BAD FIRST DATES

I was thinking earlier today, about my younger days, back when I was a nightclub dancer and lead singer of a pop-rock band, remembering some of the boys/men I knew and dated back then.

The first name that popped into my head was Gavin "Smith", born in England, kinda looked like a very young Hugh Grant. We'd known each other since high-school and socialized with a large, close-knit group of friends. We liked each other but one of us was always dating someone else, so it was a constant case of bad timing.

Finally, long after I'd graduated high-school, we decided to go out on our first real date. I was almost 20 by that time, Gavin was 17. After he and I had dinner at a really fancy restaurant, I took him to the nightclub where I worked to introduce him to all of my co-workers. Remember...he's 17. We weren't there three minutes when all of a sudden the police burst through the doors. At least ten of 'em, all looking for underage drinkers. I tried to hide Gavin in bathrooms and broom closets, moving him around from place to place, as a rebel sympathizer would try to hide a resistance fighter during a Nazi raid. But, alas, they did eventually find him. Not only did the poor boy get a fine for being in a nightclub — even though he didn't have a drop of alcohol to drink, he also got a permanent police record. All because I wanted to show off my hot new boyfriend to my friends.

Thankfully, Gavin laughed it off and we remained friends for a couple of years afterward — but not boyfriend/girlfriend, as I realized that night that he was just too young for me and not even close to being ready for the kind of mature, long-term adult relationship I was looking for from a man at that time. I've always considered Gavin as The One That Got Away, and often wonder how very different my life would've been, had I waited around for him to be ready to commit to a serious relationship with me, instead of meeting and later marrying a divorced man ten years my senior (what a disaster that turned out to be) in the late 1980s.

KJC

ADDENDUM: (January 2015) Gavin just contacted me via Facebook to reconnect and say Hi. How wonderful to hear from my beloved English Egg McMuffin after all of these years!