The dance

My first school dance.

And my last.

I got up the courage to ask the guy I had been crushing on for months.

From a distance of course.

It was kind of awkward, the asking.

I asked a month in advance, just to make sure I didn't chicken out.

He thought it was cute that I was nervous.

He said yes.

But the memory I would want to relive is what happened the night of the dance.

He came to my house, and called me beautiful.

He stood and let my parents take all the pictures they wanted.

He shook my dad's hand, listened politely to all of the "ground rules."

The curfew, the intentions, etc.

And then he opened the car door for me.

And held my hand to make sure I didn't fall.

We talked and laughed and played music-

All the way to the restaurant where he had made reservations a week before,

and paid before I even had the chance.

Then, even though it was early still,

he drove us to the dance.

We were the first ones,

but we didn't care.

We walked around, talked, laughed,

chose our spot for the night.

He asked about what music I like to listen to,

we switched phones and compared playlists.

He was the only person I've ever shown my playlist to.

It's the most vulnerable part of my life it seems.

And only when people started showing up did I get visibly nervous.

I was nervous before, but at the time he was the only person

whose presence could calm me in an instant.

And he knew exactly what to do.

He took my hands,

and looked deep into my eyes.

He told me I was beautiful,

and I knew what was next.

He leaned in and kissed me.

He kissed me like there weren't people everywhere.

Like we were the only two people in the world.

And then I asked the stupidest question I could think of.

But I was serious.

Somehow, I still thought he wouldn't want to be with me.

So I asked if everything was just going to go back to normal afterwards.

After the lights dimmed,

and he drove me home for the night.

But he understood what I needed in that moment.

And in every moment after that.

He told me he wanted me to be his girlfriend,

because I was different than other girls.

And he looked in my eyes until I said yes.

And hugged me like the world was ending after I did.

I dated this guy for about four months,

and its been about that long since we broke up,

but it's still my favorite memory ever.

He is my favorite memory.