Rob

Boy number 8: Robert. He was the kid who ate dirt. He was weird. His mom taught art masterpiece. But he was hilarious and made me laugh. I got made fun of for hanging around him. He had this really big friend named Taylor. They were the weirdest friends ever because Taylor was so tall and big and Rob was so short and little. Anyway, they were losers and I pretended to hang with the popular crowd so it was unacceptable to be friends with him.

But secretly, I had a crush on him.

The sixth grade science fair. We’ve already discussed this- I won first place. The entry I didn’t include had this little memory in it.

Rob and I were sat next to each other in the cafeteria where our projects were being displayed. Both our moms came through and oozed over us. I agreed to let Rob borrow my first place ribbon while his mom was there so that she would think he was smart. Not that it mattered. He kept stealing the ribbon regardless.

Once most of the parents had already come through and things had settled down, Rob and I had time to talk. He told me all about his dreams and aspirations. The number one goal on his list? He wanted to grow a mustache. He went on and on about how much more grown up people look with mustaches. At one point, he looked at me very seriously. He said, “Chelsy… do you like me?” I said, “As a friend?” and he said, “As more than friends?” I did! I wanted to shout it out to him! But then I caught Karli’s eye from across the room. I knew I couldn’t tell him I liked him as more than a friend. So instead I said, “Nope. We’re friends.” He got very upset after that and put his head down and covered his face with his arms. I felt really bad. I kept trying to make pathetic jokes to make him look back up at me, but he wouldn’t.

About this time, his mom came back through again. “Robert, I’m leaving.” She said, pushing the stroller that contained Rob’s young brother. He hugged his mom and sat back down next to me. I was glad to see that he was over his little pity party. I nudged him with my arm and pointed out a particularly fine mustache on Courtney Clementine’s father. Rob concluded that he wanted a thick, black bar bell mustache. Then he looked at me quizzically. He turned his head to the side, then leaned in really close to get a good look at my face. When he withdrew, he had a triumphant smile on his face. “You’ve got a bigger mustache then I do!” He said.

My eyes got wide. I looked down at the ground and didn’t talk for the rest of class. Rob and I never talked again.

That is until he came to my junior high. I was absolutely SHOCKED to see him. I ran to Summer, my elementary friend, and told her all about it. We concluded that I should write him a note. And a sad note it was. We were in eighth grade, I’m sure he had forgotten everything that had happened, yet I thought it would be a great idea to tell him all about how sorry I was and how I really did like him and I hoped we could put everything that happened in elementary school behind us. I gave him the note in front of his friends. He took it and gave me a weird look then walked away. I laughed it off and decided that he would write me back. He never did.

Eventually, we moved on to different high schools. I added him on facebook. He accepted the request, but when I went to post on his wall, he never responded. Later I found out he was dating Krissy Brinkerhoff one of the twins from my old elementary school. Small world.