I am the Skeleton in the Closet

Love That Came Too Soon

The beginning of high school, tenth grade in my case, when I moved to the big school, was when I acquired my first boyfriend. Honestly, I never really counted him as a boyfriend though. His name was Gerard. Gerard was tall and incredibly skinny. His hair was dyed a weird shade of gray and his face was about the size of a cantaloupe, same shape too. It was almost as if someone had clayed over the fruit to make it skin color and then tried to roughly block out features on it. His nose stuck out like it was taped on and his eyes sunk in like a neanderthal. His brow was pretty hairless and he couldn't grow a beard if he tried. Gerard typically wore straight black clothing with maybe a hint of dark green or maroon to spark a little bit of life in his corpse like body. It wasn't so much that he was unpleasant to look at as it was that he was a big gamer so he didn't get much sunlight or socialization. He was a pretty awkward kid. He didn't have a phone so he couldn't really text, most of our conversations were on the computer after school. Not that we really talked all that much. The parents didn't even know about him. Gerard never came over, we never hung out; even at school. Honestly I didn't even think he liked me like that.

"Wanna go see a movie with me?" He asked me one day at school in the middle of winter. "I heard it was good." He added as I finished up my conversation with Erica at the lunch tables early one morning.

"Uhhh, sure. Looked OK." I answered thinking he had invited others. I don't even know this kid all that well, he's gotta have invited others.

"Awesome! Here I'll friend you so we can talk through the chat!" He was beaming as he ran back to his friends on the other end of the table. "She said she'd go with me!" I heard him holler to much applause.

"Damn, he's excited." I noticed aloud to Erica.

"Yeah, I don't know. Weird." She agreed. "Anyway..."

He messaged me the details later that day after he got home. He seems excited. I wonder why? I mean other people are coming right? I questioned in my head. After he told me when and where we talked for maybe another minute, two tops, before I wandered to the basement to play some video games.

"Hey so Gerard asked you out!?" Alex piped up suddenly as I was fighting a boss. "Hey, Elise."

"Hmmmm?" I still had my eyes glued to the old thousand pound thirty inch TV I had for the console in the basement.

"Gerard. He asked you out?" She asked again.

"I mean we're going to the movies on thurs-" I dropped off to dodge an attack. "day." I ended.

"So he did! Oh my gosh!"

"Wait, why? Do you know him?" I dreaded the answer.

"Yea he's Amy's brother. He's had the biggest crush on you for a while."

"Wait what?" I paused the game and diverted my complete attention. "He likes me?"

"Yeah, I mean he asked you out. Elise, you know that's what he meant right?"

"Well... I thought there were other people coming."

"Nope. You're going on a date. You'll have fun though, trust me. He's a little weird but he's a good guy. I think you'll like him."

"Well I can't say no now I guess." I decided unpausing the game and ending the conversation. Don't want the parents to know about him. They'll hear us if we keep talking, either way I guess I'm going.

Thursday came quicker than expected. I had been dropping hints about Erica and I going to the movies together all week leading up to it. This way it won't be weird if they just dropped me off. Plus if they knew I was going with a guy they wouldn't let me go. I knew brushing my hair out and double checking my look in the mirror. After a few minutes of convincing mom that I had in fact told her about this and that she had in fact told me she would take me she finally caved and agreed to take me again.