JT

So Fridays are the days I look most forward to, the end of the work week. Rather than talking about how excited I am to get off work on Friday, I will start sharing old memories so you can get a glimpse of what shaped me into the woman I am today.

It all began a warm summer day in July of 97. This is when my ice cream craving began and I haven't been able to shake it since. One of my bff's lived around the corner and we had a ritual of going to the store and going for ice cream everyday. The day in question, she couldn't go because her mom had her cleaning and my sister was too lazy to walk literally across the street and go with me.

Living in the city and off a major street by an alley, you had to have some street smarts about you. I was always aware of my surroundings and this day was no different. Since I was alone I made it a point to go straight there and back without incident. As I approached the door I saw two guys about my age. One was sitting on a bike and the other was standing close by talking to him. I have this mean face that I put on to let onlookers know that I don't want to be bothered and I made it in the store without being spoken to, success! I was in the store happy that my mean face had worked and I got my ice cream and headed back out for home.

Well when I made it outside I saw that the guys were both still out there. Great, I thought to myself, being sarcastic. Once again I put on the mean face and walked past them and smiled to myself that my plan had worked for a second time. That was, until I heard an "excuse me." "Dangit, I thought to myself, I was so close." So as I hear bike tires and footsteps I stopped to turn around. I had peeped both guys on my way in and I knew one was definitely not cute and was hoping he wasn't the one speaking.

Of course after turning around, I see that it was the not-so-cute guy who was addressing me. I thought, cool, I'll cut this short and tell him I have a boyfriend already. Then he said that his boy wanted to know if he could call me. I looked over to him and he smiled. He had straight, white teeth and his smile was warm. He had me. I gave him my number and we said our goodbyes. An hour later he called me.

We talked on the phone a lot that summer. We saw each other even more. He lived around the corner, two minutes walking distance. At this time I was 15 but my dad was very strict so I snuck to his house whenever I saw him. His family knew me and they all liked me except for his mother. No idea what I ever did to her but she was always one of those moms who tried to be cool but really just looked ridiculous. His grandparents actually owned the house that I was always over and he lived with them. They were the grandparents that I always wanted. Alot of times I'd go over there when he wasn't there, just to be around them.

After a short time I realized that my young heart belonged to a bad boy. He smoked weed and cigarettes and he had dropped out of high school. Needless to say my parents were not fans of his at all. These were the days of pagers and answering machines. Both devices of mine got played on by females he knew. Even as a teenager I wasn't interested in playing on people's phones and pretty much this is when I started having issues with females and their insecurities.

One night after working eight hours at White C.astle I got home to hear a message from a female asking me why I was f-ing around with JT's dusty @ss and she called me a stupid b*tch. I was mortified. This had never happened to me before and how did whoever she was get my number...

This was the beginning of many dumb moments on my part that I wasted dealing with this boy that I had already fallen for. Stay tuned for part 2 next week.