Never Forever

The Perfect Presence

I remember the first time I met him.. The first time that I really noticed him..

The day he came into my world..

9th Grade

~

I was in my English class in the ninth grade and we had come upon the discussion of our ideal person to date or marry. Just about everyone went up and then the teacher paused.

"Is there anyone else who would like to go?" I hesitated before putting up my hand slowly, but she didn't see me.
"Mrs. Carter, Leona wants to go." D'erra said and I stood in front of the class.
"Tell us what your ideal man looks like or what you're attracted to in a man."
"Well.." I began thinking of all the things that I find to be sexy in and on a man. "He has to have a nice personally. He has to enjoy learning and reading. He must be well groomed and be kind-hearted." "And what about physical attributes? What's his style look like to you?"
I began to fantasize about a good looking man in a suit. Aw man. A man in a suit is a huge turn on for me because it's so rare to see a man well kept these days..

"Absolutely no sagging. No tight pants. He has to look good in a suit." I smiled as I touched my suit that I had on. "What about facial hair?" "No facial hair." "No facial hair?" I thought about it. "Well.. If he looks good with it, then yeah. He can have a mustache." "What about a beard?" "Absolutely not. Unless he looks good with it and keeps it clean like Jidenna."

It was then that D'erra began singing Classic Man by Jidenna but Mrs
Carter told her to be quiet.

"And skin color?" "I'm attracted to guys with light pigment in their skin. I like light skinned guys to pale skinned guys." "Body type?" "Skinny but muscles. Not too much though." "What about height?" "He has to be tall but not too tall." "How tall?" "Taller than me. But not towering over me." "Anything else?" "Short hair." "And glasses?" "I'd be a hypocrite if I said no glasses." I pushed mine back up past the bridge of my nose. "Honestly. Glasses don't matter to me."

"Oooooh! Looks like somebody's got a crush on Ho-seok!" D'erra said before the whole class started laughing. My eyes diverted their attention to Ho-seok and that was the first time I became aware of his existence. I felt pressure all around me and I knew that I was flushing red but that just made the class go wild.

"She's blushing! She likes him!" I turned towards Mrs. Carter. "May I go?" "Yes." I walked out of the room humiliated. I wasn't even describing him on purpose and yet I gave the exact description of him. How could that have happened?

~

My mind couldn't wrap around the fact that he, my perfect description of a man, was here. Alive, in the flesh and breathing. He went to my school and yet, I had never noticed him before? I was stunned.

But not as stunned when he began appearing everywhere. Every class, we had together. The people we talked to were all the same. He and I would start talking and eventually, my feelings began to show before I even realised it..

~

I was standing next to him in the lounge after school and pretty soon, I found myself wrapped around his neck. But I had specific instructions.

"Come here." "What?" "Turn around." "Why?" "Just do it!" I said as I began to turn him to face away from me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and allowed my head to rest on his shoulder.

At this time, he was shorter than me. So I loved being able to do this.

I looked at him and immediately, he would try and do the same. "No! Don't do that!" "Do what?" He chuckled. "Don't look at me when I'm right here." "Why not?" He chuckled again and looked at me. I pushed him away and groaned with a smile. "Because it looks like we're gonna.." I stopped myself and laughed before pushing my hair out of my face and sitting down on the table. He came up to me as he usually would and made me laugh with one of his silly stares. I grabbed his hand and hugged him.

It was in these moments that someone would magically appear and say something like, "Aww. Y'all cute!" Comments like that would make me upset and cringe at him before pushing him away.

~

I was a very weird kid growing up. If someone liked a guy, I'd boldly tell the person that one of my friends likes them with no problem. But me? When it came to me liking a guy, every one of my friends would know before the guy I liked. But in this case, it was different.

~

My crush on Ho-seok was so huge that everyone saw it before I decided to accept it. Constantly, I would ask him weird questions that would make it obvious that I liked him, yet I still didn't think I liked him. In Mrs. Carter's English class, I would bombard him with the craziest questions.

But my favorite questions were the 'What If Your Wife..?'

"Ho-seok. What if your wife was D'erra?" He looked at me with a crazy expression and shook his head. "No." I laughed. "Oh come on.. What if?" He sighed. "Then, I guess she'd be my wife." "What if Kyra was your wife?" We were friends with Kyra. But not with D'erra. D'erra was too crazy and.. Etc. Not with the right crowd..

"I'm cool with Kyra.. But not like that.." He said and I smiled. "What about Lyric?" I teased and he immediately shut me down. "No." I couldn't stop laughing. "Okay, okay. Last one. What if.. I was your wife?" With a straight face, he answered. "Then you would be my wife."