Kronberg's Chronicles

So, I had a roommate in college who was sort of a douche.  One day he had to write a paper for his COLLEGE English class and asked if he could use my computer.  I agreed and didn’t think much of it.  After he had moved out a few months later, my buddies and I had a conversation about this roommate and I remembered he had typed something on my computer.  What I found has come to be known as “The Book of David”. Enjoy.


David F.
Mary Paul
M, W, F 9:00am

  First Date

              There are many firsts that an adolescent encounters; their first crush, first kiss, first relationship, etc…  Of all the firsts that have happened thus far in my life the one that is most memorable and the most vivid is, without a doubt, my first date.  From the time plans were made to meet until I walked in the door at the en of the date, nerves had complete control over my body.  I didn’t know where to take her or what to do.  The only thing that was going through my mind was not to act like a “spaz” and scare her away.

            She was tall and athletic with long blond hair, and dark blue eyes that I loved to stare at whenever we held a conversation.  Her skin was lightly bronzed and was as soft and smooth as baby powder.  Her body was, to the naked eye, flawless with curves in all the right places.  She had long defined legs, and a firm butt that made a perfect bowed shape.  Her hips looked as though a sculptor carefully completed the base of a vase, and her stomach was flat with a slight “v” muscle caressing the arc of her hips like a pillar holding up two masterpieces for the young male eye.  But, all was put to shame by her soft-luscious candy cane red lips, which could only be kissed with perfection.  To a hormonal teenage male she rated a perfect ten.

            Now if her goddess looks weren’t enough intimidation to add to it she was a year older, captain of the varsity volleyball team and was exceeding a 4.0 GPA.  Who wouldn’t want to ask this girl on a date?  That was the problem.  I was competing with other, older, guys, for her attention and time.  So in order to successfully ask her for a date I needed to be more charming and cunning than the other guys fighting for a date, and that is exactly what I did.  I used whatever charm I had at the time to gain an advantage over the other fellas.  Whatever it was I did worked because she started to take a liking to me and we spent more time talking in the hallways and spending our lunch period talking and getting to know one another.  Then one day by accident I asked her to go out with me in order to give her a gift I had bought her for Christmas.  “What was I thinking?  I didn’t get her a thing for Christmas.”  With great surprise she accepted and added that she too had a gift for me that she would like to give to me.  We set the date for Saturday December 28, 1999.  I remember this date so well because I had just turned sixteen and was allowed to date for the first time.

            For just under two weeks all I could think about was going on my date and what to get for a gift.  Suddenly the thought of purchasing a gift scared me to death.  I didn’t know what I should get.  Then I realized that my mom was a female and had experience in this area so I could ask her          what would be a proper gift for a first date.  My mother, God bless her, didn’t help me at all.  I don’t even remember what she suggested, I think I heard her first idea made a face and tuned her out for the next five minutes or so trying to think of someone else I could ask.  It occurred to me, “Duh!  She does have friends I could ask.  They know more about what she likes than anyone else.”  The last day of school before we got out for winter break I walked up to Erica, her best friend.  I asked her what I should do and if she could give me any hints on what I should get.  Erica told me that fragrances and girly things like bath products were a great gift to give.  Erica gave me a little hint on what fragrances to look for.

For the next week I went shopping in all the stores in the mall that I despised to be seen in; Victoria ‘s Secret, Bath and body works, etc…  these places made me feel uncomfortable.  The reason being that I never felt like I had the right to enter into the “female” stores, but this time was different, I felt an awkward sense of pride knowing I belonged in these shops because I had someone to buy these things for.   It seemed that every time I walked into one of the stores I was immediately approached and asked if I knew what it was I was looking for.  I had no idea.  So like any normal male in these types of scenarios I said, “Yes, thank you though.”  I didn’t know what was what in these stores.  All I ever used was shampoo, some conditioner, soap and a washcloth.  All this other stuff was foreign to me.  So after five minutes of wandering around not knowing what to do I finally asked for some help.

“What exactly are you looking for?” “Well, I would like to get her some body lotion that’s smells really good, and whatever else goes with the lotion that she would enjoy using to pamper herself.”  As soon as I finished my sentence the lady that worked there knew exactly what lotion fragrance I should purchase, cucumber melon, along with body splash, bath bubbles and beads, body wash, and something called a lufa.  “Are you sure these are things a teenage girl would use?” “I’m 100% sure, I have a daughter about the same age and she loves this fragrance and uses her bath beads and bubbles every time she takes a bath.” “Great!  Thanks for all of your help.  I wouldn’t have even known where to start.  Thank you!”

            After purchasing the bath stuff the cashier placed them in a Bed Bath and Beyond bag, which I quickly hid, inside of another bag from a different department store.  I wasn’t going to be caught by one of my buddies in the mall carrying a bag like that. I would never hear the end of it, plus I would feel very comfortable carrying the bag out in the open anyway.  People would probably give me weird looks like I shopped there for myself.

