A Different Ending

I knew who he was. He'd been in my jazz class a year ago, but we'd never spoken. I'd noticed during that semester that he was in folk dance, but I never thought we'd be friends. I watched him a lot in class though, and was always impressed by how ripped he was and how good at everything he was. And he always did things that made me laugh, like wear our teachers clothes during class, even though they were too small. He sure was crazy. How was I to know that the following year I'd be moved up in folk dance and that he'd be on my team. I got to know him rather well. Eric Gourley. The tease. He never let a day go by without coming up to me and mentioning my freshman "boyfriend". I remember a few times when he'd come up to me, flexing his biceps, and asking, "Why would you want that freshman in Idaho when you could have these?" And I would just shake my head. He'd often ask me, "How's that boyfriend?" in a very sarcastic tone. I would smirk back and answer, "Great!". There were countless encounters that we had, all which were very akward. One specifically was the night of the big formal dance. I went with his roommate, and we doubled with Eric and his date. Eric signed his signature on my arm that night and told me to never wash because it would be famous someday. After our date, him and Jay begged me to go hot tubbing with them afterwards. I just got akward, as always, and told them I'd pass. "It's because you have a boyfriend, huh?" Eric would say, rolling his eyes. One night we were having a team movie night, and Eric wanted me to come. He wanted everybody to come, because that's how Eric is. He loves people. I gave my usual excuse, "I don't have a ride." and he told me, "Listen. I will be there at 8 to get you, so you better be ready." and it made me smile. Sure enough, he showed up on time. That was the first time I'd ever gotten to really talk to him one on one. As we drove to his apartment, we got on the subject of relationships and kissing, and he braggingly challenged, "You don't want to know how many girls I've kissed." I asked, he told me. I was shocked. I felt better after he told me most of them were before his mission. But it made me laugh. I would NEVER marry or even date someone who had kissed that many girls. I would be my husband's first and last kiss. Then as we got out at his apartment, he put his arm around me. It wasn't that he was trying to make a move, he is just a very friendly person and he was telling me a story about something. I stiffended up without even realizing it until he said, "Don't get all akward just because you have a boyfriend. Sheesh." And it made me laugh because I hadn't even realized I'd been doing that. I hadn't realized a lot of things. Little did I know that change was on the horizon, and that it would soon take on a new beginning and ending then I ever saw coming...