It turns out, they were reminiscing old stories and talking about me. Of course, I wouldn’t find this out until later.
The remainder of my freshman year, I found myself enjoying every moment at church with some of my closest friends. We would go out for cokes after Sunday night discipleship groups or jump in someone’s car to go get ice cream after Wednesday night choir. Joey was part of this group of friends. I really liked him, but I didn’t know his feelings for me. Sometimes I would catch him looking at me or watching me from across the room. I wondered if he shared the same feelings for me that I felt for him.
I had some suspicions. In fact, there was one night we went with our group of friends to an Al Denson concert. Al Denson was notorious for playing songs that required hand motions and what not. (It was 1992. That was cool back then. Just go with it.) During one song, he told everyone to hold hands. Joey grabbed my hand and held tight. When the song was over, I dropped the hand of the person on my left and he dropped the hand of the person on his right. I loosened my grip on Joey’s hand, but he tightened his grip. We held hands for the next few songs. I’m not sure, but I think the world stood still during those songs.
But nothing official was ever declared. I still had the burning question of whether or not he really liked me.
That question was answered one Wednesday night in May. Our youth pastor mentioned the previous Sunday that he was organizing a banquet to honor the graduating seniors that year. He told all of us underclassmen that we were welcome to attend and support the seniors. In passing (almost as a side note to his announcement), he mentioned that if we were interested, we could bring a date to the banquet.
I heard the announcement, but thought little of it. My sister, April, was one of the seniors, so I would be attending the banquet no matter what.
Joey, however, heard the announcement and saw a golden opportunity. He had actually been praying for the Lord to provide him with the opportunity and the boldness to make his feelings for me known. He saw the chance to make his move. I imagine he spent the days between Sunday and Wednesday making plans for exactly how and when he could ask me to be his date.
Wednesday night after church he pulled me aside and popped the question.
“Would you be my date to the senior banquet?”
On the inside, I was doing cartwheels, jumping up and down and screaming “Yes! Yes! YES!” On the outside, I simply smiled and said “of course!” That smile never left my face that evening. My feet may or may not have touched the ground as I walked to the car that night.
I was going to go on a date with Joey. A real date. Then it hit me.
Wait.
I’m not allowed to date until I’m sixteen.