            After purchasing her gift a felt a little less stressed because I knew that I had just leapt over one hurdle and could leave it behind me.  But, I still didn’t know where I was going to take her, and our date was the next evening.  I wanted to do something that was fun but not too childish, but at the same time wanted to take her somewhere where I could show her that I was a true gentleman.  And, what could we do to keep the date interesting incase conversation died down?  The solution was so easy.  I could take her to dinner and a movie, where we could talk and try and have interesting conversation, exchange gifts and if conversation started to get boring I could just ask for the check and we could be off to the movie where we didn’t have to say a word to each other.  “What a great plan.”

            Before I knew it was the 19^th and it was time for me to get ready.  Now I already knew what I was going to wear because I had picked it out two days prior.  The only thing I was worried about while I was getting ready was that my hair would do what I wanted it to do.  Luckily I had no problems with my hair it was combed straight back without any stragglers sticking up anywhere.  I thought about shaving but didn’t want to risk cutting myself with the razor, plus I didn’t have any hair to shave in the first place.  Then I put on my jeans, buttoned up my green Perry Ellis long sleeve shirt, and doused myself in my father’s cologne, Giorgio Armani’s Aqua Di Gio.  I grabbed my keys and went to meet her for dinner at Chilli’s.

            As I pulled up to the restaurant I quickly checked my mirror to see if I had anything in my teeth and cautiously cupped my hand over my mouth gave a little blow to reasher myself that my breath was minty fresh.  I remember walking up to the bench out side the entrance doors, carefully stepping over every puddle as to not slash myself with dirty rainwater.  I was nervous and anxious at the same time.  Nervous, because this was a new experience for me, something I was unfamiliar with, and anxious because I looked forward to spending the evening with my date. 

            Within a matter minutes my date was coming up the walkway to meet me.  I swiftly ran through my head with things I must not forget to do like, opening the door for her, pulling out her chair, and not allow her to pay for anything on this date even if she make a big deal out of it.  She looked beautiful in her rose patterned skirt and matching red top.  She was carrying a large raped box in her hand.  Suddenly, I thought that the gift that I had gotten for her wasn’t good enough, and that she got me something that was way better that what I got for her.  All of a sudden she was standing right in front of me.  “Hurry up and say something.”  I thought to myself.  “Hey, how have you been?” (As I gave her a half hearted-nervous hug.)

“I’ve been doing alright, just been busy with Christmas shopping for the family.” “That’s cool.  Well are you ready to go inside?” “Yes, it’s a little cold out here.”

            I opened the door for her and walked inside.  Soon after, we were seated and looking over the menu.  At first, conversation was bland with questions like, “What looks good to you?” and “How is your family doing?”  I couldn’t think of any interesting questions.  She was so much easier to talk to one on one at school in the halls, what was so different now.  In a drastic effort to kill the silence I reached for her gift, which was placed in a white Santa and Rudolph Christmas bag with curly red ribbon tied to the top.  “Here I got this for you.”                          “Oh yeah!  Here’s your gift.  I didn’t know what to get you so I just guessed on something that you might like.”  I opened my box to see that she had bought for me a red J.Crew sweater.   This was such a great gift, because I saw something like this at the mall when I was shopping for her and thought that I would buy it later on during the week. “This is great.” “I hope it’s the right size.  I wasn’t sure so I had one of the guys working there that was about your size try it on.  It fit him so I thought it would be right for you.” “Yeah it’s the right size, thank you.  Well go ahead and open yours.  I had a little help from Erica because I didn’t know exactly what to get you.” “I know she told me right after you talked to her.  I thought it was cute that you did some investigation to see what I liked.”  She rustled through the tissue paper and pulled out her lotion.  “Oh this is perfect.  I just ran out of this exact lotion.”  I felt so relieved that I had bought the correct fragrance fro her.  That lifted a huge monkey off my back.

            After the gifts were exchanged our conversations were much better.  We started to talk about sports, church, college, and got into stories about ourselves when we were younger.  We felt so comfortable around each other, and I was excited because dinner couldn’t have gone any better.  Conversation was so good that we had missed our show time and had been talking for almost 2 ½ hours.  It was almost time for our date to end, because she needed to get up early in the morning for a volleyball tournament.  So I paid the bill, even though she tried to pay it.  I wasn’t going to allow her to do that, that’s not how I was raised. 

            As we were walking next to each other out to her car, our hands rubbed together and the next thing I know our fingers were intertwined as we were walking in the parking lot.  My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  We got her car and I put her gifts in the trunk for her.  I went to give her a hug good bye, and something happened that I was not expecting at all.  I reached out to give her a kiss.  Halfway there I thought she was going to pull away, but she didn’t.  She smiled gave me a kiss on the cheek and drove off.  I felt as though I had just conquered Mount Everest .  All the way home all I could think of was when is the next time I get to do that again.  got home and walked in the door with a goofy smile on my face.  My parents were upstairs in their room and my brother was in the living room waiting to hear what happened on my date.  “Did you have fun?” ” I had a great time.” “What happened?  Did you kiss her?” “Well this is how it all happened.”