Looking for my keys...Chapter 2 - B.A.'s Story

I’m sitting on my boyfriend’s couch and my cell phone rings. It was from my brother telling me to come home and move my car since it was blocking everyone in the driveway. No big deal, right? Not exactly…

My boyfriend drops me off at my house and I move my car. While I’m walking into the house, I run into my brother. He was on his way out and quickly said, “Hey, Dad’s upset about something… I don’t know what it is, but I’ve gotta go, so good luck.” I’m thinking, gee, thanks. My dad and I are close so I told my brother I’d just go talk to him and see what was up.

I was on my way up to my dad’s room to talk to him I ran into my mom on the stairs. She had this really serious look on her face….. one of those looks where you see a parent and you’re just like, uh-oh this isn’t going to be good. 

I could tell she wasn’t super angry or anything, it was just a serious moment. So my mom looks at me real seriously and quietly says, “Sweetie, I just want you to know….. your dad found some things in your room and now he knows what you and your boyfriend are doing.” I’ll go ahead and let you know that my dad found condoms and wrappers hidden in my room. My dad was in no way looking for evidence or anything. He was just looking for my car keys to move my car and suddenly my secret was revealed.

Standing on the stairs with my mother and the first thing that comes to mind is to fall down the stairs head-first. I wanted to die. I mostly wanted to confront my dad, get yelled at or grounded. Anything really would be all right with me, I just wanted to get it over with.

I thanked my mom for the warning and headed to my dad’s room again. By the way, when I get really nervous I forget to exhale. So with all the courage I could muster, I start talking to my dad…Words are coming out in short little bursts; kind of similar to someone really out of breath trying to tell a story. I had braced myself for the worst because I had no clue how my dad would react, I just knew it wasn’t going to be good. I was prepared for an explosion.But the problem was, my dad didn’t erupt with anger. Instead all I got was silence…What was I going to do?

We were just watching a movie...

I have always thought of myself as kind of an average girl. I have included a few pictures for your enjoyment and amusement. Feel free to giggle to yourself. I wasn’t exactly smoking/ hot or anything! I never dreamt of becoming a doctor or beauty queen, I just wanted to get through my day at school and talk to my best friend on the phone. We would talk about what some cute boy did at school that day or how many times we heard our favorite song on the way home from school. Then I would have dinner before doing homework and going to bed. My days were routine and I was completely okay with that.

I grew up in a family that moved every five years and we settled in a new town for middle school. Surprisingly, I survived those three years without much drama, no boyfriends, no dates or anything. I thought some guys were cute but that was about it.

But things gradually got more complicated in high school and sophomore year is when the pace became much faster.

One day, toward the end of my tenth grade year, a cute guy in one of my classes tapped me on the shoulder. Oh my gosh. I had no clue what he was going to say but I was excited that he wanted to talk to me. ME! So I was shocked that this popular, athletic guy wanted to speak to me in public. AND he actually asked me to go on a date. My face turned bright red and my jaw hit the floor. He casually asked me to grab some food and go see a movie.

Of course I said yes. I mean, hello, I was not about to turn down a popular, good looking football player! I was late to my next class because my best friend and I were celebrating in the stairwell… and I mean celebrating. When I told her who asked me out we were both jumping up and down, squealing like little girls. Needless to say, this was a big deal.

Our date was the typical dinner and movie thing. Nothing special. When asked me out again, of course I said yes. We dated the rest of sophomore year and through the summer. He was the only person I hung out with that summer. I was too much in love with him to pass up a second of time together. He often had football practice but other than that, we were always together.

Everything was going perfect or at least that I kept trying to believe. But I was changing and not for the better.

Toward the end of the summer we were hanging out at his parents’ house watching a movie in his room like normal when we started to make out. While the two of us were making out he kind of leans back to ask me something. I will never forget the look on his face. He looked at me and asked, “you wanna do it?”

Dream come true, right girls??

I actually thought about it for a minute. I sort of said to myself … well I really love him, we’ve been together for a while now, it would be really great if we got married…

So I said yes.

It wasn’t anything like the movies… it was awkward and embarrassing. His brother was in the next room. His parents were downstairs… Ew. But we were 15 and we snuck around. That’s a reality for a lot of teenagers.

Well, we dated throughout our junior year up to Spring Break. We went away on a trip with some friends and when we got home I dropped my bags off at my parents’ house. My boyfriend took me to his parents’ house and we were watching t.v. when I got a phone call. It was my big brother. He just said that my car was blocking the driveway and I needed to come home and move it. No big deal, right?

What I didn’t know is that phone call was going to change EVERYTHING…