Todd's First Date

One of the first moments I realized that I was a Wendy, was when I was 16. I had been 16 for about 6 months and was allowed to start dating. I had been going on occasional first dates with young boys who were all slowly turning 16. Todd. He had turned 16 a month after I had turned 16 and he had yet to ask a girl on a date. I had known Todd for a couple of years, along with our mutual group of guy friends.

One warm Sunday afternoon in Arizona, I noticed a commotion in my front yard. I went to our large front window and watched 2 of my best guy friends, drag poor Todd up my driveway. When they got to my porch, I opened the door and stepped out. Todd was bright red, sweating, and yelling, “Don’t! Stop! Leave me alone!”

I knew what this was all about. The other two boys yelled back, “ Todd, be a man and just do it!”

He was supposed to ask me on a date. His first date.

They threw him into my house and ran a few steps away. Todd was having a hard time breathing, so I ran to get him a glass of water to prevent him passing out in my doorway.

It took him about 2 and a half minutes to recover. I just stood there patiently waiting for him to get the guts to ask me his question. He sat down on the piano bench and started to speak, still gasping for air every few words. “Cara, (gasp) do you want (gasp) to go on a date (gasp, gasp) on Friday (big exhaustion of air)?”

I smiled my lovely smile and replied, “Todd, I would love to go on a date with you on Friday.”

He said, “Ok, cool. I’ll let you know the details later on in the week.”

I replied, “That sounds perfect.” Then I turned to the 3 boys and said, “You guys are lucky that I am me, and so cool; because this could be pretty offensive to any other girl. But don’t worry, I am not offended.”

All three boys thought about it for a second, and realized that it wasn’t very nice to force Todd up to my door.

Todd’s dad made him call and apologize a couple of days later for his behavior.

...This pattern continued for many, many years in my life. I became THE WENDY. The girl that went on the first date with each boy. I was the practice girl, whom you could be comfortable and simply “get the first date over with”.

This state I was stuck in, didn’t start to bother me until college, when I was the first date of a 22 year old. I mean really?