A made up love story
Who in here believes in fairy tale romances? I knew you’d say that so I’m going to tell you my story. It is a fairy tale romance. Some parts are funny, some parts are sad, but it was all written by God before time began.
I met this guy named Randy in Algebra class when we were juniors at Washington High School. I’d love to tell you it was love at first sight, (so that it would go along with the rest of my fairy tale) but it wasn’t. I was seeing a sophomore in college at NC State named Brian and at the time, so I wasn’t interested in any other guys. Our algebra teacher was out on maternity leave and we had a substitute teacher for an entire six weeks. This wasn’t just any substitute…..this was a substitute that let us sit in groups and talk the entire class period. You gotta love the public school system, right?
Well, it was 1992 and that was the year Ross Perot was running for president. There was this guy in my Algebra class that caught my attention with his funny Ross Perot, not to mention Scooby Doo, impression. After my group of friends listened to this guy talk for a few days, I asked him to pull his chair up to our group so he could make us laugh. He came over that very day and never left again. He could sing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” just like an exaggerated Bing Crosby and he kept me laughing all the time.
After a few weeks, this guy named Randy became not just the comedian of the group, but a friend to me. I had never realized before that he was in my English class as well! He would walk to class with me and make me laugh nonstop. I enjoyed his company. I was having trouble in my relationship with my boyfriend and Randy was right there telling me I just needed to break up with the pig! You can imagine my surprise when I found out WHY he wanted me to break up with my boyfriend. Two days after the breakup by phone…which surprisingly, I was not devastated about, Randy slipped a note in my hand on the way to my last class of the day. Once he handed it to me, I turned around and he was gone. I’d like to read a portion of that letter to you now, but you’ll have to promise not to laugh since we WERE only sixteen.
Stephanie,
Well, I need to know if you might have any feelings for me? I want you to be truthful and it has to be yes, or no. Don’t worry about me getting mad, because I know if you don’t have the same feelings I can’t change it. I really feel that we can have something strong, but I won’t pressure you because like I say, I can’t make you love me if you don’t. And if you don’t, I can only be the best friend you can have and I will live with that.
I know you just had a break up with Brian and I know it might be a long while before you can feel the same way about somebody. I am willing to wait for this as long as it takes, because the moment I met you, I knew that if I let someone like you slip away, I would never forgive myself. So now all I can ask is that you give me the best Christmas present I’ve ever had and think about it. Don’t worry, I WILL NOT BUG YOU!
Another thing I find odd is that I met you about the same time that you broke up with Brian. Maybe it was meant to be, but that is entirely up to you. I hope you don’t get mad with me over this letter because if you got mad at me, I don’t know what I would do. I just had to let you know how I feel because I am almost bursting inside. I still have a lot to say but for now this is basically it.
Randy
As I read the letter, my mouth just hung open. I had no idea Randy liked me!! I thought we were just friends! I didn’t like him that way at all…..did I? I folded the letter up and put it away worrying about how I was supposed to tell him that I really thought he was a great friend. Instead, I did what any sixteen year old would do. I wrote him a note back that said I would give him my answer at the Pep Rally on Friday. Don’t laugh, we were just sixteen!
On Friday, I went to the pep rally with my Algebra class and sat next to Randy who I made small talk with, but ignored the fact that anything weird was going on.
Christmas vacation started the next day. Not much happened that weekend, but I do remember one specific thing. I was sitting in the floor watching television and my mom was on the couch. Mama asked me, “What in the world are you thinking about?” I had been daydreaming about Randy and myself in school and I snapped out of it when she spoke. I asked her why she asked me that and she said, “You were smiling great big and staring into space.” That’s when I first realized something was going on in my heart with this class clown.
On the first day of Christmas vacation, December 21st, 1992, I was still in my pajamas when my mom came home for lunch at 12:30. I had fixed her lunch and we were watching television while she ate. I was sitting in the floor with the phone beside me, so I answered it when it rang. It was Randy. I felt so strange talking to him on the telephone. The only place we had ever talked was Algebra class and that was all talk about nothing. After he asked if I had a good weekend and how my Christmas break was going, he asked me if I wanted to ride over to Greenville with him to buy a Christmas present for his brother. I knew good and well my mama was not going to let me ride over to Greenville with Randy, especially since she had never met him. On top of that, I wasn’t even allowed to ride to Greenville with someone she DID know unless it was a special situation. I told Randy to hold on and put my hand over the receiver. I looked at my mom and said, “He wants to know if I can ride over to Greenville with him to buy a Christmas present for his brother.” She looked back at me and said, “Do you want to go?” I smiled and said, “yes” ….and then a miracle happened. She said yes!! I told Randy it was okay and he told me what time he would pick me up. Mama left to go back to work and I ran upstairs to take a shower. I got dressed and waited for him to arrive.
Finally, that baby blue Ford Thunderbird pulled up in front of our apartment. I don’t remember much about him picking me up, but I do remember that he said he had to stop by his parent’s office first. They ran a business called Early Distributing that sold safety equipment. When we pulled up in front of the office, Randy told me he would be right back. As soon as he got inside, I took my coat off, pulled the visor mirror down and tried to make myself look pretty. It wasn’t until months later that I would find out that Randy, his mom, and his dad were all looking at me from inside the store through the blinds!! I was so embarrassed!
