A First Date

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I read in a magazine about people’s first date. It reminded me of a first date. It really did not start out as a date. One of my high school friends invited me to go to a football game with him, his girlfriend and his younger sister. I wasn’t really into football but I decided if he was nice enough to invite me at least I could accept. After the game there was a sock hop dance. (Don’t ask me why it was called a sock hop.) My friend drove an old 1949 Chevrolet. Even though it was a little over twenty years old, I thought it was a pretty cool car. He had talked about fixing it up–painting it and putting in a bigger engine–but he never did. He came with his girlfriend and sister to pick me up. We went to the game and sat together. After it became obvious our team would lose the game my friend said, “Let’s go for a drive.” So we all left the game and jumped into my friend’s car. He and his girlfriend were in the front seat and I and his sister were in the backseat. He drove up into a wooded area and park the car. “It’s pretty cool up here, isn’t it?” my friend asked. We all agreed. My friend’s girlfriend sat as close to my friend as she could. Then he pulled her tight and kissed her. Not a little peck, but a long, hard kiss. I sat there wondering what to do. I turned to look at my friend’s sister to see what she thought. She had slipped across the seat closer to me. I thought, what the heck. I pulled her close and we started necking. I have no idea how long we kissed when my friend said, “We better get going. The sock hop has probably started by now.” He drove us to the high school. At the dance my friend’s sister hung onto me like I was a winning lottery ticket. She draped over me like an apron, her arms around my neck as we danced. I kept thinking one of the dance chaperons would tell us we were dancing too “sexy like,” but nothing was said. I knew then she was really “into” me. The sad part was I wasn’t into her that much. It was more like she just happen to be there. And up until we got to the dance, I thought she felt the same way–just two people who got caught in a situation and were making the best of it. After the dance my friend took me home. I kissed my date as I got out of the car. I didn’t know how to tell my friend’s sister I wasn’t that interested in her so I acted as if that night had never happened. At first she seemed confused but it didn’t take her long to figure it out. A few years after I got out of high school, for some reason, I thought back to that night. I really felt badly about the way I had acted. I should have “manned up” and told her how I felt rather than acting like the night never happened. Years later I ran into my old high school friend. I told him I felt badly about the way I acted after that night. I don’t know if he ever told his sister, but I can’t go back and change things now.