Dave Myers is the TarheelinNashville

My first place away from my parent’s house was less than glamorous. It was a single wide white trailer with a tin roof. The roof leaked slightly, but not bad enough to be inconvenient. A few well placed trash cans were all I needed to fix that problem.
The trailer was in the middle of a large farm. My front lawn was a tobacco field, and my back yard frequently had deer and other wild animals running through it.
I truly loved it.
I moved away to attend Central Carolina Community College in Sanford NC. Sanford is known as the Brick capital of the US, and is a very rural small town filled with farms, lots of land, and bricks. Other than a brief period when I was four years old and my family moved to Illinois, it was the first time I had ever lived away from my hometown of Laurinburg NC.

On the weekends, I would go home and work at the radio station. The station had recently undergone a format change from Top 40 to an Oldies format. While I was burned out on playing ‘Good Times and Great Oldies’, I still enjoyed being on the air and working with Alan, my friend and boss. Plus while my parents (and student loans) paid for my schooling, I still had a car payment to make and I needed spending money.
It was nice to be home on the weekends, but I was really beginning to love the life I was making for myself in Sanford. Granted it was only 80 miles from my hometown, but it seemed like a world away at times.
Being away from home for the first time is scary for some, but I reveled in it. The freedom that came from being on my own was something that I never imagined could be so good. All my life, I had been surrounded by the same people and the same places. It was so refreshing to have a change of scenery.

I chose to go to school at CCCC upon the advice of many radio professionals in NC that praised the school’s broadcasting department, and its instructor Jerry Farmer. Mr. Farmer was widely respected by many in the radio field, and was known for his abilities not only as a teacher, but his willingness to help his students find jobs once they graduated. He was an older gentleman with white hair and a beard. Everyday in his class he would remind us that we were “In the right place at the right time”. I had respect for him from the minute that I first walked into his classroom. It was apparent that he was knowledgeable in the field, and that he shared my passion for it. I knew I could learn a lot from him.

In addition to classes, I decided to get involved in other things outside of the broadcasting field at CCCC. I became a member of the Student Government Association. I chose to join on a whim when I saw a flyer up in the Student Center. It was a chance to make some new friends, and to get involved. I regretted not doing more things like that while I was in High School, and it was my chance to make up for those lost opportunities.

One of the first functions the SGA had was a ‘Fall Carnival’. We had various games and activities scattered across our small campus. I was in charge of working in the concessions stand. It was there that I met Kelly Johnson. Kelly had long dark hair with an inviting and alluring smile.
It was unusually cold that night, and we shared the tiny heater in the concession stand to stay warm. She jokingly offered me her coat. When I said no, she offered to share the coat with me. I kindly declined the invitation, not knowing if she was being serious or not. Her sense of humor intrigued me as did her laugh. I had never met a woman so full of beauty, personality, and with such an enigmatic appeal. Needless to say, we hit it off instantly, and our laughter filled the tiny hot dog stand we occupied for the evening.

A couple of weeks later, I decided to forgo classes and drive an hour north to the state capital of Raleigh. It was time for the State Fair, and I hadn’t been to the fair in years. I drove up by myself with intentions of walking around, enjoying a few exhibits, and maybe ride some rides. An hour or two away from school sounded like a great way to spend an early October day.
Not long after arriving at the fairgrounds, I saw Kelly, or I should say that Kelly saw me. Though it had been a few weeks since we occupied the concession stand together, she remembered me instantly. I heard her calling my name from a far and waving me over. She was at the fair with some of her classmates and invited me to tag along with them.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying each other’s company. What was supposed to have been an hour or two at the fair turned into an all day, and an almost all night affair. We rode numerous rides and ate way too much junkie fair food. She was wearing a dark brown shirt under her jacket that brought out her eyes that day. I remember because I spent the better part of my day trying to covertly stare into them. I had taken a liking to Kelly Nelson, and I began to realize she had taken a liking to me as well.

Sometimes you know from the beginning that things aren’t going to work out in your favor. Such was the case with my relationship with Kelly. There were many outstanding circumstances to why a relationship with Kelly wouldn’t work. I’m not going to go into detail about why, but I knew from the beginning that it would be a bad idea to be anything more than friends with her. Still, I found myself completely captivated by her. With her enormous personality along with undeniable beauty, she had me in the palm of her hand from the moment I met her, and she knew it.

