Nathan

I’m sure you’re thinking, “There can’t be that many…” But let me just tell you… There are at least 60 guys that I will most likely be talking about and many more that I don’t feel like re-living.  After the mishap with David, I jumped right back on the horse with boy #2. Nathan. Now I thought Nathan was my one true love. He looked like Aladdin and that was enough for me. We would have “play dates” all the time. I thought we were actually on dates. There was another girl, Reagan, who would sometimes join us. I never felt threatened by her though, because I looked a lot more like Jasmine then she did. She was bright blonde with crazy light blue eyes. I had dark brown, long, wavy hair and dark blue eyes. So I wasn’t the picture of the Arabian princess… but I was a heck of a lot closer than Reagan was.

We were inseparable. Our moms were friends so we would go on outings together, holding hands in our matching car seats, waving at the flashing red hands on the crosswalks and staring at the cloud strewn sky. My life was perfect. He was tall, dark, and handsome. The picture perfect prince of my dreams.

We used to ride my tricycle together around my big back yard.  I would drive and he would sit behind me. One day, he reached around and kissed me on the cheek. I was shocked… I didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered seeing an old movie where a beautiful girl struck a handsome young man for being too bold and kissing her. So naturally, I jumped off the bike and smacked him across the face. The momentum of my slap knocked him off the bike and he went tumbling onto the grass. My mom, who was gardening nearby looked up and asked what had happened. I told her the truth “Nathan kissed me, so I smacked him.” Nathan stood up and denied everything. I started crying because he HAD kissed me. And I liked it. But I wouldn’t let him know that. Nathan’s mom came and picked him up. I watched from the living room window as he pulled away in his mom’s big blue van. I exhaled longingly dreaming of a day when Nathan and I could share another kiss.

That day never came though. As the weeks went on, things went back to normal with Nathan and me. We went back to playing make believe and riding that tryc around the yard. But no more kisses. Then, one day, I received terrible news. “This will be the last time you play with Nathan,” my mom said as she drove me to his house. “He’s moving away to Utah.” She may as well have said Africa. I begged him to stay. He said he didn’t have a choice but that he didn’t want to go. We promised never to forget each other. I dreamed that night of watching him pull away from his house. I felt empty and forgotten. But I let his last words echo in my mind. “I won’t forget you.”

Years later, I started searching for him on facebook. I found one Nathan. I couldn’t see what he looked like from his profile picture so I added him and sent him a quick message. He replied that he wasn’t who I was looking for but that he would be glad to “chat” creeped out, I cancelled the friend request. He tried to add me again later.

When I finally found the real Nathan, I was so excited. He had the exact same grin he’d had when we were kids. I knew it was him. I knew we would reconnect through facebook and fall in love and get married. I was mortified to find out that he didn’t remember me. He promised to ask his mom about me, but he never replied after that.