EXCERPTS FROM MY LIFE//CURIOUS GEORGE
So, this is how I remember it.
I remember being eager to get off work and having a change of clothes in my backpack. I got off around 7 or 8 and you picked me up in your mom’s Jeep. Upon getting in the car you couldn’t stop smiling and I couldn’t stop looking at you. I liked that you liked to be around me, and you liked that about me. We had both agreed to live in the moment for the night and to forget about the past. Everything going on between us recently had compromised our plans for the future, or so we thought at the time, and we ended up being right, but regardless, that night was supposed to remind me of why I liked this girl from Jersey who listened to hellogoodbye on Limewire and why you liked this funny Asian boy who wrote to you while he was in class. Driving there, I got changed in the car and all my work clothes smelled like burgers and fries, so of course I brought my cologne. It was Lacoste Essential. I can still remember the exact smell of that fragrance till this day because while I sprayed it on, it got in my Mountain Dew (which was sitting in the cupholder below the radio so wtf how). You took a sip and told me that I had gotten cologne in the cup and the ride there was ruined because I was thirsty, well it wasn’t ruined, but you get it. I was thirsty.
Anyways, we pulled up to the fairgrounds and waited in line. So many people, so many lights, so much food, so much possibility to fall in love all over again. We got our tickets and walked around the state fair. It was chilly, yet we were both dressed in light layers. You had on your usual outfit of Uggs and some jeans with the Victoria’s Secret hoodie you always wore, exactly how I remember you every time I think of you. We proceeded to ride some rides and while waiting in line for one of them, Forever by Drake came on and I told you my favorite line in Lil Wayne’s verse. Do you remember it? I rapped it wrong as the song was playing and you laughed. Moments later while still in line, I saw Avery from work walking around. He came and said what’s up, then our night continued. We ate food, we laughed, and you even beat me in the water gun game, although I swear, I won. The prize was a Curious George plush, in which you gave to me afterwards. A minute detail that stuck with me was later when we were walking you said a joke and I laughed. You told me to smile again before telling me I had blood on my teeth. It was odd, but I traced it back to biting the (ironically flavored) cotton candy Dum Dum pop after our battle at the water guns. Shortly thereafter, we left the fair feeling content and accomplished. We drove back and spent the night together as your parents weren’t home and you had the house to yourself for the weekend. Your bed was a twin, so we slept in the guest room across from yours. The bed was bigger, which meant the sheets and the blankets were larger, which in turn meant that you could steal more of the blanket and hog more of the bed in the typical you-type fashion. I was 16 at the time and everything was magical. That was 6 years ago, I am 22 now sitting in the closet of my parent’s house, staring at the same Curious George plush that reminded me of all of this, thinking to myself that things are still as magical as ever.
And that’s how I remember it.