The Equinox

As we enter sweater weather, I am reminded of a girl I was once interested in.

She had long, straight, light brown hair that she liked to stroke in class – I sat behind her and it was very distracting. And she had blue eyes, little freckles on her nose that moved when she talked, and also lovely teeth. Yes, I liked her teeth. It was why I liked to make her laugh. Not only did it make me feel good to make her feel good, I got a flash of her teeth if I could really roll off a good one.

This crush lasted a few weeks, from the beginning of the school year in a late summer surge of sweltering heat, until the inevitable onset of cooler Autumn

“How was your weekend, Karla?” I asked her one Monday morning, no doubt in an attempt to find something new about her and make her giggle.

“Oh, Andrew. I’m so tired today. I decided to move all my sweaters in the basement storage upstairs to my room. I’m exhausted.”

“Ah.”

I knew then it would never work between us.

There are sweater people, and non-sweater people. Some people are meant to wear sweaters. They just embody the sweater culture. Like they were born wearing a sweater, and it’s just natural on them. They like being sweater people. And they mix best with other sweater people.

Even back then, I had an inkling of who I really was.