We sat in a booth next to the window. The sun beamed in and bounced off of her golden blond hair as if God put it there just for that moment, just to make her all the more beautiful.
I was a bundle of nerves while I was waiting for her to arrive, but once she was there, sitting across from me, I was calm. It was as if the day was a continuation of the afternoon Megan Alba Biel and I spent together our senior year of High School.
The Rock Ola Cafe was a family restaurant, which really was nothing more than a semi over priced burger joint. It was popular with the college crowd because it was close to the UNCW campus, and it had good greasy hamburgers. When you walk in the smell of grease was somewhat over powering. It was like the combination of a local greasy spoon burger joint with the interior of Applebee’s.
The waitress came by to take our drink orders. I had water and she ordered a Diet Coke.
“So what have you been up to for the past three or so years?” she asked with a smile, starting off the conversation.
I told her about my time at Mix 96 throughout High School and how I had my first on-air shift not long after graduation. I admitted that looking back at it, I was a nervous wreck and I sounded awful, but it was one of my proudest moments.
“I still have the tape from that night… it’s awful, but entertaining for all of the wrong reasons” I said with a laugh.
“I’d love to hear it sometime,” Megan said.
“That’s sweet of you to say,” I said. “But you don’t want to hear that… It’s a train wreck, I promise. I’d be embarrassed to let you hear it.”
“Don’t be silly,” she replied. “We all have to start somewhere. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. I want you to let me hear it sometime”.
She then brought up that her sister (Angelina Johannson Biel) told her that she called in one night while I was on the air at WKML. It was a couple years after my on air debut at Mix. Megan said that her sister had told her that I sounded great on the radio, and listened to me every Saturday night. I told her to thank her sister for the compliment.
I also wondered if Angelina had told her all of the details of our conversation that night. I had admitted my school boy crush on Megan to her. It was my hope that she had not.
The waitress came back to take our orders, imposing a break in what could have been an embarrassing part of our conversation.
I ordered a club sandwich and bypassed the temptation for a cheeseburger. I was hoping that by skipping the greasy stuff I wouldn’t intensify the pressure and tightness of the new jeans my friend Janice had bought for this special occasion. Janice insisted that I get the jeans, no matter how uncomfortable they were. They looked great, but were so tight I believed they were cutting off airflow to my brain, and were close to leaving my lower extremities numb from poor circulation. The last thing I needed was anything to make them tighter and else to add to the discomfort.
Megan ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. I laughed to myself at the irony of her ordering the same thing I ordered everyday for nearly two weeks at the restaurant she used to work at, in hopes of getting to see her. In an odd kind of way, it made our lunch (sorta) date a bit sweeter.
“I have heard you a couple of times on the radio here in town. You sound so different on the air”, she continued.
“Thanks… I think??” I replied with a quizzical expression on my face.
“I mean, you sound like you belong on the radio…. You sound great,” she said with a slight hint of red coming over her face.
“I know what you mean,” I said. “Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve actually heard me. I know I’m on pretty late”.
“Yeah, and I don’t even like country music. I should get points for that too,” she said.
“Well, thanks again…”I said. “But come on, everybody likes at least one or two country songs… I mean who doesn’t love ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers?” I retorted.
“Do you play ‘The Gambler’ at your radio station?” she asked.
“Well, No. But we play a lot of Shania Twain, though…” I said with a playful grin.
“Exactly” she replied. “Actually…” She kind of laughed to herself. “There is one song out now that I like. My sister plays it all of the time. Something about ‘Little Miss Honky Tonk’?” she said with a slight hint of embarrassment at her admission.
“Yeah, that’s the name of it.. by Brooks and Dunn.” I replied.
“Yeah, Brooks and Dunn. I like that song”. she said.
“That’s funny, I never pictured you as a line dance kind of girl Meg. You should go hang out at the Palomino Club one Saturday night. You would look great in a denim skirt and cowboy boots. I could see you with a big cowboy hat too…” I was apologetically (albeit sarcastically), full-on flirting with her at this point, and she seemed to be enjoying it.
“Umm, I don’t think so. I said I like the song, I’m not quite to the point of boots and a cowboy hat.” She said with a flirty smile in return.
The waitress came to the booth with our food,
Somewhere in the midst of our conversation, Megan had transformed in my eyes from Megan Alba Biel- My High School dream girl, part time obsession, and the mark for everything I considered beautiful and perfect…To being simply Megan, a pretty girl I was sharing lunch with.
While she was even prettier than I remembered, our easy conversation had taken her off of the pedestal I had put her on, and made her more real.
It was similar to the impromptu Burger King lunch we shared in High School, except we were older now. I felt far more confident in my early twenties than I was in my High School days. In addition the moving away from our small hometown had changed us both as well. There were no fake airs, nor was there a need on my behalf to try to impress her anymore.
That afternoon, we were simply just two individuals who shared a past in a brief moment in time in the very sheltered environment of small town life. It was refreshing to be beyond those barriers, and to be able to see the people whom we had become.
“Tell me about you. What are you up to these days?” I asked, continuing our conversation.
“Well, I’m staying busy between school and work” she said.
“What’s your major?” I asked.
“I want to study psychology. I want to be able to help people. I love talking to people and discussing whatever is going on in there lives. I’ve always felt a calling for that.” she replied.
I wanted to bring up the conversation we had during our last impromptu lunch outing my senior year in High School. I wanted to tell her how without her advice; I don’t know if I could have taken the proper steps to finally get over my break up with Katie Coleman (my first real girlfriend in High School). I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed my senior year of school without her advice. When she told me ‘We only get one senior year, and we have to make the most of it’… It stuck with me.
I wanted to tell her all of this, but I didn’t. I was trying to hold to the advice my friend Jim gave me, and ‘Be Cool’. I should have told her.
“Yeah, I can see you doing something like that” was what I offered instead.
“You are so lucky to be doing what you love for a living. Very few people get to do that you know. I’m proud of you for taking the step out on faith to follow your dreams,” she said.
It was the first time anyone had said verbally that they were proud of me and understood what I was trying to accomplish. It had been over a year since I dropped out of college and nearly six months since I had uprooted everything to move to the coast to follow my radio dreams. It was a gamble, but I was hoping to win in the big picture. Those were words I had been longing to hear for a long time, and hearing her say that really meant a lot to me.
“I know. I’m very lucky.” I replied. “I’m really glad we caught up with each other, this is fun” I said changing the subject.
“Yeah, it is. I’m so happy you invited me, she replied with a genuine smile.
Our conversation turned to our days in High School. We began to reminisce about old acquaintances and friends. As our (sorta) lunch date came to a close and I was reaching for my wallet to pay, she said – “I wish I had my yearbooks here with me. They are back at home in Laurinburg with my parents”.
Without thinking of what I was suggesting, I replied – “I have all four yearbooks back at my apartment, if you want to come hang out for a little while”.
The second the words left my mouth, I realized what it sounded like I was suggesting.
“Be cool” I heard Jim say again in my head.
Asking her back to my place after a (sorta) lunch date was NOT ‘Being cool’!!
I waited for a second for an awkward “I have to be somewhere” moment from her, but instead she surprised me with – “That sounds like fun. Let me freshen up and I’ll follow you there!”
Love Y’all
d
Get caught up with these previous entries in the series as well!