Our day of shopping was so much fun. I couldn’t think of a time I had felt so much like myself with a guy. We laughed, we shopped, we stopped and got a wild cherry pepsi at Hollowell’s d**g Store…..and then he took me home. I invited him in and he ate homemade pizza with us. I remember being upset because I had told my mom so much about his blue eyes and he wore a hat the entire time he was in our apartment.
During that Christmas break, we spent nearly every day together. I met and ate with his family the day after Christmas and fell in love with all of them immediately. Two weeks later, standing on my door steps, Randy told me he loved me. I was sixteen and wasn’t sure I knew what love was yet so my response was less than romantic. I looked at him and replied, “Already??”
A month later, I whispered “I love you” to Randy as he kissed me goodnight. He acted like I had been saying that all along and just said, “I love YOU.”
Over the next several months, we fell head over heels in love. We carpooled to school together, we had class together, we walked to class together ….and on the weekends we were inseparable. Everyone in school laughed at us because we were ALWAYS together. You couldn’t find one of us without the other. I know it’s hard to imagine at just sixteen years old, but it’s true. I knew then that I loved Randy, I just never knew how much more I could love him.
In February of 1992, Randy got sick. He had a fever and it seemed like a bad cold. He missed school for about a week and I rushed to call him each day when I got home from school. If he was feeling up to it, I went over and had dinner with his family being sure to keep my distance so I didn’t catch his cold. One day after school, I rushed home to call but couldn’t get an answer. I called for three hours but still nothing. Finally, around 7pm, his Dad answered the phone. He said Randy had been admitted to the hospital at UNC in Chapel Hill. I was so upset and wanted to know why. Mr. Beeker told me that Randy was very dehydrated and they just needed to give him some fluids to get him back on his feet. I honestly did not question why he was in Chapel Hill. I knew his family was from Burlington, so I figured that was where Randy’s doctors were. Mr.Beeker gave me the number to Randy’s room and I called that night and spoke with him and his mom. He told me how much he missed me and not to worry….he’d be home in no time. Two and a half weeks later, he was finally released from the hospital. I still remember the day he came home because I sped all the way to his house to see him. He looked pale and like he had lost some weight, but that is what hospitals do to people, so I didn’t worry.
Life went on and Randy came back to school. We were back to our normal routine and life was great. Then, one night in March when we were talking on the phone, Randy was acting strange. He kept singing some little tune saying, “I’ve got something to tell you.” I thought he was just singing something but after he said it the fourth time, I asked him if he was trying to tell me something or just singing? He finally confessed that he did want to tell me something. So, I told him to go ahead. After several minutes of silence and apologizing, he began to talk telling me he was afraid of what would happen to us once he told me. I thought he sounded like he was crying. I was confused but I listened telling him that he could tell me anything and should never be afraid because he already knew how much I loved him. So, he finally said it. “I have Cystic Fibrosis.”
I would tell you that I was shocked and so upset but I really didn’t know what that meant. I had done a research paper on CF just the year before, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what CF was. Randy explained a little bit. He told me that everyone produces mucous in their lungs, but people with CF produce so much and it’s so thick that they can hardly breathe. Then he told me that he probably wouldn’t be able to have c***dren. I remember asking him, “But you’ll be okay, right?” He told me if he took his medication like he was supposed to, he would do okay. I didn’t ask anymore questions and told him he should never hide anything from me again. Then he asked me if I was going to break up with him. I was so upset that he thought I’d be so shallow!
When he mentioned having c***dren again, I told him that he had no idea what God’s plans were and that we could adopt if we had to. I know all this sounds funny coming from a sixteen year old, but we talked about getting married all the time. Randy told me he would probably cry when I saw him the next day at school but I remember hugging him when I saw him and all was fine. After all, CF could not be that big of a deal, right?
The next day after school, Randy had plans, so I went to the library to research Cystic Fibrosis. What I found there shocked me. I found pages and pages of articles telling me that most people with CF didn’t live to their teenage years, but never past their early thirties. It told of horrible, sticky mucous that clogged airways and made it impossible to breathe. I was so afraid and I wrote in my diary that night how scared I was to lose Randy. I couldn’t imagine spending a day without him, much less a lifetime.
From there forward, there was an unspoken knowledge between us. Almost like we knew every day was a gift and we had to enjoy every second. We hugged tighter, kissed more, and just enjoyed every day to the very fullest. Watching any kind of movie where there was a terminally sick person was torture and we would both cry the rest of the night without saying why.
Meanwhile, everyone laughed at us and picked on us because we were never apart. We were always in the hallways at school holding hands, or spending the days at each other’s house. We went to our junior and senior proms together and neither could have been more perfect. I remember we got a wild idea that we could just get married while we were in high school. Randy’s parents never said much about it while my mom told me not to bring it up again until we had graduated. That was the end of that conversation at sixteen years old.
After high school, we both attended Beaufort Community College and worked at Wal-Mart. Did I mention we were never apart? Randy studied to earn his degree in drafting design while I worked on completing all my prerequisite courses so I could transfer to ECU. After attending BCCC for a year, I got a job in Greenville at US Cellular. It was a longer drive, but the money was so much better I had to take it. Randy was about to graduate with his drafting degree and I was dying to know how much longer before he asked me the question! He would just smile and tell me to stop trying to ruin the surprise!
8=====D~ {()} Published by i-love-sex102