Let me preface this story with another story. In the seventh grade, like I suppose many other seventh grade girls are, I was 100% over-the-top boy crazy. Any boy who even glanced my direction or talked to me for five minutes on AIM I fell head over heels for. It was bad. Anyways, I had several crushes in 7th grade, needless to say. Most of them were nice to me talking through AIM or on the phone, and then would pretend I didn't exist at school. Go figure. I ran into one such crush yesterday.
I recognized him right away, but wasn't sure if it was him or not. He's kind of got "one of those faces", ya know? Pretty ordinary. Plus, I wasn't sure it was him because he was a good deal larger than I remember him in middle school (and I'm not just sayin' taller). He was standing in line for the same movie BDR and I were waiting for. I knew he noticed me right away cos he kept looking at me. I pointed him out to Husband and told him about how jaded I felt by him so long ago (oh, the woes of junior high). We met a really nice couple who were standing in line next to us and talked to them for most of the wait. So, when the line started moving, we sat with them in the theater. As Murphy would have it, the spot we chose happened to be just behind the spot his group chose. While BDR was getting our concessions, I chatted with the couple some more, and upon mention of my hometown (where he and I had gone to school), his glances back toward me became much more blatant and obvious. Awkward. I still paid him no attention. After the movie, Husband raced off to go to the bathroom (he'd been holding it in for half the movie). Murphy won again, because as the crowd herded towards the doors, I somehow got shuffled into his group. He came up from behind and said "I know you." I (somewhat rudely) shrugged my shoulders and said "Umm.. from...?" He said. "Lawton." I glanced blankly in his direction, pretending not to know what he was talking about, then said "Well, that's where I'm from. Did you go to school there?" He said "Yes, at MacArthur." And I said "Oh, well I guess that's where," and turned to go through another door than the one his group was going through.
I smiled as I exited the theater. I told Bray what happened. He laughed and said "Well, that was quite the snob thing for you to do!" I couldn't help it, I said... He wasn't nice to my poor 7th grade emotions.
I've never had that kind of moment. Where I was the one to make someone else feel like a fool. And I should probably not be sharing this, because it makes me sound like a horrible person (and hey, maybe I am) but it felt victorious. Thrilling, even. Here I am, making new friends, seeing an amazing movie in my favorite theater with a husband who took a sick day to spend time with me... I have a ridiculously good life. Despite my pains in junior high. Despite his lack of regard for me.
And it felt good to pretend like I didn't know him. It felt good to know I'd made a lasting impression on him despite his efforts to show me I wasn't important.
Want to know the icing on the cake?
As soon as I got home (which is a 45 min drive) I got on FB. Guess who had sent me a friend request? Before I even made it home? Sigh... It never felt so good to click "Not Now".
I know I'm making a substantially bigger deal about this than probably anyone else in the world would, but have you ever had that kind of moment? I can't even really describe it. It's like running into an ex that broke your heart when you're dressed to kill and they look like their cat just died (not saying that I was dressed to kill or that he was my ex.... just making a comparison).
Anyways, I hope you don't think I'm incredibly rude. Maybe somebody out there has had a similar experience? If so, do tell!
This is Keegan: HA!
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