Naive Love

Part 1

When I was a child, I always wondered when it would be my turn to fall madly in love. I wanted to feel the sweaty palms, the butterflies, the quick heartbeats...The idea of love intrigued me. My mother would tell me, "What is meant to happen, will happen." To this day I still live by what she told me. Naïve as I was, I began to believe if I were patient enough, love would come and find me. Come to find out, I was not entirely wrong.

It was grade eight when I fell in love at first sight. As shallow it sounds, his looks are what first caught my attention. I recall the day as if it were yesterday. It was the brink of winter; the sun was glaring through the clouds and refreshing gusts of wind blew my hair back. My friends and I were walking around the track when I first saw him. He was playing basketball and the ball had bounced out onto the track. The ball bounced to my feet as if the universe was literally giving me the privilege to meet him for the first time. I reached over to pick up the ball and he ran over to retrieve it. The first thing I had noticed was his gorgeous, shimmering blue eyes. My heart had skipped a beat. This moment caught me off guard and it felt like time had stopped for just a moment. He reached over to grab the ball from my hand and me being nervous, dropped the ball. I felt embarrassed, but he just said "Thanks," picked it up and ran back to the basketball court. My friends noticed my odd behavior when he would be around. From that day forward, whenever he was nearby, my friends would tease me. After a few days, I was certain he had noticed it.

The next day of school, I walked into my science class and to my surprise, there he was. He was sitting in the front row on the left side of the classroom. I couldn't believe how I had not noticed him before. Inattentional blindness was to blame. I sat down in my assigned seat and I contemplated how it was possible that I had overlooked him. After class was over, I tried my hardest to convince myself to speak to him. My shyness had gotten in the way of many great opportunities and I wanted this one to happen. As soon as I built up the courage, I walked up behind him, opened my mouth to say a simple "Hello," but he left before I could even say it.

 The next gym class, I decided I was going to introduce myself to him with my friends. I thought that if my friends accompanied me, I;d be more comfortable. I gathered my friends, recited the plan to them and we migrated over to the basketball court. One of my friends shouted his name and he turned his head towards us. She signaled him over and he jogged over to us. "My friend wants to say hi to you," she told him. My heart was racing and I felt my cheeks were flushed. Immediately I grabbed one of my friends hand and we ran off into the locker room. After that day, I never tried talking to him again. Until now.