I met David when I was seventeen years
old; he was twenty at the time. We met
at a record store, I was working there and he was looking for a CD. The record store I worked in was a small
one, not much business, and the day David came in there was no different than
any other day. No business. The other girl I worked with was at lunch,
so I was there alone. He walked in and
I literally got wet. He was about 6
feet tall, maybe a few inches taller; had blonde hair; and the most stunning
blue eyes. He had on a white shirt and
jeans; he was pretty lean and muscular.
I had never seen a guy that gorgeous.
We started talking as we searched for it. He was a mechanic, he told me, working for a big truck
company. I was still in high school, it
was my senior year and I would turn eighteen in a month. He laughed and said he’d love to be at that
party.
“You’ll go wild right? Eighteen and partying,” he smiled as I found
the CD we were looking for.
“Oh you bet!” I grinned.
“And here’s the CD you were looking for. I can’t believe you listen to the Counting Crows. This is really for your girlfriend isn’t
it?” Yeah, subtlety is my middle name.
“No it’s for me. When she broke up with me she took my copy.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That sucks. C’Mon with me and I’ll ring you up.” I turned away from him, beet red, and we walked to the register.
“Hey don’t worry about it,” he
said. We were facing each other, only
separated by the counter the register was on.
He touched my nametag as he read it.
“Samantha. I didn’t like her
that much anyway.” I smiled up at him;
he was a good four inches taller than I was.
We locked eyes and for a moment, I forgot what I was doing. “Price?”
He asked.
“Oh!”
I laughed. “Yeah that would be
helpful!” I blushed again. “Twenty-one nineteen,” I smiled.
“Fuck for a CD?” He asked as he pulled his wallet out.
“It’s a live one, they’re always more
expensive.” He handed me a twenty and I
got his change and handed it to him. I
put his receipt in the bag with his CD and smiled at him. “Thank you for shopping Basic CD Needs,
please come again,” I said brightly, handing him the bag.
“They pay you to be so perky don’t
they?” He laughed.
“No, it’s a natural thing with cute
customers.” Then I realized what I had
said. He still had a grin on his
face. “I mean, nice customers.”
“Thank you,” he laughed. “With the customer service around here you
can bet I’ll be back.” We both laughed,
then the front bell rang, and Margie walked in. She was back from lunch.
We both turned and looked at her, and she gave me a smile. “Well,” David said. I turned back to him. “I shall see you later. Have a good day.”
“You too,” I smiled. Margie joined me behind the counter and we
both watched him walk out. He turned to
wave as he walked through the door and caught us both staring. Margie and I giggled at each other, and I
started blushing. “Have you ever seen a
guy look that good?” I asked. Margie was in her mid-twenties, and in a
relationship, but she liked to look.
“Other than my man?” She asked.
“Hell no!” We laughed, and then
another customer came in. David was all
but forgotten, his face hanging in my mind as I helped stock CD’s and
clean. I didn’t think I’d see him
again, but I was wrong.
About a week later David came in
again. I was the only one working, since
there had been no customers at all the boss told Margie to go home and I to
stay. I was thumbing through a Rolling
Stone when I heard the bell on the door ring.
I looked up and smiled.
“Welcome to Basic CD Needs, can I help
you?” Then I saw it was David. I broke out in a grin.
“They pay you to say that too?” He smiled as he came over to me. “No, wait, not for the cute, I mean, nice
customers right?”
“Right,” I said blushing.
“You blush a lot, it’s really
adorable,” he said. “Anyway, I was wondering
if you could help me out?”
“I can try,” I smiled. “That is what they pay for me!” He returned my smile.
“See, I met this girl, and she’s
really beautiful,” he started. My heart
sank, and I wondered why he was telling me this. “The thing is, I’m twenty, and she’s seventeen.” My heart soared. “I know age shouldn’t matter, right?” I couldn’t talk - I just nodded.
“I was wondering, how do you think she’d react if I asked her out? I don’t want her to think I’m a dirty old
man.”
“I doubt she’ll think that,” I said
softly, a prayer going out asking it to be me.
“After all, it’s only three years.”
“So, if I just came into her work one
day and asked her to a movie and dinner do you think she’d go with me?” He asked softly, leaning onto the counter
between us.
