Necessary necking

The best part about a holiday weekend for me, aside from spending time with family and then eating a huge dinner, is seeing what blasts from the past you can run into when you go out. I think it's pretty much a given that when you are from a small town like myself, walking into a bar on a holiday weekend will provide you with endless opportunities to catch up with old faces, do a little reminiscing and if you are lucky, a chance to correct those awkward sexual encounters you had with them in high school.

I hadn't planned on going home for Easter originally. A friend was going to be in town and I was going to offer my hospitality to them while they were here, but those plans were quickly changed. While waiting on my friend to arrive, I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize and was surprised to hear from someone I had spent a lot of time with throughout high school and the first years of college - Brent. He said he was going to be in our hometown and was wondering if I was going to be also because he would love to catch up. Disappointed that I already had plans to stay grounded for the weekend, I told him no, but promised we'd have to find time to see each other maybe this summer. Then, my guest had an emergency come up and phoned to say he wouldn't be staying at my place after all. Excited about getting to see my family and possibly even Brent, I fled home as soon as I could.

Brent and I met each other in the eighth grade when funny enough, he was my sister's boyfriend. Their puppy love was short lived, and by the time we were in high school, we had the same group of friends. Because of our mutual friends, the two of us hung out often, although we never really took the time to get to know each other more personally. Brent was kind of an artsy guy, who excelled in drawing and painting, and was known for his sense of humor. I never really disliked him, but for some reason the two of us had a hard time hitting it off at first. I found his sense of humor to be sort of juvenile, and I mistook jokes he threw my way as personal stabs at my character. He assumed I was too uptight, and even worse, too sensitive.

It wasn't until our senior year that we actually started to get to know each other one on one. A few times that my friends had planned to come to my house for something, Brent would arrive first and the two of us would be left alone waiting for the rest. We'd have great conversations and he could make me laugh until I cried. We discovered we had favorite movies in common and also liked the same books. He'd tell me about concerts he'd love to see and I found that these same bands were on my list as well. After awhile, Brent was making excuses to stick around after everyone left. We'd sit on the couch together and watch movies, while he would shyly put his arm around me. Sometimes when others were around, we'd hold hands underneath a blanket on the couch. It was as if we didn't want our friends to know we had a blossoming teenage romance. The summer before we left to go to college, we were caught kissing by a friend. Our friend promised not to tell the others, and by the time it got out to everyone else, we had all went our separate ways.

As soon as I got into town, I called Brent to let him know about my change of plans and we agreed to meet out for a drink. I found that I was nervous about seeing him. What if we didn't have anything in common anymore? What if he wasn't attracted to me now? What if we had nothing at all to say to each other? I was beginning to think that maybe it was all a big mistake for us to meet up in the first place, but I decided to just suck it up and go. If it was that bad, we'd have a few drinks and say our goodbyes.

As soon as I saw Brent, I was taken back to the feeling of excitement I got in high school when we were together. He looked older, but better. Unlike then, his chin now sported a pretty nice beard, and he was wearing horn rimmed glasses that suited him to a T. His right arm was covered by a beautiful sleeve tattoo, definitely a new addition, but those seemed to be the only major changes about him. Brent basically was the same as I remembered him from eight years ago.

It's funny to me how years can go by, but depending how strong your connection is with someone, it can seem like no time passed you by at all. Brent and I picked up exactly where we left off. Everything that I was into right now, he was too. We couldn't mention anything without one of us saying "Oh MY God, I LOVE that!" A few drinks for a couple of hours turned into many drinks and almost an all nighter. Brent offered me a ride to my parents' house and once we got there, we sat in his car on the driveway and made out as if we were 17 again.

Before I left, Brent smiled and laughed to himself.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Nothing." I pulled his face over to mine and kissed him on the lips.

"You have to tell me now," I said.

"I didn't think, after all these years, that you would still be attracted to me." He blushed in the dark.

I think it dawned on me then why I look forward to running into guys from the past. For one, it allows me to look back on those days with fondness. I miss getting butterflies in my stomach over guys. I miss the excitement that just a kiss can offer me. Also, I take for granted about how much being with someone familiar is important to me. It shows me how I need to surround myself more with people who genuinely care about me. Finally, it shows me that I've still got it. Now, I know at 26 I am not exactly "old maid" material, but when you live in a college town full of young hard bodies, you sometimes forget that you are young too. I almost let my insecurities talk me out of hanging out with Brent in the first place, and to find that he had the same ones as I did was a great relief.

One of these days, I'm gonna put all these awkward, yet exciting sexual encounters of my past down on paper just to relive them over and over again. It's probably a lot easier to do that than tracking these guys down and trying to recreate the scenario, at least. Besides, I desperately need a best seller.

Tashina Savage would love for Josh and Matt to contact her out of the blue too. You guys know who you are. Email her at sundaysgirl@gmail.com.