Hello, Ronnie?

In high school I rarely dated.  I wasn’t a prude…or a nerd.  Just shy I guess.  I mean I rarely got asked out.  That’s not to say I didn’t have secret crushes on guys….

I once had a major crush on a guy named Ronnie.  He played French horn, was tall, super nice and very handsome.  I’d see Ronnie in the band rehearsal room and smile at him.  We knew each other, but didn’t run in the same circles.  Regardless, at that time, if there was anyone I wanted to ask me out to a movie it would be him. 

So imagine my surprise when my mother answers the phone one night and yells upstairs, ”TRIIIINA!  Phone!  It’s a BOY!”  I honestly didn’t know who was on the phone.  Before she could embarrass me further I ran downstairs and yanked the phone.

“Hello?” I answered, trying to act cool, as though a call from a guy was an everyday occurrence.  “Hi!” the guy’s voice said on the other end.  “It’s Ronnie.  How are you?”.  I couldn’t believe my ears.  Trying to contain my excitement I replied, “Good.  What’s going on?”  “Well, I’m actually calling to see what you’re doing this weekend” he continued, “ I was thinking maybe we’d catch a movie or something.”

Although I was in disbelief I didn’t want to act too excited at the prospect of dating Ronnie so I told him very casually that Friday would work great.  You know, as though I needed to clear my dating calendar…We then agreed on a time. 

Just as I was about to hang up Ronnie had a quick question for me.  I thought he was going to ask me something about our exchanged glances in the band room, maybe how cute he thought I was, or maybe even that he admired my musical abilities…

“Why do you keep calling me Ronnie?”

As it turned out, the voice on the other end of the phone was another guy I wasn’t even remotely interested in.  How the hell was I going to get out of that corner?  His name was “Ricky” and in my enthusiasm for getting any kind of phone call at all, I must have tuned out everything that came after “R”. 

Honestly, I don’t remember what I said.  I was beyond embarrassed.  And I actually felt badly for Ricky.  He was a guy I knew from Calculus.  He’s probably some rich attorney or maybe found a cure for something.

You can bet after that ‘incident’ I clarified who I was speaking with….

Oh and about Ronnie?  He turned out to be as nice as I thought.  We never dated, but he did take me to my Junior prom.  I was moving away my Senior year, and he felt bad for me.  We had a good time. 

No, not like that you pervs….