Friday, December 07, 2007

Taco Seasoning

You have so been checking back here, day after day, just WAITING for me to finish the Taco story, haven't you? You know you have.

Please. Just let me have my delusions.

I'm going to start Part Deux with a word about Taco's friend, Dave. They were best friends, and in best friend world, it was clear who was who. Taco was the Hot One. Dave was the Funny One. They sat next to each other in choir, and so as I tried to worm my way into Taco's good graces, I also got to know Dave. And shit, you guys. Dave cracked my ass UP. And he was so nice. In retrospect, he is so OBVIOUSLY the one I should have been macking on. But no. I only had eyes for the Tacola.

Anyway. There were days where our choir teacher would make all of us get up and mix up where we sat. The point of it was that he wanted us to be able to sing our part of the harmony, even if we were sitting next to someone who was singing a different part of the harmony right in our ear. One day, when we mixed it up like this, I happened to be sitting next to Dave, in the third row. Taco was way up in the front row. And Taco kept looking over his shoulder at Dave and me, and the two of them kept making these faces at each other. And then Taco started to mouth these words to Dave, right in front of me: "I'm going to ask her! I'm going to ask her." After which Dave and he would look at me significantly. Dave's face was bright red at the mortification of me seeing this exchange. But I didn't care.

Taco was going to ask me something!! I swear to you sparks must have flown out of my panties.

The day passed, and no asking of any kind was happening. Rats! That's ok though. I was willing to wait.

Oh, and I forgot a slight detail. Taco had a girlfriend. The lead soprano in the choir. They had been dating for over a year, which was, in high school terms, like being an old married couple. But this holiday season, there had been trouble in tenor-soprano heaven. They had fought and were in Ross and Rachel land ("on a break.") So see, technically, Taco was free. And now that he was free, he wanted to ASK ME A QUESTION.

That night, our choir was going out as a group to bring food to some needy families in our town. We loaded up our bus with all kinds of presents and food and rode around town dropping the stuff off. And that night, Taco (with Dave in tow most of the time) would not leave me alone. He never quite sat next to me, but he was sitting behind me, or in the seat in front of me. There was more significant looking. Dave cracked jokes in the background, and we all laughed, the three of us. Merry, merry times. I was giddy with excitement.

After the bus ride, we all went over to a friend's house for hot chocolate. I remember it vividly. I was sitting on a couch while Holiday Inn with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby played on tv in front of me. And who should happen along, but Taco. He plopped down in between me and my friend Donna who was sitting next to me, and turned his head toward her and started to chat it up. And I sat there, with my eyes on the screen, watching Fred Astaire and his crazy Firecracker dance, and thought about the fact that Taco's leg was touching my leg. It was too good to be true. Finally, he stopped talking to Donna and started watching the movie with me. There were people all around, flopped down on the floor and on either side of us. The place was packed. And as we sat there, not talking, he put his hand next to my hand. The backs of our hands were now touching. We're talking skin on skin, people. All we would have had to do was turn our hands over, and we would have been holding hands. But I didn't do it. And neither did he. We just sat there and watched that movie, knuckle to knuckle, with Fred Astaire tapping the shit out of that movie in front of us.

The following week, Dave called me up on the phone. In typical buddy fashion, we talked and joked and laughed, and I didn't have the bawls to ask him about Taco.

Him: What are you doing right now? You hungry?
Me: Totally. You?
Him: Yeah. Let's go get something to eat.

Awesome. Time for me to grill the best friend about the knuckle-make-out that had gone on and what it all meant. Dave was so easy to talk to, and I wished I could be as relaxed around him as I was around Taco.

When we got to the local food court (which was, by the way, a brand new concept at the time in my town) and sat down, Dave totally changed. There was no more joking, there was no more easy manner. He got all nervous and serious.

Do you all see where this is going? Do you see what I am about to say? How the hell am I always telling you guys stories where I come out looking like an ass?

I was, totally unbeknownst to me, ON A DATE with Dave. He had asked me out, picked me up at my house, and brought me to an eating establishment for a textbook date. And I had no friggin' idea that it was happening. Because he was just DAVE. Jokester. Friend-guy. No smouldering eyes. No acid-washed clad ass.

