First "loves"

Yesterday while browsing the cheese section at my local grocery store I heard a song that goes all the way back to my thirteen year old, boy crazy childhood. I can't hear the song, End of the Road by Boys II Men without thinking of my first "love", my first major crush, a boy named Dustin. I had it BAD for this boy. I was the new girl at school when I walked into Mr. Haas social studies class. As I'm walking to find a seat I hear a voice say to me, "Cool shirt" (It was of a very popular group at the time). I turned toward the voice and my heart immediately sped. A very cute boy with blond hair and blue eyes smiled at me. It was love at first sight (or so I thought at the time). I shyly told him thank you and moved on to my seat but from then on, my seventh grade year would be spent daydreaming about Dustin. Eventually I met a few friends, one named Dee Dee and one named Amanda. Dee Dee and I were both new to town and but we quickly found out who the popular boys in school were. Dustin, John and Beau. Well of course Dee Dee fell in love with John and Amanda with Beau. We giggled about these three boy, signed our names with their last names and even made up code words for them(Amanda's heart went Beau Beau instead of bom bom). What we should have done is use those codes in the letters we wrote back and forth. One fell into the wrong boys hands and of course he had to tell Dustin, John and Beau about the girls who crushed on them. I was mortified but Dustin took it in stride. He really was one of the nicest boys. Even though he didn't return my feelings he was always very nice to me and didn't embarrass me in any way. Toward the end of the year we were having a school dance. This would have been my first dance to ever attend. My friends and I went together, none of us wanting to go with any boys since it couldn't be Dustin, John or Beau. I remember the three of us were standing by the double doors that led into the gym where the dance was held. The song End of the Road came on and we were all being dramatic thirteen year old girls bummed out because the boys we liked didn't like us. We turned to go outside when I heard someone say, "Kelley". From this point on everything happened in slow motion. I turned to see Dustin standing about ten feet away from me. He didn't say a word just held up one hand and crooked his finger to tell me to come here. I almost melted! I slowly walked toward him and he asked me to dance. I swear I don't think my heart has EVER beat as fast as it did at that minute. It was a thirteen year old girls dream come true. He walked me to the corner and we started to dance. I could FEEL my face jump up to about 200 degrees I swear. My girlfriends, crazy as they were stood by the wall and started cheering for me!!! I was more than mortified at the time to hear Amanda and Dee going "Go Kelley" while I danced with Dustin. I look back on it right now and smile. Once the song ended he thanked me for the dance and my two girlfriends immediately grabbed my hands and pulled me to the bathroom where I started to CRY like a baby while they all hugged me and giggled. Its one of my all time favorite memories. Each time I hear that song I'm that thirteen year old girl again who is in love with a boy who doesn't love me back but he's sweet enough to make my night by dancing with me. I don't know many boys that age who would do something like that. He was a special boy and deserved to be my first love. He ended up moving to Seattle our freshman year in high school. When I was a senior a girl from school who still talked to him said that he'd asked her about me. She told him I was doing good and he told her to tell me hi and that a day didn't go by that he didn't think of me. My heart melted all over again.

I can't help to wonder what ever happened to the first boy who stole my heart with his dreamy blue eyes and gentle soul. I think he'll hold a place in my heart for the rest of my life.

So, do you remember your first "love" or huge crush? What was his name? Any cute stories about him?