Meeting Her
You ever have one of those days you’re absolutely sure you’ll remember for the rest of your life, and then it does but for entirely different reasons than you originally thought? It’s like, you wake up knowing you’re gonna be doing this totally awesome thing that you’ll be talking about for weeks to come, but then something happens that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Does that make sense?
The twenty ninth of May, nineteen ninety nine. The day I had been waiting for all year long had finally arrived: the day I’d get to see Star Wars Episode 1! I got dressed in my Star Wars T-Shirt with Chewbacca on it, put on my jeans, and wore my Air Jordans! Mom gave me the money for the ticket and some snacks, and she drove me to the mall so I could hit the cinema. As soon as I arrived, I saw there was a HUGE line already formed that reached all the way to the Borders that was five stores away from the cinema! I groaned, but got in line anyway.
“Holy shit, the third Harry Potter book is coming out in July!” A teenager said in front of me as she looked at the Borders.
“That shit’s so gay,” said a guy whom I assumed was her date. “Magic? Wizards? That shit’s for nerds!”
“I like it!” She protested.
“What else do you like?” He asked, chuckling. “The internet?”
I loved the internet; I’d get on the family computer every weekend and just surf every website I could find! My favorite website was Bored dot com, a great place to find interesting websites for when you’re bored!
The line moved some, and now I was facing the GameStop that was four stores away from the cinema. I looked over and saw they were promoting the new Sega Dreamcast that was due out in September. I had read online that the Dreamcast was a big seller in Japan; with the graphics it was pulling, I had no trouble seeing why!
“Holy shit, the Dreamcast,” said a lovely voice behind me. I turned around and was met with the most beautiful, awe inspiring girl I had ever laid eyes on in my life. She had hair as red as fire, eyes as brown as chocolate, glasses, and she was pretty darn curvy.
My heart was racing like a billion trillion miles! My palms were sweaty, my throat was tight, my body was shaking, and I had the most raging boner ever! Forget Pamela Anderson, forget Britney Spears, and forget the hot chick from She’s All That; THIS girl was the most hottest chick on the planet!
“H-hey,” I said to her, my every fiber of my every being trembling.
“Huh?” She looked over to me. “Uh, hey.”
For the love of shit, Gabe Duncan, fucking SAY SOMETHING!
“You have really pretty hair,” I said, silently cursing myself for being such a goddamn moron. I had ONE shot and I blew it! I’m outta the game...
“Thanks,” she said as she fiddled with her hair. YES! I WAS STILL IN THE GAME!
“You wanna go out sometime?” I blurted out. AAAAAAAUUUUGH I FUCKED UUUUP!!!
“Um,” she hesitated for a while, darting her eyes back and forth. I knew right then and there it was gonna be a rejection. “My dad doesn’t want me dating till I’m eighteen, sorry.”
“That’s OK,” I said, feeling dejected. I struck out. I struck out bad.
“So, uh,” she began. “I’m Daisy. Daisy Derriwinkle. You?”
“Gabe Duncan,” I said to her, shaking her very soft hand. “You like video games?”
“Heck yeah!” She said. “I have a Playstation, and a Super Nintendo! You?”
“Same,” I said, blushing a bit. “Kinda weird to meet a girl who likes video games; most girls I know don’t play.”
“I know,” she said, putting her hands behind her back and glancing at the store. “What games do you play?”
“Final Fantasy,” I replied. “And a lot of other RPGs. You?”
“I like Final Fantasy, too,” she replied, smiling and blushing a bit. “Which game’s your favorite?”
“I think Seven is the best,” I said. “You?”
“I like Three a lot, but yeah, Seven’s the best,” she replied.
“Hey, did you know that what we call Final Fantasy Three is REALLY Final Fantasy Six?” I asked. “I read about it online!”
“Holy shit, really?” She asked, looking at me with wide eyes.
“Yeah!” I said. “The original Final Fantasies Two and Three were never released in America because the NES was already on its way out here, and so because of that, what is actually Final Fantasy Four was released here as Final Fantasy Two!”
“Holy crap,” she said. “But what about Final Fantasy Five?”
“The translation for it was taking too long, so Squaresoft decided to instead focus on making Secret of Mana instead. And so, when Final Fantasy Six got released here, it was called Final Fantasy Three!”
“That’s pretty cool!” She said. And so we kept talking games while we waited for the ticket line to go down.
“Hey, you know that I’ve heard GREAT things about this video game called Revelations: Persona?” I asked. “If you like Final Fantasy, you should definitely check it out!”
“Oh cool, I’d love that!” She excitedly said. “You know, Gabe? I’m glad to have met someone who I can talk games with; nobody ever talks games with me. Well, except my dad’s girlfriend.”
“Oh?” I asked, suddenly feeling a bit off. I was gonna ask about her mom, but a little voice inside my head told me to drop it. “I’m glad, too. Only people I can talk games with are people online.”
“My dad won’t let me use the internet,” she said, chuckling. God, she’s so pretty when she laughs...
We finally bought our tickets, and we went to see the movie. We saw the movie together, like a pseudo-date, as it were. We both loved the movie, but we had to go our separate ways because her dad came to pick her up. Mom picked me up a little later.
That morning I was sure this day was gonna rock because I was gonna see the new Star Wars movie. But as I laid in bed that night, I knew that I was gonna remember the day of May twenty ninth, nineteen ninety nine for the rest of my life, because that was the day I met the first great love of my life.
