"Morning Son, time to get up." My dad's gruff voice said on the other side of the door.
I knew I had to get up and I couldn't believe how little I slept the night before. You see I was going on a trip, alone. A trip to a convention across state lines, to board a plane and stay in a hotel with no family was new to me, I was 18 and proud that my parents trusted me enough to go on this trip.
I was traveling alone, but I was meeting someone there, a girl that I met on-line. By today's standards that is probably an ok thing to do, but in the late '90's, it was weird because no one really trusted someone from the other side of the screen. I trusted this girl, I've talked to her on the phone for hours and we seemed really serious about one another. She too was traveling alone and I was looking forward to spending all this quality time with her.
My father drove me to the airport. I was geeked out in a pair of jeans and a sci-fi t-shirt and a matching cap. I pulled my wheeled suitcase from the back of the truck as he finished his 'take your time with this girl' speech. She and I were way ahead of this speech as she got cold feet a week before this trip and really wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be expecting much more from her than friendship this time. As much as I wanted more, I wanted to really make this girl see I was the one.
From the picture I had in my wallet I knew she was beautiful with long flowing brown hair and a cute smile. She lived in Illinois and had a nice Midwest accent too. But by the end of the night I would finally be able to feel her hair on my neck and run my fingers through it. I'd be able to see her chest rise and fall with each breath, I would finally see her as I've seen many other people before, but this would be her, the first girl I ever loved.
The airport was huge to me, I've been in airports before as a child but to me this place really was like my first steps as an adult and seeing that the whole world was laid before me. I checked my bag at the front and went through the metal detectors. I got myself something to eat all the while thinking of this girl and seeing her face to face. I was also excited about going to this convention where all different celebrities would be.
She showed up in Denver, Colorado a day before me as I had a college class to attend. I thought about her a lot and wondered what she did that day, and now I couldn't wait to get there.
There wasn't much to the trip, it was 90 minutes from San Francisco, California and in that time I watched some cartoons on the plane just counting down the minutes till I would be able to be in the same state as this girl I've talked to for over the past year. But once I got my suitcase and went out the door to the place where the shuttles were I saw mine drive off. This was before cell phones were a necessity so I had to wait and she didn't even know I was there already. I had butterflies in my stomach and part of me just wanted to run, but another part of me wanted to see this through and we could behave as friends and not bring up the love we spoke to one another, but I still brought a necklace for her and I wanted to give it to her. After what felt like an eternity my shuttle showed up and took me to my hotel.
"Oh, Mr. Campbell," the woman behind the counter said, "your room isn't ready yet so if you'd like you can leave your bag in the lobby." She pointed to an area where there were lots of bags. "There are lots of people in town for this convention so we're a bit busier than normal." She took my money orders and checked me in. "Oh, there's a message for you already." She said printing out the memo and sending me on my way.
It was a message from Natalie, this girl I've been looking forward to seeing. It didn't say much but it was an invitation to her room on the 9th floor. I couldn't keep her waiting much longer so I went up the nearest elevator to her room.
I knocked on the door, I got really nervous but not for too much longer as she opened the door.
"Hi" I said looking at this girl's shimmering brown eyes.
She let me in and quickly removed my cap and placed it on her head. She looked cute with her long brown hair flowing from the black ball cap. I wanted to kiss her, but we were just going to be friends this trip. She laid down on her nicely made bed, and I shared with her my adventure of getting to see her as well as a few college stories. She had a wonderful smile and laugh. As I was done talking her ear off she suggested that we go to the convention, I couldn't agree more.
A shuttle was down there when we got to the lobby, and by this point it was raining. We got seats next to each other and I looked her over as I wanted to start another conversation with her. She wore a burgundy jacket from her college opened to show a multi colored striped shirt underneath, she had blue jeans on just as I did. She kept her eyes towards the front of the bus watching as a couple of guys wrote vulgar words on the fogged up windows.
"Who are you most excited about meeting?" I asked expecting her to state one of the celebrities at this convention.
"You." She replied as she took my hand. I have never been happier in my life.
As we held hands all the way to the air museum for the convention I wondered how long this would last, this wasn't exactly the friend level I was expecting from her, but I was glad it was there.
We got off the shuttle at the museum still hand in hand. We had to get our three day passes and get in line in order to get inside and out of the rain. She and I didn't talk much, I really didn't think much needed to be said. I enjoyed holding her hand and hugging her closely to keep her warm when I could. Just the fact that I could do the things I could only dream about, even the most mundane meant the world to me and was more gratifying than anything I could have ever hoped for.
When we finally got our passes and got inside the building she had to use the restroom and let me hold onto her purse. This level of trust meant more to me than the trust my parents put in me on this trip and to this day this still speaks volumes to me. I looked around the room and saw people dressed up in costumes and cases of movie props along side pieces of aviation history.
She came out and I gave her back her purse. I loved how her hair looked it was wet and matted down by the rain fall, but it opened up more of her face to my eyes and that really did mean more to me than anything else at this convention. She took my hand again and we walked around the floor, we tried out the new card game (she won, I lost), we saw old commercials for toys and saw more props from the genre, we stood in line for trivia contests all of it with out her hand leaving mine. I liked where this was going and this was just the first day of a three day long convention.
"Tristian, why don't we go back to the hotel and see if your room is ready." she requested.
I thought it sounded like a good idea as there really didn't seem to be much more for us to do at the convention. We boarded the shuttle and headed back to the hotel. On our way there we saw a pizza man walk up to another hotel, she thought this was a great idea and that we should have pizza too. I had no other plans so this worked out well for me.
My room was ready so we brought my bag too it and she sat down on the bed as I showed off some of the geeky things I brought with me. She humored me with my enthusiasm for all these things, but really she wanted to have some pizza.
I got on the phone in my room only to find that since I paid with a travelers check I couldn't make outside calls on my phone, so it was back to her room to order the pizza. When we got back there, she removed her jacket and hung it on the back of a chair that faced a mirror and a desk.
Denver was busy this time because of the convention so it took me some time to order the pizza, first I sat at the edge of her bed as she rubbed my shoulders, then I'd get up from the bed and take the phone with me to a chair so that I could see her sitting on the bed looking so beautiful and happy.
Finally I make the order and now I just have to wait the hour and a half for the pizza to show up.
"Well, it should be here in 90 minutes." I told her. She walked towards me as I started sharing a story that involved pizza from my childhood. She straddled my lap and looked me in the eyes as my mouth kept rambling on. I stopped once I ran out of things to say.
"Don't you ever know when to shut up?"
"I guess not."
She closed her eyes and leaned towards me in what appeared to be slow motion. I closed my eyes as our lips met he kiss brought my lips in deeper to hers as I felt more aroused at my first true kiss. She slowly pulled back. I looked down her shirt slightly to see her white cotton bra covering her small breasts.
"That was awesome." I replied as she looked me in the eye.
