Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I'm still 12 years old.

Oh, the joys and perils of Facebook.

A while back, I was friended (I love that "friend" is now a verb) by a boy. Let's call him Brad. Because he was the Brad Pitt of my junior high school. In 6th grade, Brad tripped me at a roller skating birthday party. I broke all four fingers in the growth plate of my left hand. There was a cast. There was what I can only describe as an ancient torture device in which the doctors made me place my fingers in mesh wiring and then they pulled it tight to straighten out the joints. There was screaming.

A group of my junior high classmates have a Facebook group in which we sort of keep in touch, write funny things, etc. You know how it goes. I wrote something about this infamous roller skating party - a sort of tongue in cheek "favorite memory."

Low and behold, today I received a message from Brad. In sum, he's always felt terrible about what happened and how I got hurt, and he realizes "what a little asshole" he used to be.

I hate myself for feeling this way and admitting it, but I've been...giddy all day because of this damn email. What the hell is wrong with me? We were 12. Yes, I had a crush on him. Everyone had a crush on him. The female teachers had a crush on him. I wouldn't be surprised if the male ones did too.

It's been six hours, and I'm still thinking about good old Brad. How can someone still have power over me like that? In every "measurable" aspect of life, I win. I live in Manhattan. He lives in the same podunk town in NJ where we grew up. I'm a lawyer. He works at his family's store. I know this sounds bitchy. I can't help it.

Oh Brad.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG, I had a totally similar experience. OK, the boy in my case didn't actually communicate with me, but he FRIENDED ME. ME! Why this makes me get all squishy inside is beyond me--I'm a lawyer, he's a construction foreman--you see how this is JUST like your story?--but there you have it. Something about those middle school crushes just lingers, man.

Harmless Error said...

Totally, and there has been more communication in the intervening hours. I'm all squishy inside too. I kind of hate myself over it.

je said...

yeah... similar experience here... (sorry, i'm a lurker but felt compelled to post!) i started a FB group for my old elementary school class, and several people have joined including the best friend of the guy i had a major crush on. irony of all ironies, they actually (almost 20 years later) live together as roommates! and i've been tempted to admit that i had a huge crush on his roomie just to see... just to see if he had the crush back on me that i suspected but was always too shy to find out about! oh, facebook can be so fun!

Anonymous said...

In your next email to Brad, perhaps asking if he has a big tallywhacker is in order.

Anonymous said...

The second best revenge is indeed living well. Nicely done. But if you start swooning over this loser I will fight you.