Do You Have a Rubber Band?

I finally saw My Sassy Girl last night. It's a Korean romantic comedy, and it's actually quite good. Don't worry, this isn't another useless review. Well if it were, I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. But it isn't so disregard that rating. I have to watch it again anyway since I missed a few parts during the screening last night.

Anyhoo, in honor of My Sassy Girl, I will now attempt to do something that I thought I'd never do.

I will write about a relationship I once had.

I'm not entirely sure who reads this. The average for Mon-Thurs was 20.25 individual visitors per day, but I only know of maybe 5 or 6 regular readers from what they tell me. More importantly, I'm not sure if she reads this, but I thought it would be okay.

I haven't written about her at all on this blog. I'm at a loss for what to call her because, as you know, I don't use real names here. But maybe I'll stretch my own rules for once.

In fact, due to popular demand, I'll use real names for everyone in this entry. But only this one time.


Do You Have a Rubber Band?

The summer was quickly disappearing. The following week would be the start of my sophomore year in highschool. It was an exciting time for me; I had gotten a job at the mall working for Baskin Robbins, my brother had just turn one year old, and I made a few new friends at school. Not that I didn't have any friends or anything, but it's always a good thing to befriend new people. They were guys though. Girls were a different story.

I was also in the best shape of my life: not fat.

My bestest friend Almond was pretty excited about a birthday party for a girl named Liezl. I think we received invites via America Online (AOL). We had been anticipating the party for weeks. I invited a few of my friends, but I wasn't sure whether they would come or not.

I invited Erv DeCastro and Joe Cornago. Back in those days, they were my homeboys. Much to my surprise, they decided to come along with Almond and me to the party.

The day was Saturday, August 29. The year: 1998.

We were all 16 years old, except for Almond who would turn 16 a month later. 16 was an awesome age because it meant asking your mom or dad for a ride to wherever you wanted to go. Sometimes I even did this crazy thing called walking. It was wild.

The party was in Union, and luckily for us, my mom worked in Union. So it was settled: my mom would bring us to the party, and Erv's older brother would pick us up.

Sweet.

My mom dropped us off at 6:30 PM. After we greeted Liezl, we attempted to do this thing called mingling (to this day, I still have not learned how to properly do this). There was food, plenty of beverages, and most importantly, for the purpose of staring, there were some cute girls. I probably knew a few because of AOL, but I didn't talk to any of them. My goal was to just hang out and have fun with my friends.

However, the boys would split up a few times, and I'd have to figure out which one to tag along with. I was usually standing next to Almond while he was talking to someone.

"This is my friend," he said as he introduced me to a female. I felt a bit annoyed that he didn't say "best friend" (I always told people he was mine) but I let it slide.

"Oh hi," I replied as I brought my right hand up in a feeble attempt to match what I said with a corresponding gesture. It looked like I was in court and swearing under oath.

Was "Oh hi" the best I could come up with?! At that time, yes it was. Unfortunately, I was not very good at talking to people I did not know, especially girls. This was a weakness that would stay with me for a long long time. Actually, it's still a weakness for me, but let's not get into that right now.

It was warm inside Liezl's house. I wore jeans, a button down, and a zip-up fleece jacket. Not exactly sure why I had the jacket, but it didn't stay on long. I decided to hide it behind a couch. I also had sunglasses on, but I planted those on my shirt.

We proceeded to make our way to the basement. There were even more people down there, about 20-25. Liezl had a DJ providing music and entertainment. I don't remember any specific songs that were played, but I do remember a lot of reggae. Reggae was big in '98. Big.

I took command of my post: the wall. Observing people as they danced and interacted motivated me to try the same (I believe it's called socializing). However, this was just not the day that I would have the balls to do that. And I'm still waiting on them balls, by the way.

After a little while, I made a power move to a nearby pole. I used my right shoulder to lean on it, while I crossed my right foot over my left. I was trying to look as comfortable as possible, but inside I was dying. Dying from the nervousness and awkwardness that had been killing me all evening.

Suddenly, there she was.

She wore a red tanktop and black shorts. I think they were shorts. Maybe a skirt. Either way, it was black, the same color as her long silky hair. She appeared to have a fresh tan, as her caramel skin had a hint of redness to it. Standing at 5'5", she was an excellent height that would complement by 6'0" frame. The girl in red was also in great shape; great arms, wonderful shoulders, a flat stomach, and pretty decent-looking nose.

She was marvelous to look at. A sight for sore eyes. Lucky for me, my eyes were not sore that day. Nonetheless, she was amazing. She was dancing by herself, doing it effortlessly and without any concern for who was watchinig. It was as if a spotlight was shining on her and everything else disappeared into the background.

Suddenly, the spotlight disappeared. She looked up and caught my eyes penetrating through her skull like Superman's lasers.

I quickly gathered myself and went upstairs, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. I was relieved to find my friends hanging out in the kitchen. Almond was talking to a dude named Alan. I described her to the guys and Alan said he knew who she was.

I thought about going back downstairs to talk to her, but that wasn't something that I normally did (or do). So I brushed it off my shoulders, and continued with the party. But we wouldn't stay much longer, as Erv's brother arrived around 9:00 PM. He was about a year or two tolder and did not want to stay.

So we headed back home. I thought it was quite a successful evening. We got a chance to hang out with each other, my friends met a few people, and I got a chance to lean on a wall and a pole. A success by any standard!

A few minutes after we left, I realized that I had left my jacket there. I also noticed that my sunglasses were no longer on my shirt.

We had to go back.

Fortunately, I found my jacket right where I hid it. As for my sunglasses, I figured I may have dropped them in the basement.

As I walked down the staircase, I thought about where I could have dropped them. They were $100 sunglasses, and I was worried that someone may have stolen them or stepped on them.

Then I spotted the shades. They were next to the bottom step of the staircase, and they appeared to be shattered. I bent down to pick them up.

As I stood up observing the sunglasses, there she was. The girl in red was standing right in front of me as though she knew me.

"Do you have a rubber band?" she asked as she gathered her hair into a ponytail.

"No," I replied, "but um ... what's your name?"

"Neenya," she said. "But you can call me Neen."

THE END