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Wyatt
1996
Marissa was…cute. Very cute. With dishwater blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and a warm smile, I was drawn to her immediately. Her eyelids were dusted with baby blue sparkly shadow, and her lips were painted a dark burgundy. She wore an oversized navy blue sweater and gray corduroy pants that flared over her brown Mary Jane Doc Martens. She tucked her hands into the bulky sleeves of her sweater when she talked.
So cute. But also painfully shy. Just getting her to talk was a challenge. But I kept trying. It wasn’t often that I was immediately attracted to a girl on campus since my thoughts always seemed to drift back to Tilly. I found myself comparing their eyes, their smile, and their personality traits. But with Marissa, I was engulfed and invested. I wanted to break through the shell of her shy demeanor and see if we had anything in common.
So far…not a whole lot, but I wasn’t ready to give up.
“So, you don’t like rap?” I asked as we walked across campus behind Ruben and Dahlia, on our way to Spotlight Video. It was a brisk spring afternoon, and I was glad I’d brought a jacket as the wind brushed across my face.
“I mean, not really,” she said softly. “It’s a little too…I don’t know the word…” Her eyebrows pinched together like she was searching for the right word.
“Awesome? Original?” I asked, teasing.
She laughed, shaking her head and tucking her hair behind both ears simultaneously. Her pale cheeks grew pink. “No, no…”
“I know, I’m just kidding. Tell me what you really think.”
“Aggressive,” she said with a decisive nod. “It’s too aggressive.”
“I guess I could see that,” I said with a shrug, kicking a pebble in my path. “So, what do you like?”
“Barenaked Ladies.”
“Um…what?” I asked, my eyes wide.
Ruben turned around and stopped in his tracks. “Dude, chill. It’s a Canadian band.”
“Oh,” I said, still a little surprised and letting out a shaky laugh. “I was about to say…tell me all about it.”
“I take it you’ve never heard of them,” Marissa said, shaking her head and holding back laughter.
“Nope, can’t say I have.”
“C’mon, man,” Ruben chided and started to sing. “If I had a million dol-lars…”
“Ohhh,” I said. “That’s them? I hear that on the radio all the time. Never knew who it was.”
“I guess you learn something new every day,” Marissa said with a smile. “I have all their discs in my room if you want to borrow them.”
“Really? But they’re your favorite.”
“It’s fine, I trust you,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. Her sheepish demeanor was endearing, although I secretly hoped that if we got to know each other better, she’d be comfortable enough to show me her entire personality. Something told me that no one could really be this shy all the time.
“We’ll trade something.”
“Oh.” She paused for a second. “Okay, cool.”
“We just have to find something of mine that you would like.”
Dahlia slowed her pace. “We won’t be starting the movies right away…you could always show her your CD collection when we get back to Langford.”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head at Dahlia and used my best Chandler Bing voice. “Wow. Could you be any more obvious?”
Marissa nodded. “I love that show.”
I loved that she knew exactly what I was referencing without me having to explain it. Maybe we’d have more in common than I thought.
