"PLAYDATES"
His name was David. His light blonde hair was shaved so close to the head that it felt prickly like the heavy duty scrub sponge in our kitchen sink. His eyes were so light blue that they glistened and appeared translucent. He was only wearing short, gray bottoms when I first met him, or rather when I first heard him behind the large waste bins of the apartment complex.
After tossing trash into the bin, I peeked around the corner to investigate what sounded like rocks hitting against a hard surface. I saw a row of empty soda cans placed near the brick wall of the building. He stood about ten feet back and took aim at them, shooting rocks with a bright orange, plastic, store-bought slingshot. I immediately thought how much better I was at taking out those cans. This kid was awful and who better to show him how to get the job done than me? I invited myself to his game by asking if I could have a try. He didn't object and proceeded to hand over the slingshot. The truth was that I had never played with slingshots before since my big brother would've killed me if I touched the ones he whittled from branches. Needless to say, I was the undefeated marbles champion in the 2nd grade at school so having excellent aim was something that came naturally to me.
I closed one eye and strategically aligned the shot towards a can, then released the band. Pew! Bullseye! The can flew out and struck down at least three other cans. It was actually just a lucky shot. I was confident that I could do it, but not that confident. However, David jumped up and down ecstatically and we gave each other high-fives. For the next hour we took turns shooting and David got incrementally better.
Afterwards, we played in front of David's patio. I pointed out the building where I lived and asked him why he didn't go to my school. He didn't know why except that it was his old school and that he didn't want to leave his friends. I learned that David lived with his mother, a sister named Kim (who was in her teens), and an older cousin named Chris. I don't know why I thought it was worth mentioning that Matt and Jesse also only had a mom, and my friend Shirley, too. They were kids who lived in the complex. Shirley's mom was heavy, like David's mom, but Matt and Jesse's mom was slender. All details that seemed important to a child.
I spotted my mom's white Corolla hatchback roll into the parking lot. At the same time, David's cousin stepped onto the patio and called him to eat. We waved good-bye to each other and said that we'd play again the next day.
Everyday after that I looked forward to playing with David. The school bus dropped off my sister and me at the street entrance to the complex. I'd have to walk pass David's apartment on the way home and noticed that he had just come home from school, too. I tried to keep it low key when he waved to me from his cousin's car since I didn't want my sister to know about our friendship just yet. Then as soon as we stepped foot through the door, I'd throw down my backpack on the table and hightail out of there. My older siblings didn't seem to have any concerns about where I was going or who I was playing with and I never bothered to let them know either.
David was not allowed to go past his building so we only played ball on the front lawn or watched tv inside. Chris would sit on the sofa, flipping through fashion magazines, but Kim was super fun and friendly. She curled my hair and played the Go-Gos on the record player. She dressed me up and applied make-up on my face. I'd come home with blue eye shadow but my mom didn't even notice.
One day I unknowingly said David's name out loud. My sister thought I was talking about fat David Sparrow who lived next door. He was an older kid, about my brother's age, and kind of mean. He also had a sister named, Peggy, who was mean and not just kind of mean. None of the neighborhood kids wanted to play with her. Their mom was white and their dad, who came around once in awhile, was black. Anyways, once the cat was out of the bag my sister started tagging along with me to David's house. Soon, it became a girls' thing with other girls in the neighborhood inviting themselves to hang out with Kim. David and I started spending less time together until it suddenly stopped one day.
It all happened when Kim, who was older than all of us, admitted to having a massive crush on Jesse. Both attended the same high school and she felt delighted that he lived in our complex. The plan was for the younger girls to lure him out by inviting Matt to play. Almost all the kids in the complex were latchkey. That is children without adult supervision other than an older sibling. The only person for the job was my sister since she and Matt were in the same class and he was kind of sweet on her. If all else failed, my sister would have Matt ask his older brother, Jesse, to go out with Kim. For some unknown reason to me, the rest of the girls felt motivated to confess their crushes. I started feeling nervous because I was afraid to tell them about John, a quiet boy in my class with caramel-colored hair and olive skin. John had deep-set dimples and the prettiest green eyes I had ever seen.
When it was my turn to confess I completely lied through my teeth and said that I couldn't think of anybody. Just then, Kim called to her brother to come quickly. David appeared in the doorway with a sandwich in his hand. He looked annoyed at all the girls, including me, who stared at him like a sideshow freak. Kim made some random remarks about the two of us and then someone suggested that we kiss. David ran away immediately and I was nearly in tears from the humiliation.
