Loraine and I had dated all through high school, all the way up to the end of our junior year when she dumped me for the captain of the football team.
"We're too young to be tied down!" she exclaimed when explaining why we should break up. "I need to feel free to experience life without commitment!"
I couldn't argue with that logic. I withdrew my commitment and allowed her to experience life as single parent waiting tables to pay her bills. It wasn't something I'd been accustomed to growing up, but I withdrew any complaint or objection and faded from her world.
After graduation, I went off to college, left home to attend school, found a new world outside of the small town I'd grown up in. A few weeks after classes started, Loraine emailed me.
"Can you believe we went to school with these people?" the email read. I checked my roster of new classmates and replied back.
"No, I can't. I graduated from high school with a bunch of hicks, why are you back home in our small town?"
"My mom's a hick?" she responded.
I laughed. "I meant a bunch of dummies. You're in college. You should be in a big city somewhere."
"My dad's a hick?" she smiled curiously back at me.
"I see," I smirked over the response. "What would I know about what you should be doing?"
"You're still bitter that I dumped you."
"I take it you just finished finals and are still in town."
"Yeah, I'm waiting for Steph to come back before I go back for winter break. I'll be starting back up next semester."
"Wait until you see her after she cuts her hair. It'll put you back in high school."
"Her hair doesn't look any different. I'll be back before the first day," she assured me.
"So, will you cut your hair to make yourself more interesting?"
"You didn't say that to be funny," she smiled. "I've been thinking about it for years. I'm going to cut it after Christmas."
"I knew I liked you," I laughed. "I'm here for two more weeks, then I'll be heading home."
"If you have time, maybe we can get together," she suggested.
"Why?"
"Why?" she asked curiously.
"Why would I want to waste my time hanging around you? You broke up with me for the football captain. He's graduated. You don't have anything to hold over my head."
"What did I do wrong?" she observed. "You had these high expectations for me and I didn't live up to them."
"You were a sweet, innocent Christian girl. You dumped me because I was too serious."
"You were too serious," she agreed. "I needed to put away the good girl act and try out my wild side."
"I'm sure you got it out," I snorted. "Then you went back to being the sweet, innocent Christian girl that you really are."
"How long have you felt that way about me?" she asked.
"You look exactly the same as you did in high school."
"That's the reason I cut my hair."
"Face it, Loraine, you don't need to take a good look at yourself in a mirror to know you're the same sweet, innocent, wild girl you were back then."
"So, you don't like my short hair?"
"No, I don't, but I can deal with it."
"Whatever," she sighed. "You're a jerk!"
"No, I'm not," I replied. "I'm just being honest. I've changed. You've changed. Like I said, I can work with what you're doing, but I don't want to go back and rehash the old days. I've moved on. You have too."
"Have you found someone new to date?"
"You mean date?"
"I mean to date."
"I had my chance to date and I've moved on. If I see someone who interests me, then I'll move on again."
"That's the way it is for me too. I'm in the college now. Spring break is next week. I think I'm going to try to settle down and stay with that guy. He's in a fraternity and he's always partying. He wants us to go to his house in the Keys. It's practically a spring break vacation. I think I'm going to go."
"I've never been to the Keys. I hear the fishing is great."
"So is the partying. You should come with us. We'd have a great time."
I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. "I can't go on spring break. I've got to work and save some of my money."
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean?"
"You're not in school anymore. You don't have to pay for next semester. Did you just get a job?"
"Not yet, but I'm looking."
"Why would you need to do that? You've got the money. You don't need to work and save your money."
"I want to pay for a plane ticket to come home for Christmas."
"That's crazy. You've got the money. Your parents can pay for your ticket."
"I've got some other things I want to buy."
"Like what?" she smiled.
"None of your business. I'll figure it out. I'm sure I'll find a way to buy whatever I want."
"I want you to come to the Keys with us," she tried to convince me.
"What's in the Keys?"
"Lots of parties," she laughed with a giggle in her voice.
"I don't like to party."
"Aren't you the same guy that never gave up on me?"
"I'm not going to keep talking to you. I'll see you when I get home.
