CHAPTER TWO

It was a scorching hot Saturday in June. I had a busy day ahead of me, as I attended both my long-time friend Amanda's wedding in Snohomish, AND played a softball game on the same day. The wedding was beautiful. I said hi to the family, then I took off for Seattle.

I showed up to the softball field in my cute summer skirt and fitted shirt, and dawdled around for a few minutes in hopes that "people" would show up while I was still dressed up. However being the competitor I am, I rushed into the bathroom to change into my softball gear so I could warm up on time. As I headed back to my car, Aaron drove up. It was the first time I noticed we had the same car. "Hey!" I called out to him, "My car's better than yours!" He laughed. Then we headed off to warm up together, yet again. Our warm up usually consisted of a few short throws, then we would get as far apart as possible, and try to throw the ball as far as we could. I hate to brag, but I beat him every time.

The softball game was tough. The team from Crista was highly competitive, and we happened to be the only team in the league who could stop them. It was a high scoring game, tied at 21 in the last inning, and we were last to bat. I don't remember much from that inning, except in some way I took part in creating the winning run. We celebrated, shook hands, and reveled in shutting down the most fearsome opponent any church slow-pitch softball team had ever encountered.

As we stood around celebrating, I asked a group of people to join and celebrate at Taco del Mar for a celebration dinner. I primarily wanted Aaron to go, but I couldn't very well invite JUST him. After all, he had a girlfriend. The group of us enjoyed our delicious Mexican feast, and enjoyed the ecstasy of being momentarily in first place.

After our dinner, we all headed outside. I chatted with a few people, said goodbye, and headed for my car. Then, I heard a glorious sound from behind me. It was Aaron, calling out to me. I turned to see him, and he was running toward me with is arms open. We embraced, we kissed, and he pulled out a ring. He got down on his knee, looked deeply in my eyes, and said, "Hey, you're exaggerating your story."

Thanks, sometimes I get carried away.

So there he was, awkwardly walking toward me with hands in pockets. We chatted for a minute, and I mentioned he should give me the letters falling off the back of his Ford Ranger for my birthday (The "D" in FORD was falling off). He laughed. But then, for a moment, I think I saw true fear in his eyes. With hands still in his pockets, he lightly brushed his foot on the ground and looked at me, "Well, I was wondering if maybe, sometime, you'd want to hang out."

Inside, my heart pounded harder than ever, and my inner self was dancing and screaming, running down 45th Ave like I had just scored the winning goal in the World Cup. I casually responded, "Sure."

This is where my inability to play hard-to-get enters the story. After a minute of awkward silence, and kind of figuring out when I wanted to hang out with him, I blurted, "How about tonight?"

"Well yeah, that sounds great. We could head back to my apartment to clean up, then head down to the beach or something," Aaron replied, as if he hadn't thought of it already. "That sounds fun! I actually have a change of clothes in the car today!" I said, as if I hadn't planned it. So, after entering each other's phone numbers in our cell phones, we were off to Aaron's apartment. I called my parents excitedly to let them know I was going to hang out with a guy friend from the softball team.

Aaron lived in a third floor apartment on Bothell-Everett Highway, which made his place hot, and rather noisy. But none of that stood out to me, because as I walked in, I realized his apartment was absolutely SPOTLESS, and definitely didn't smell like a bachelor pad. At that moment, I realized he had cleaned it expecting me to be there. I also noticed, as we sat on the couch for a moment, that there was a picture of him and a young woman on the bookshelf. Hesitantly, I asked him the burning question, "So, who's the girl in that picture?"

"Oh, I need to take that down." he replied, as he pulled the frame off the shelf. "I didn't realize that was still up! She and I broke up about a month ago, but really should have ended it before that."

Phew! That answered my question! But the idea settled in my mind that maybe this friendship wasn't destined to progress any further, as Aaron was on the rebound. I just decided to enjoy my time with him and not think about it.

I cleaned up and changed, and we took off in his lame, older version of my truck, and headed to Magnusson Park on Lake Washington. It was packed with people and cars. As we walked toward the beach, I suddenly noticed we were twins. We looked each other over. We had chosen matching outfits! Red shirts and khahki shorts. We had a short laugh, and a slightly awkward moment, then continued on our way. We sat down on the beach and chatted for over what was probably close to two hours. We talked about our favorite bands, favorite food, favorite beer... all the important things in life.

The rest of the night consisted of my first Corona and lime, and calling my Dad to let him know I wouldn't be back until after Saturday Night Live. I remember talking through most of the show, and both of us realizing at one point we had no idea was was going on on the TV.

As I made the gesture to head home at about 1:30am, Aaron offered to walk me out to my car. I almost turned him down, but remembered I was in Seattle, and probably could use a little security. I accepted his offer. Once I reached my car, I turned to say goodbye. I suddenly had the urge to give him a hug. I stepped forward, and as he wrapped his arms around me, he briefly rubbed my shoulder with his hand. I did everything to keep from collapsing in his arms. I let go and stepped back. "Thanks for the great night," I said to him. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Definitely, that would be great. I'll give you a call this week." Aaron replied, sincerely.

I waved to him as I drove away, and headed home with stars in my eyes.