Jonny Blue Jeans - Part 1

The very first time I met Jon, we were at our high school youth group, and he had come with a long time friend of mine. Another friend, Katie, introduced him to me because she knew him from school (they both went to AHS, and I went to THS). I was a senior, he was a junior and had only lived in the area since the year before. He was tall, had a crooked smile, which made him look like he was thinking about a joke he'd heard earlier, and was painfully shy. I was surprised he would spend time with Trevor, who was the complete opposite. As the boys walked away that night, Katie whispered to me, "I'm going to marry that boy someday." I just thought to myself, "That's cute..." and went to talk to some other friends.

A couple years later, Jon and I ended up in the same circle of friends, despite the fact that I was attending college in Santa Barbara and he was still in Atascadero. We were reintroduced by my boyfriend at the time, who I was totally and completely convinced I was going to marry. I traveled home every few weeks to visit him, and Friday night rock climbing at the Crux, followed by dinner at Firestone, was a ritual that would not be altered by "the girlfriend" coming home. Always up for becoming friends with my boyfriend's buddies, I found myself in conversation with Jon at the gym on several occasions.

At first, it was a chore to talk to him. He was sweet, but shy, and being shy myself, I have never had that talent it takes to keep a conversation going unless the other person helps out. Jon didn't help out. Our conversations were brief, and even though awkwardness often had me finding an excuse to walk away, I always found myself drawn back to him by the end of the night. I didn't know why, but I liked being around this guy.

The Boys called him Jonny Blue Jeans, which made sense because whether he was rock climbing, or riding his BMX bike around town and on the local dirt jumps, Jon always wore jeans. He also always wore collared shirts, which I found appealing. Who dresses up when they're participating in physical activities?

As time went on, things with my boyfriend became strained. I realize two hours is hardly "long distance", but any distance can put strain on a relationship, especially when the people involved are only 19 and 20 years old. The first break the Boyfriend and I took was a test. We knew things weren't right, but weren't ready to give each other up quite yet, so visits home were still spent with our group of friends. I yearned for his attention and spent every moment possible with him. These moments usually included Jon and several other friends, because people on "breaks" don't spend time alone.

One night I realized that Jon and I were basically the same person. We'd gotten to be quite comfortable around each other, and despite his to-the-point-of-being-awkward quietness, we got along. The instant I recognized Jon's sense of humor was when we were attending a small concert with our "gang" in San Luis. Jon and I were sitting next to each other, and he'd taken notice of an individual with a ridiculous white man's afro. He really wanted me to see it. He tried to point the guy out to me several times, but being a good nine inches shorter than Jon made it impossible for me to see this work of art. Finally, Jon sighed in utter frustration and said, "Heather, you're breakin' my balls!" At this point we had still mostly engaged in small talk, and I certainly had never heard him utter the word "balls" before. I stared at him for a couple seconds and then cracked. I proceeded to have the kind of laughing fit that makes you feel like you attended an ab sculpting workout at the gym. It seemed as though Jon was one of those "quietly funny" guys, who saved his best lines for the people sitting closest to him, never wanting to draw too much attention to himself. Just like me.

This incident, along with becoming close friends, didn't seal the deal. I was still very much in love with the Boyfriend, and still had it in my head (and heart) that we were supposed to get married. There was a "getting back together" period, in which Jon remained close friends to both of us. Months down the road, another break up ensued, and this time it seemed real. I was devastated. Playing both sides of the fence, Jon heard both sides, and seemed to be most sympathetic toward me. He was there to talk, he invited me to hang out, he apologized for his fellow male and how poorly Former Boyfriend was behaving. He tried to convince me that I deserved to be treated better than this, and that I should move on.

Here's when Jon started to annoy me. No one who has just broken up with the Love of Their Life wants to hear that they should move on. For months after that I was convinced that something would still happen between Boyfriend and me, and that we'd have a fairytale ending that all girls want. We'd just have a "more interesting" story because of all the turmoil. (HA! Twenty-somethings.) During this whole time, Jon, my Best Friend, was there. We spent most of my time on weekend visits together with other friends (now it was far too painful to be around Boyfriend...) The week I returned to school after Christmas break, out of the blue, Jon started texting me. Now, this was 2003. Texting was a somewhat new thing, and I barely knew how to get my phone to make messages, let alone send them. Heck, I had just gotten my first cell phone the previous year, as a sophomore in college! It was a new and exciting way to communicate, and certainly a fun way to receive attention from the opposite sex. I started to look forward to these texts every night, and sometimes Jon would even be sitting in his night classes at Cuesta, texting me instead of paying attention to the lectures.

There was a night that Jon decided to call me. I only really talked to girlfriends and Boyfriend on the phone. When I saw Jon's number pop up I panicked a little. Texting is so easy and passive. But talking!? I answered hesitantly, and Jon and I engaged in some awkward chit chat until he decided to drop a bomb on me. He decided to tell me that he had never felt this way about a girl before in his whole life, and that he was sure that he and I were supposed to be together. In a matter of 10 seconds Jon had ruined everything.