Jessica

Oh this name seems to haunt me. I could never make any relationship with a girl named Jessica work. This story is about my encounter with a certain Jessica I worked with at Publix.

Back when I was still in high school I had an even harder time talking with girls. Or so I thought. I could always talk with them and make them laugh and smile sure, but I could never get over that hump and try and ask any of them out. I just did not know what to say or how to act. Needless to say I was good with words, but I was shy when it came to sealing the deal, so to speak.

In any case I had just started working at Publix. I was in my junior year and still had no luck with the ladies. I was on the wrestling team for the last three years so I was in the best shape of my life. Still I had no success. Or perhaps I was not trying hard enough...

I want to say I had been working at Publix for a month at least. The talent inside that store was very nice. I was especially interested in this Spanish chick named Ana, but that story is for another time. Much like any other job Publix received a fresh new batch of employees and one in particular caught my eye right off the bat. Yeah, this girl Jessica was a real looker. She was tall and blond, but she was half Cuban to boot! She didn't speak any Spanish, and she took a liking to me right away.

My words wooed her, and before I knew it I had managed to ask her out. Mind you, I asked her out as if there was a group going, but hey...baby steps. My friends at Publix told me that I had to make this an exclusive date, which meant to subtract the friends from the equation. I called her up, she agreed, and that was that. It was an official date.

Okay, so I am seventeen or so at this time. I want to think this was my first official date, ever. I was pretty nervous just thinking of what I would do and how I would do it. I had to consult a lot of my friends for advice. Honestly, none of them gave me anything worthwhile. I was stuck with a crap load of pointers, all leading in different directions, and not one helped me out in my situation.

So the day of the date finally came. It was one that I wish I could forget. It was a simple date. We were just going to go to the movies. I drive up to her house, and I knock on the door and Jessica lets me in. Great, I have to meet the parents on the first date. Well this is where things get a little crazy. Not only do I meet her parents, but for some reason, her parents insist that we bring her little brother and her brother's friend with us to the movies.

WHAT?

I have no idea why, but I agree. I guess this wasn't even considered a date anymore at that point. Somewhere along the way I messed this up. Maybe I should have said no to her parents? In any case, I could tell Jessica was upset. She did not want her brother coming along either. But that is what happened and the story continues.

I make a brief stop at Publix and we get out and check our schedules and what not. What I really was doing was double checking with my friends at Publix to see how I should approach this situation now. They both were shocked that I had excess baggage riding along with me on this date, but they also said that I could salvage this at the end of the date. They said all I had to do was to make a move sometime during the movie or at the end of the date in the car.

The kiss goodnight. Seemed simple enough. All I had to do was kiss her, right? Except, the only girls I had kissed up to that point were on the cheek or from a children's game dare. I had no idea how to swoop in for a smooch. I had never prepared for it nor did I even consider it up until that point. They both assured me that I was thinking too much about it and that it was easier done then said.

Simple.

We went to the movie theater and it was all decked out for the premiere of The Fast and the Furious. There were decked out cars everywhere. It was a pretty nice scene. I wish I had a camera because some of those cars were ridiculously nice looking. We got our tickets and walked into the theater.

I had no opportunities to make a move during the movie at all. Every time I tried to go in for the kiss I would turn and see her brother just staring at me with a stone cold glare.  I could not kiss her with him staring at me, so we went the entire movie without as much as a simple touch or kiss or anything even. I messed it up even further by asking her how she liked to be kissed. I was new to this, I mentioned I did not know how to approach the subject and it was evident to her as well after I mentioned that. She got a kick out of the question. I can look back at this chapter in my life and laugh at it, but after the fact this was one of my most humiliating defeats. My first date was a disaster.

I was hoping I could redeem myself when I dropped her off. I was wrong again. We get to her house and the two little boys ran were more then happy to run out of my car and away from us. So at last we were all alone. she brought back how awkward it was for me to ask how she wanted to be kissed and that no one had ever asked that before. Lucky for me I was the first. We came to an agreement that we should end the night with a kiss and we did. It was my first french kiss ever. Needless to say it probably was not my best, and she seemed to have done this exercise once or twice before. We shared a sigh and she left my car with a smile.

Or so I thought.

The next day at work was a weird one. I was greeted with a whole bunch of small talk and jokes I did not understand. Jessica had made her rounds at work and I became the laughing stock of Publix. It seems she did not enjoy the kiss whatsoever. She spread the rumor around that I liked to lick teeth or something to that effect and that became a long long standing joke on my behalf at that store. Hey, I may not have been the best kisser, but I was not all up on her teeth. That was just a lie. I did not know who I was dealing with at the time, but I came to learn that this Jessica girl was a real pain in the ass diva-type.

From that point on the two of us became bitter enemies. It lasted for a long time too. We would constantly be at each others throat annoying each other. We would make up only to double cross the other in a petty manner and it would go back and forth for the entire time the two of us worked at that store.

If there was a lesson to learn in all this I wish I knew what it was.