“I’d say yes,” I whisper.
“You personally would say yes? Or you think she would say yes?” When he said that, my heart started doing
flip-flops.
“Both.”
“Samantha,” he said softly, “would you
like to go to dinner and a movie with me?”
“I would love to,” I grinned. He grinned back at me, and stood up.
“Great! I’ve been dying to ask you since I met you, but the age thing had
me bothered.”
“Reason number twenty of why I want to
be older,” I sighed. He smiled. “It’s ok, I don’t care about the age thing.”
“Good. So, when and where should I pick you up?” He asked.
“I have tonight and tomorrow night off, then I have to go out of town
the rest of the week.”
“How about tonight? It’s Friday, no school tomorrow,” I laughed.
“Oh wow Samantha, make me feel like a
child molester,” he smiled. I couldn’t
tell if he was joking or not.
“I’ll be 18 in one month, David. Don’t sweat it.” I paused and looked at him.
“How about you pick me up around 7 p.m., here?”
“You got it,” he nodded. “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”
“How about Applebee’s? Maybe the new Matt Damon movie?” I hoped he didn’t think I was a teenybopper
when I said Matt Damon, but he is one of my favorite actors.
“Sounds good. I’ll be here at seven.”
“Perfect. I’ll be here with bells on,” I smiled.
“Just bells?” He grinned.
We both started laughing. He
looked at his watch and looked back at me.
“I better get going, gotta feed the cat and get ready for tonight.”
“Ok,” I grinned. My heart was still soaring that he had asked
me out. We said a quick goodbye and he
left, leaving me alone with my heart in my throat and my stomach in knots. He’d have to drive me home. I didn’t want that, not at all. I called my best friend Joanie and asked if
I could stay with her. She knew about
my family, and wouldn’t care that David dropped me off there.
My family isn’t the best family
around, and I didn’t want them to scare David away. They would too, given the chance. My dad’s an alcoholic, and there honestly hasn’t been a day that
I’ve gone home and he’s been sober. My
mom, well she’s the reason that my dad drinks.
She’s been cheating on him since I was about seven years old. Instead of either of them leaving, they both
stayed together and have made my life hell.
Sometimes my dad would get so drunk he would mistake me for a punching
bag. Of course, prominent family name,
no one believed me when I told, they all assumed it was a boyfriend. The last guy who took me out, well my mother
tried to seduce him while he was waiting on me. David is ten times cuter than this last guy is, and I knew she’d
be on him in a second.
So, it was all set. All I had to do was go home after work,
which would be 5:30, get dressed and come back to work. I doubt my mom and dad would notice I’d be
gone, but I would leave them a note saying I was out with Joanie. She’d cover for me, she always had.
The last hour of work seemed to drag,
and then Marsha came in finally to relieve me.
I hardly said hello and goodbye as I punched out and practically ran out
of the store. I was going to be going
out with David! Dinner and a
movie! I felt like my heart would burst
from pure excitement. I had been
fantasizing about him since we met, mostly sexual fantasies I have to
admit. I couldn’t help it, I’d never
been with a guy and he was the first one that ever really turned me on just
from saying hello to me. I have had
some very dirty thoughts about him, and I wanted to get with this guy. But I could tell from the way he was
earlier, that our age difference-even though it’s only
three years-would be a problem if we got too serious
before I was eighteen. Wait, what am I
thinking? It’s only a date.
I made it home in record time and as
usual, my dad was drunk sitting in the recliner in the living room. He gave me one of his looks as I walked
through the room and I decided to get dressed at Joanie’s. That look is not a good one and I didn’t
want to egg him on wearing what I wanted to wear for David. I packed a bag in a matter of minutes,
something I was getting better at, then tried to leave the house without being
interrogated. It didn’t work. I almost made it out the front door before
my dad yelled at me.
“Samantha! Where are you going?” I
turned and faced him.
“I’m spending the night at Joanie’s,
dad,” I said. “I have to work in the
morning so I won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon.”
“Go you little whore. I’ll get you tomorrow night.” I didn’t say anything, I just walked
out. I closed the door and shuddered,
then ran to my car. Joanie would have a
houseguest all weekend I decided as I drove to her house.