Acima

Ah...

Acima was one that I plain never took the time to develop into anything special.

Acima was my first childhood sweet hart. We both grew up together. I always imagined her as the Winnie to my Kevin (The Wonder Years). She gave me my first kiss. Although we were just babies, but still. Acima and me were the cutest couple in daycare if you would call us a couple. I remember watching some videos of us talking about what we would do and where we go on our honeymoon. It was cute, we were young...but I took it for granted.

She was always the girl I had my eyes on as we grew up. She was the girl I would chase in the play ground and pull her hair. I remember one day I pulled too hard and made her cry. her mom scolded me and I felt horrible. I was just doing what all the other boys were doing. I did not want to hurt her. Seeing her cry, seeing that my actions caused her to cry really struck a nerve with me.

Though we were just friends, I always saw her something more. If I ever were to fall in love with a girl, it would have been her. We spent almost every day with each other all the way up to the firth grade. She was the smartest person in our class. She was also the prettiest. I guess I was too young to realize it, but I really liked her. When I left Bethel and went to Tampa Baptist I almost expected her to follow, but she did not.

That's where we lost touch.

I mean it was back in the 90s. I had no way of keeping contact with her. A part of me was mad that she was no longer part of my every day life. You get like that when you are a spoiled child and that certain someone has been with you for the past ten years. truth be told I missed her while I was at TBA. None of the girls there compared to her and I often scaled them to her.

My three years came and went. Most notably without any love interest either, but I was about to go into high school. Leto should provide me with some sort of compensation for my failure to act. What I got was almost too good to be true.

As it turns out I ran into Acima while I was at Leto. Her mom was my Spanish teach for my first two years and then my Spanish honors society representative for my last two. I saw Acima again my freshmen year. She was even more beautiful then I remembered her, and now she had women features. She was stunning. Did I act on my instincts now? I had the perfect opportunity at Leto. She would sit in my Spanish class on the side and I would usually go over and converse with her. As it turned out she was far more advanced then I was and had even skipped a grade. She somehow had gotten even smarter while we were apart.

As far as I know she was single this entire time, but I was too chicken to ever ask her out. Why? I wish I knew. This was a girl I had grown up with all my life and now I was too scared to ask her out on a date? This was the second girl who I had this type of relationship with that I never made a move on. That was two chances that slipped out of my hands.

My junior year came around and I would see Acima around every so often. The Spanish honors society created Noche Latina which stood for Latin Night. It was basically a dance at the gym, but all the songs were Spanish. For some reason I had the thought that that was going to be the night where I wooed Acima and finally had the nerve to ask her out on a date. I had been practicing my salsa and merengue dance skills and I was confident in my abilities to cut that rug.

How did I let myself wait this long until I started thinking this way? I had literally known her all my life. What a fool I was. Well, sadly this night I was too late. I get there looking as nice as I could look and Acima shows up looking very pretty herself, except she had with her a date.

Awwwww.

Turns out she had just started dating this guy who did not look at all attractive. He did not seem like someone who could dance either. I was too late, but I did get one dance in with Acima. It was a weird dance, as I could tell she had some reserved judgement on my part. I wish I could have courted her sooner, but life did not have us as a couple in the future.

I would see Acima every so often after that. She was still with the same guy, and it turns out she married that guy.

I do not know if anything would have been different, but I did not make a move and there went my childhood love right out the window.

What a fool I was.