I will never forget the first time I heard his laugh.
He was standing on the opposite side of the soccer field, chatting with his friends. I assumed that someone must have said something hilarious because he suddenly burst out laughing. It was a melodious and contagious sound, one that made my head snap up and search for the person it belonged to.
It was seventh period gym class, first day of the second semester. I was a junior and so was he. It’s really strange how you can go to the same school as someone for two whole years and not have even known their name.
I watched him from afar for the rest of the class period, loving the way he smiled so casually and how the left side of his mouth rose a little higher than the right when he did. His laugh made me want to laugh as well, even though I had no idea what was so funny. I didn’t know his name, and he didn’t know mine, but I knew there had to be something special about a boy who seemed so carefree and happy.
For the next two weeks, I observed him during gym class. On the first day of the third week since I had first noticed him, we were put on the same flag football team. I was timid and immediately felt humiliated when I realized how much I had been thinking about him for the past few weeks.
I walked up to the spot where my team was huddled and felt his eyes fall on me for the first time. I looked up and immediately melted inside the bluest pair of eyes I had ever seen. He gave me his sweet, crooked smile as a greeting and then turned back to the huddle to talk about what plays we were going to run.
It’s safe to say I wasn’t able to focus for the entire class period. I dropped the ball at least half the times it was thrown to me, although I did throw a perfect spiral pass to another girl on the team for a touchdown.
After class that day, on the way back to the locker rooms, I felt someone nudge me in the side with their elbow. Looking over, I saw that it was the boy. My heart skipped a beat and I immediately looked down at my feet.
“Hey,” he said with his beautiful smile. “You’ve got a pretty good arm. Now we just need to work on actually catching the ball.”
I felt my face turn bright red. “I can catch the ball,” I said with probably a little too much sass.
“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you?” he joked, grinning.
“I was distracted,” I mumbled. “Sorry, coach. I’ll work on it for you.”
He laughed. “You’re funny, I like you. What’s your name?”
“Allison,” I said.
“Well, hi, Allison,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Tucker.”
I shook his hand and couldn’t help but return his contagiously bright smile. “It’s nice to meet you. It’s weird how we’ve gone to the same school for two years but we’ve never even met.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it really is weird. It makes you wonder how many other people you haven’t met yet. And what if some of those people are really cool and you’re missing out on knowing some really awesome people?”
“Exactly,” I agreed with a firm nod. “It kinda makes you want to meet as many people as you can before we leave this place so you don’t miss out on anything.”
“Well, you seem pretty cool, so I guess that’s one less person I’m missing out on,” he said with a wink.
I smiled shyly and looked down at my feet again.
“So, what you’re saying is that you don’t want to miss out on getting to know anyone, because they could potentially be the coolest person ever and you would never know that if you didn’t give them a chance?” he continued.
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you could put it like that. I’m just saying that I like getting to know new people.”
“Hmm,” he said, seeming completely interested in everything I had to say. “Well, what if I told you I could offer you a chance to get to know one of the coolest and most charming students you will ever meet at this godforsaken high school in a very intimate setting?”
I swear I stopped breathing. “Um, what did you have in mind?”
“How would you like to go to a movie with THE Tucker Berry?” he said, pointing at himself and raising his eyebrows up and down.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his total carefree and happy-go-lucky attitude. “I don’t know how I could possibly turn down an offer like that.”
“I know, I’m irresistible,” he said with another elbow nudge.
Yes you are, I thought to myself, not able to believe what was happening as I listened to the guy of my dreams ask for my number.