more about both boys. They became a big part of my newly blossoming adolescent life and the romantic way I was feeling about boys, but that is saved for chapter two of my story! For Carol Brown's "My First Date" Contest