Summer (and Fall) of Weird

A really long time ago I promised you, my lovely friends, this SOS post. I'm finally getting around to it.

Before I go on, I'll direct you to Kate and Brillig's site of anonymous soapiness, which is hosting this week's Soap Opera Sunday.

On to the story...

I was sixteen and had just broken up with my abusive jerk of a boyfriend. I don't remember really feeling the need to date anyone. But perhaps I appeared to be more unhappy than I really was, because my sister and her best friend Karen* decided to set me up with Karen's older brother.

I think they did this because we had soooo much in common. We'd been friends in the sixth grade. We both played soccer. We both had two ears and a nose. Formula for a perfect match, no?

Or maybe he asked them to do it. I honestly don't remember.

I agreed to go on a date with him, mainly because I knew him and knew that he was probably pretty safe. Safe was good at this point.

So, for our first date he picked me up in his little gray car and we headed out. I think we went somewhere simple to eat, then drove around talking.

Oh, but let me back up, it started out a little weird. When I first got into the car he told me to look in the glove compartment. In it was a bracelet. Pretty, nothing expensive.

"Yeah, ok, what about it?" I asked.

"It's for you," he grinned.

"Um. OK," I replied and slipped it on. Why on earth are you giving me a bracelet within the first five minutes of our FIRST date?

And it got even more strange from there on, which is why I think I've forgotten most of the other details about our date.

A little while later he told me to get something for him that was connected to the sun visor. I pulled the visor down and a ring fell in my lap. I wish I were kidding here. A ring. It looked like it had come from a plastic bubble.

Jeremy smiled at me excitedly. "Put it on!" He urged me.

Gulp.

I smiled. Um. What else was there to do? I adjusted it and put it on my right pinky finger.

So, we continued to drive around our small town, talking. I enjoyed talking with him, really. He was a decent guy. We'd known each other most of our lives. Except for the over-the-top oddness and awkwardness of the random giving of random and strategically placed jewelry, it was a fairly comfortable first date.

Then, just when I thought we'd gotten past the weirdness, Jeremy stopped at a small park at the southern end of town.

He turned to me and grinned and told me to look in the cubby in my door.

Not again, I thought. Jeremy, my friend you're trying WAAAAY too hard here.

But I looked. Surprise, surprise. A necklace.

"May I put it on for you," Jeremy said with mock seriousness, obviously giddy at his apparent success at wooing me. I hadn't run screaming from the car yet, after all, though at this point I was definitely eyeing the door handle.

To be continued...

*Names have been changed for the sake of these good people who I still see occasionally.