"Andy called while you were out today, " my mom
casually mentioned in conversation.
"He said that he'd love you to come hang out with him tomorrow in
San Jose. Some of your friends from Cal
Poly are going to be there and he thought you'd want to come." It was the middle of Spring Break and I was
at home visiting my family. Silently I
wondered what "friends" he was talking about. I knew that he and my Big Sis, Steph, had
just started dating (which I was ecstatic about) so I figured she would
probably be there. But who else? Steve lived just over the hill in Santa Cruz
and I wondered if Andy had somehow schemed to get us both in the same place for
the day. Currently Andy was the only one
who knew I had any feelings for Steve. I
had finally admitted it to him after that night at Megan's house. Chances were that he was scheming, because he
loved Steve and I knew Andy thought we'd be a perfect match.
Later that night, when I talked to Andy, my suspicions were
confirmed. Andy was willing to drive all
the way up to Pleasanton (where my parents currently lived) to come get me and
then he was going to drive all the way to Santa Cruz to get Steve. Stephanie was visiting Andy with her roommate
Lori and all of us were going to hang out for the day. It was an unbelievable opportunity and I was
quick to say, "Yes!"
When we had finally gathered everyone from around the Bay
Area, we went and simply messed around for the day in San Jose running errands
for Andy's mom (a small price to pay for getting to use her car), going out to
eat at Chilli's, and then going on a silly walk through the nearby Toys R
Us. Somehow Andy and Steve ended up on
the Pogo Balls, a throwback to their childhood for sure, and by the time they
were done, we were getting the "eyes" from management to get the heck
out of there. So we did. It was time for us to take Steve back home
anyway for Andy still had to drive me home in the complete opposite
direction.
When we arrived at Steve's, his parents were both home and
welcomed all of us so warmly. I was
immediately shy and just tried to fade into the crowd. They were cooking up some sausages on the
stove so we all stayed for a bit and chatted about the day while getting a
little after dinner snack. It was
delightful to be there but totally overwhelming. I had a feeling Steve was just as interested
in me as I was in him but, there wasn't anything said between us yet. So I felt the need to just be another friend
that he knew and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was safer that way for both of us.
As we were leaving, Steve caught my eye and said something
totally unexpected. "Do you
remember how you told me about that English class you're taking next
quarter?" I nodded. His eyes sparkled as he spoke, "Well, it
turns out I need it as a GE so I went ahead and registered for it. Looks like we'll see a bit more of each other
this Spring." I about keeled
over. That class met four times a
week. Four times! That meant I'd be seeing Steve nearly every
single weekday. I wasn't sure if I was
excited or just plain scared to death! In
a moment, I decided I was both. I smiled
back at him and said, "Wow, we'll definitely be seeing a lot of each
other, that is if you come to class.
Because as you know, I never miss class-ever." He grinned back and said, "I think you
can count on me to show up pretty regularly."
That conversation right there made my whole Spring
Break. Class with Steve Dauphin nearly
every day. Next quarter was definitely
going to be exciting!
* * * *
Spring Quarter was going really well. I was seeing Steve most days of the week and we
were starting to get to know one another much better. Walking to and from class together helped and
working on some class projects outside of class also helped too. But things remained really mellow. Both of us kept things pretty under wraps
with our friends and there wasn't any mention of feelings at all between us. We were just being friends and it felt
wonderful. I loved getting to know who
he was more without the pressure of knowing we liked each other. It was perfect.
However, I was definitely at the top of my game. No showing up to class in sweats. It took a bit of work but every day I wore
some sort of cute skirt or outfit with ribbons adorning my hair. I wasn't stupid. I wasn't sure I had totally
"caught" him yet, so I had to keep up appearances. I'm not the girliest girl on the
planet...well, I'd say I'm just not pretentious in that area. So it definitely took some deliberate
effort. Yet the smile he had waiting
just for me, whenever I saw him, made all the work worth it.
I had also gotten a job offer to work in the Camp Hammer
kitchen. All of the counselor positions
had already been filled by the time I applied.
It wasn't what I was originally looking for because I wanted to be a
Counselor. However, it was a job and I
was thankful for it. Plus, Steve would
be there working on the Program Staff.
That definitely made it worth it to me.
Toward the end of the quarter I bought my first car, a 1990
Toyota Celica. I paid $1000 cash for it
and it was mine. All mine! The only problem was that it was a stick
shift and I didn't know how to drive a manual transmission. But I was determined to learn. Right before finals I found myself at the AGO
house and a bunch of us, Steve included, went out. As I stalled and stopped, totally embarrassed
at my horrible skills (I only had the car a few days at that point), Steve
grabbed the stick shift, put his hand on mine and helped me shift. I was relieved he knew how to drive the car
and I instantly relaxed. Within a few
days of lessons from him, in which he showed immense gentleness and patience,
I'd mastered the stick shift. I figured,
oh well, even though I looked like an idiot at times to him, it was still quite
a fun way to learn.
The next week Steve left for camp early after taking his
finals in advance, since he was on the Program Staff, and I stayed at Poly to
finish up finals. I had gotten so used
to seeing him all the time! I missed
him. So I sent him some cookies, partly
in an effort to totally embarrass him knowing the staff up there would make him
do something silly like sing for his package, and partly just to make some
contact with him.
I thought I was so brilliant. The package was sent to Steve "The
Prince" Dauphin (Dauphin literally means "prince" in
French). And the return address read,
from Nikki "The Greek Goddess" Georgatos (because I'm Greek). Ha! It
was the boldest I'd been with him in the whole six months. And it sure embarrassed him all right. All of the Program Staff who knew and loved
Steve well up at camp were wondering who this "Greek Goddess" was
coming from Cal Poly who sent Steve the cookies.
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