Even with the chorus of hoots it evoked from the other boys, Darby found the fleeting brush of her freckled cheek against his lips more than worth the aggravation.
* * * * * * * * * *
Geez, 1893! Way to ruin a romantic moment with a kiss on the cheek! I'm a modern man in 2021! I need some lip on lip action at worst! And yes, I know these are, at best, twelve year old children (I'm sure Penelope is an "older woman" and probably more like fourteen). But just because somebody is an old fart doesn't mean they don't remember what it was like to be every other age they've ever been. In fact, the thing most young people don't understand until they've gotten older themselves is that a person remains every age they've always been at all times. When I became infatuated with Sailor Moon during college, it wasn't the twenty-something year old adult that fell in love with the romantic entanglements and genuine friendships of the girls. It was the part of me that was still fourteen years old and still experiencing the intense feelings of those first junior high school crushes. You don't ever really leave behind the emotions engendered by the various experiences that formed you across decades. It's like looking through a prism where everything is refracted by different perceptions based on your various ages. You retain and feel the experiences of being a fourteen year old while simultaneously viewing those feelings and experiences through the lenses of a forty year old (which is also different from viewing the twelve year old's experiences through the lenses of a twenty-eight year old you (which is also different from viewing the twenty eight year old's viewing of the twelve year old's experiences through the eyes of a forty year old you (it can get pretty confusing! Maybe that's what dementia is! Too many convoluted ways to perceive your life after far too many years))). Aging isn't transmutative; aging is just insetting more and more parenthetical references into an ever-lengthening clause.
Another good but unnecessary example is Degrassi Junior High. When I was watching the original on PBS, I was about a year younger than Caitlin and Joey Jeremiah. I can still return to the show and feel exactly how I felt at the time. I can still have a non-troubling crush on young Caitlin because it's still the twelve year old me who feels that crush. It's not forty-nine year old me who is crushing on the girl. That's gross! But I still experience the part of me that's still twelve. The party of me that's forty-nine sees the women now whom I had crushes on when I was young, women like Gillian Anderson and Christina Applegate and Winona Ryder and Stacie Mistysyn, and thinks, "They're even more attractive now than they were when they were younger!" Younger me would probably disagree but fuck that guy. He's dead now! I mean, mostly, since saying he's dead argues against everything I've been saying up until this moment! And I don't want to be thought of as a disingenuous hypocrite.
No, you know what? It's fine. I actually love being thought of as a disingenuous hypocrite.
Anyway, that part about needing "lip on lip action at worst" was just a joke that didn't get to its disgusting punchline thanks to the interruption by the rumination about aging. It's probably for the best!
"more than worth the aggravation"
When the boys are teasing you for getting attention from a girl, you know it's the only way their stunted male emotions allow them to give a round of supportive applause.
"her freckled cheek"
Twelve year old me is now in love with Penelope Black.
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