I sat there and remained oblivious to this date the entire time. I did not catch up. And you guys, it gets worse. In my state of Taco-smog that I was sitting in, I started asking Dave about it. Does Taco mention me? What did he say after the Holiday Inn night? Do you think he's going to ask me out?

Looking back on this whole shipwreck, I still feel awful. Because I have to realize that this was probably the story of Dave's life, having Taco as a best friend. The girls, they must have all gone for Taco, and he must have just had to accept it, all the while knowing that he was the better dude. Smarter, funnier, nicer. Aw Dave. I was an ass. I know better now.

After that date was over, Dave never talked to me much after that. And I did end up having more escapades with Taco in the weeks before he finally got back together with his girlfriend. And after he got back together with his girlfriend and forgot about me, he started man-whoring it up all over school behind her back and I never could look at him quite the same again.

The lesson? Andie should have gone for Duckie. Angela Chase should have been with Brian Crackow. And I am stupid enough to go on dates without knowing I am there. For all I know, I am on a date right now. I should probably go check.

I'm out,
Librarian Girl

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to see that teenage boys aren't the only ones oblivious to stuff like this. (For us, we never fully clue in, we just learn to work with the disability)

For example:
I remember, "I have a friend who wants to ask you to the prom". And I keep asking her who it is. By the twelfth time I ask, you think I would have caught on. Call me Captain Clueless.

Yes, it is still weird when I see her around town.

Anonymous said...

And yes, we were all waiting for the second half.

Sauntering Soul said...

LG can I tell you how much I love your high school years stories? No, I don't think I can tell you how much.

Desperate Housewife said...

One of my best friends in high school was a really great guy who was madly in love with me. I pretty much abandoned him when I met my now ex-husband. Now, my old pal is a meteorologist in Texas ( and still a great guy), and my ex-husband is an asshole. Stupid, stupid, stupid (me, that is.)

Anonymous said...

You should write novels for teenagers. You remember all this stuff so vividly, and you write about it so well.

Oh, and BTW? You are totally on a date right now. And we are all expecting a good-night kiss, at the very least.

Anonymous said...

i went to go see 'fried green tomatoes' with this girl in my psychology class. i didn't realize it was a date until we got back in her car and i was having trouble with the seat belt and she leaned over to help me and while nothing happened - i could feel like this was something different. had to tell her i wasn't into women.

Dallas Diaries said...

awe poor Dave.. You might wanna track him down and call to say hi, say whats up, sorry, etc, so he can take you off his "kill list".

You know?

Anonymous said...

I got asked to a spring semi-formal dance in 8th grade by a guy I would consider a friend. Although we had fun, I danced a slow dance, which happened to be the last dance, with another guy. I kind of thought that guy was also just a friend. And that's when I realized things would never be the same between me and Winnie.... uh.. I mean, Eric.

srcsmgrl said...

Reminds me of a boy that I had a huge crush on in choir. I was always mooning over him--he was so charismatic. Then he actually asked me to hang out, and it turned out he just wanted to "save" me and get me to go to his church. All his friends were in on it.

Great.

Anonymous said...

best line in that post by far: "sparks flying out of my panties" Must find use for that line...

cadiz12 said...

i wouldn't feel terribly bad for the. Taco's hot ass is probably saggy now, while dave's sense of humor has probably been honed by those experiences to a lustery sheen that makes the ladies love him even more.

Josh said...

I'm still confused how you could have liked a guy with the nickname of Taco. That's just...not a sexy name.

It's like if I liked a girl named Dish Towel.

Oh, Dish Towel.

Sunny said...

Thsi post made me think back on all my awkward high school memories. Which then made me cringe, call up an old friend, and make hot chocolate. It was good hot chocolate - though it could have used some knuckle to knuckle action.

librarianista said...

I've actually been on a COUPLE of dates I didn't know were dates, but I was older and the stories aren't quite as adorable as yours. One of them was with a MUCH older coworker at the bookstore I worked at in college. It was freaky.

Anonymous said...

Taco is not a Dish Towel.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fb6Xgi5yL._AA280_.jpg

Anonymous said...

Er, that cut off the url:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/
images/I/51fb6Xgi5yL._AA280_.jpg


Or look up "best of Taco". Heh.

Martha said...

Oh no. Poor Dave!

That is a great story :)

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

LOL! That has happened to me more than once, even since I've been out of high school. apparently I'm oblivious!