Okay, so I already told you that a good portion of my boyfriends that I had throughout high school, were ones that I worked with at the grocery store. The local grocery store was the only actual grocery store in town, there was Walmart, but like… grocery store-grocery store.
Yeah, okay… anyway.
I honestly don’t remember the time frames that they were in, but I have found that my so-called “type” varies. So, before I start listing them off to show the vast range between all of them, I want to ask y’all something.
I’m sure you know a common tradition that kids, teens, and adults alike practice, and that’s being a fan of a celebrity for a certain reason to a certain degree. Some people just listen to their music, or watch their movies, some people hang posters of the celebrity up on their walls or inside school lockers, and some attend their shows, concerts, games, and events. You get the point.
I was no different.
So, if I could look back in your room or locker when you were a teenager — who would you have posters hanging up of?
My posters ranged anywhere from Andrew Keegan to Elijah Wood to Zac Hanson — so, take with that what you will. If I were to have posters now — they would be Actors Johnny Galecki and Iwan Rheon, Content Creator Orlando James, & Matt Walst, the Lead Singer of my favorite band, Three Days Grace. What’s more, my husband looks nothing close to any of them… maybe being physically closest to Johnny Galecki. Well, if Johnny Galecki shaved his head regularly, with a blend of natural strawberry and dishwater blonde hair instead of Johnny’s signature dark brownish color.
I know… that’s a very wide mashup with an oddly specific range of types.
My Nana would sometimes try to diffuse a situation between loved ones, and afterward, come back to us and say, “I think I might have made it worse.”
I mention this because every time she did this… she almost always made it worse. It reminded me of a virtual meet-and-greet I recently had with Matt Walst, the lead singer of Three Days Grace, and, in the same way my Nana would always say, “I think I might have made a fool of myself.” I think I may have also given him some post-traumatic stress in the process of the video call… so, if by any chance Matt hears this, I’m so sorry.
Back to it. Just to preface this — names will almost certainly be changed for this part. Not all of these were from the grocery store, but I’m going to try and compile all of them within this section. Again, I don’t know if these will be in the right order… but I’m gonna attempt to do so. But, I remember a few boys around junior high where it was a case of, “Hey you want to be girlfriend/boyfriend? K, cool.” Followed by, “Yeah, this ain’t working. Let’s break up.” the very next day. If anything, it was just a matter of weeks and only consisted of talking on the phone… maybe a peck of a kiss here and there. I think the most serious boyfriend I had around that time was Brody, he moved from a different school and got a class ring for graduating the eighth grade and let me wear the ring while we were dating. One of the boys, Ryden, was the cousin of one of my best friends at the time, and the other, Peter, was a friend of mine, eventually mutually deciding we made better friends than boyfriend/girlfriend.
There was Noah who was a local preacher’s kid. After meeting my parents for the first time, mind you, I was no longer allowed to talk to him in anything more than a co-worker capacity, after telling my parents all the things he had in mind for us to do together. The first thing he listed off… he wanted to take me skydiving.
He wanted to take me skydiving… on the first date… strapped to his chest.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2QuoQ4Hx7
Not strapped to a trained professional, no… strapped to him.
You can’t make this kind of shit up.
I guess I just magnetically attracted weirdos like a chihuahua with separation anxiety.
I would know, I have one.
Oh, and don’t worry, the whole thing concerned me when he said it, too. My parents did me a favor this time by breaking things off with him for me.
He was a little too intense… too fast.
There was John, and I honestly cannot even remember how we met and how we got together… you will weirdly see a pattern of this occurring a lot. He was very country and was active in the Future Farmers of America scene, which was very popular in my hometown. I attended his junior prom with him.
There was Gavin who was a super cute football player who attended school in one town over… my gosh, I thought I was gonna marry that one. But no.
There was Robby who was a grade above mine and on the school baseball team; his brother was in my grade, and we graduated together. He wasn’t very polite… and that’s me being polite.
There was Jesse, the mild alternative punk rock metal head who was a super tall guitar player who was good at art. Him and his buddies played their instruments by the school entrance doors at lunchtime. I attended his Senior prom with him. He was the one… that wasn’t.
I had a few of those.
There was Rusty, he was a very tall, kind of outsider. I don’t really know how to describe him because he just kinda did his own thing. Rusty goes along with something a little later — so I’ll be mentioning him again then.
There was Brian, who later came out of the closet, and ended up being one of my best friends. I did have to sneak around to hang out with him, though. Once my dad found out he was gay, I was then instructed that I was no longer allowed to hang out with him.
I did anyway.
Screw that nonsense.
I’ll mention a few major crushes I had around this time, also. The biggest crush I had during this timeframe was a football player a grade above mine named Lyle. I attended Church with him and his family — I was also even on the cheer team with his sister, Loren. So, I stayed over at their house with her periodically throughout junior high and high school.
I’ll admit, there was also another football player for our school, Eddie, who also attended Church with me. He was our preacher’s son and was a grade below mine.
Then, there was Toby.
Let’s stop here. I’ll pick back up with Toby later.
There’s quite a lot to unpack there — but if you’re looking to hear some craziness riddled with anxiety, that’s what’s to come.
