Eighteen

18...that's how old I was when I met V. Eighteen. So young. So naive.

I met V when I was 18. He was 18 as well. We met right after bootcamp at our MOS school (military occupational school...I think). It was November 1998. We were in North Carolina. We were young. We were free from our parents. We were on our own.

It was my first weekend at MOS school and I wanted to party. Using our investigative skills myself and a friend found out about a hotel party going on off base. Score! Our first night out! It was exciting.

We headed over to the hotel. It was easy to find the room. A bunch of guys were hanging out on the balcony outside. We made our way up and worked our girlish charms on them. It worked. We were in! They told us there was beer in the room so I headed in and saw him. The keeper of the beer. V.

I didn't think much about him at first glance. Maybe I didn't even really see him. My eyes were on the free beer. I was 18 with no way of getting any myself so I had hit the jackpot. V was stocking the fridge with freshly purchased beer. I asked him for one. He wasn't particularly nice to me. Actually he was a total ass (a warning sign?). I somehow managed to get a beer from him and went to hang out with the nice guys. That was the end of that.

But it wasn't.

After awhile at the hotel we all decided to hit a club that we had heard let minors drink. We didn't hesitate to hail a taxi and get over there. We were all in MOS school and had just gotten there that week so none of us had cars yet.

At the club we all had our drinks, were dancing, and talking. A few of the guys...OK all of the guys...were hitting on me but V seemed to ignore me. Why? Everyone else seemed to be interested in me. Plus he was the cutest one out of all the guys. He was my target. I would get him to notice me and I did. Mistake? Eventually we started talking because I had mentioned I was part Puerto Rican. Another guy was as well. It just so happened that V was too.

OK, let me stop there and let the people that know the story of V and I laugh. Done yet? :) That is a whole story in itself. One day I'll write about that.

Once I managed to get V to notice me we danced the night away and spent the rest of the night together. I started to like him. Maybe he started to like me too.

I was 18. So young. So naive.

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