We began spending a lot of time together. Between activities with the SGA, having lunch together at school, and hanging out in the parking lot after class, my day was packed with Kelly… but I just couldn’t seem to get enough. One day I invited her and some of her friends over to my place for some dinner. Kelly said that she would cook.
At first I was somewhat embarrassed to have her over. It wasn’t exactly the most attractive of homes, but it was comfortable enough for me. I just hoped it didn’t start raining and I would have to break out the trash cans.

I honestly don’t remember any of her friends who came to dinner that night. It really didn’t matter to me who came, as long as Kelly was there. Any anxious feelings about my place were put at ease once she complimented me on the décor. I had told her time and time again that it wasn’t that nice. The first thing that she said when she walked in the door was how much she liked the place. I guess wood panel walls and shaggy carpet were considered rustic and charming… Who knew?
I didn’t have a lot of pots and pans at that time. Most of my meals at that time came from the microwave. She made due with what I had, and made a great meal. A little while after dinner, all of her friends went home, and that left me and Kelly alone. We talked for a couple of more hours, listening to music on my stereo. We talked about everything that was going on in our lives at the time, and I hung on to her every word. We ended the evening by listening to some classic Motown. Smokey Robinson sang that last song of the night, and I sat in awe of the gorgeous woman who was enjoying every note sang by the Smokey’s soft tenor voice. I walked her to her car and she gave me a kiss on the cheek before she drove away. I could tell after that night, it was going to be hard not to fall for her.

One night she called me up and asked if I wanted to go to nearby Fayetteville to go to the mall. I agreed, and she picked me up about 30 minutes later. We drove in the cold late October air. Once we got to the mall, we window shopped for a long time picking up a few things here or there. I was following her around the women’s department when she found a lacy piece of red lingerie. She held it up.

“So Mr. Myers, how do you think I would look in this?” she asked with a flirty smile.

“Um… great” was all I could think of to say.

It was exciting and a little intimidating at the same time to be pursued by such a strikingly beautiful and charismatic woman. I really wanted to keep our relationship platonic. I knew if we were to take it to the next level, it wouldn’t work. There were too many variables that were against there being a happy ending to anything other than friendship between us. She didn’t make it easy to keep that mind set.

When we were done with our mall shopping expedition, we went back to my place. Once again, we turned on the stereo and listened to music. Somehow we went from sitting on the floor in front of the stereo, to lying on the floor. The living room floor was carpeted, but not comfortable. She suggested grabbing a blanket to lye down. The only blanket I could find was a ratty old hand me down pink blanket, but I figured it couldn’t look any worse than the water stains on the ceiling we were staring up at.

When I came back into the living room, Kelly had changed the CD to Michael Bolton ( it was her CD… not mine). I laid the blanket down on the floor and we laid down together while listening to the music, and talking. Her perfume was enticing and I felt her body heat as she laid so close next to me. At one point, she reached for my hand while the music was playing. Her hand felt just as soft as I imagined. My mind was racing and struggling with thoughts of what I wanted to do, and what I should do. All the while, I was becoming more and more intoxicated by her.
Finally, I gave in. I couldn’t resist her any longer. I rolled over, almost on top of her, and gave her a deep long kiss. I had done everything in my power to talk myself out of this moment, but surrender was sweet as her lips touched mine. It was the softest kiss I had ever had. I felt the familiar butterflies begin to emerge in my stomach, and my heart was beating like crazy. I knew I was falling for her much harder and deeper than I should.
As I ran my fingers through her hair, I got lost in her eyes as we lay together, wrapped up in a hand me down pink blanket, listening to bad Michael Bolton music.
I knew that it wasn’t going to last forever. I knew that there wasn’t a happy ending to come. However at that moment in time I didn’t care about what the future held, I just cared about who I was holding in my arms that night.

Love Y’all
d

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEXT CHAPTER IN THE SERIES

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Part Eleven

Part Twelve

Part Thirteen

Part Fourteen

Part Fifteen

Part Sixteen

Part Seventeen

Part Eighteen

Part Nineteen