Brady Rose

With a name like that, you're destined to be a heartbreaker. And he most certainly was.

I was a junior in highschool the year my eyes first caught sight of the ever so dreamy Brady Rose. He had perfect everything...perfect blue eyes, perfect blonde hair, perfect teeth, perfect tan (which i could never have), perfect smile, perfect style, perfectly athletic and good at every sport he played, and perfectly charming. I had a crush. There was no denying it. I'm pretty sure i giggled everytime one of my friends mentioned his name. I also have several notebooks of evidence where i did the silly girl thing and wrote my name over and over again with his....or with his last name (embarrassing!!!): Melody and Brady. Brady and Melody. Melody Rose. Melody Christine Rose. Brady and Melody Rose 4EVER!!!

In my defense, there weren't many eligible boys at my school; in fact, there weren't many boys at all. So, when our sports teams played other highschools, i was always looking for a good prospect. And there he was. In his soccor uniform. Number 22. My birthday is the 22nd of February, so it had to be a sign from God. We shared something in common. I had a good excuse to watch him like a hawk during that soccor game. My dad was the coach of our boys team, and i kept the books for him. It also gave me a good excuse to mingle with the players and casually tell him "good game" when it was all over. That's when he looked me right in the eyes, smiled at me, and shook my hand and thanked me. And that's when it was all over for me. Sigh. I was in love with Brady Rose.
Awkward!!! Nothing makes you feel uncomfortable like the anguish of a highschool girl with a crush!
I counted down the days until we played his team again. Then i counted down the minutes until i could tell him "good game" again. Then i counted down the days until the tournament when we played his team in the championship game....and won. And of course, i went over and gave him the ritual "good game" and an added "you played really well...tough loss? (awkward smile)" I am %110 sure he didn't think twice about me that day. He had lost the game for his team at the last minute, and he was pretty upset about it. The last thing on his mind was the dorky girl that kept the books for the team that just beat his team.
Soccor season was over, and after an uneventful awards ceremony where i couldn't even catch his gaze once, i comforted myself with the prospect of basketball season.
My friends made me notes with songs about him and left pictures of roses in my locker. They totally encouraged my crush; told me he would be crazy not to like me. That's what good friends do, right?
Basketball season FINALLY rolled around and the night i had been waiting for arrived. I spent extra time on my hair and make-up that afternoon as i got ready in my cheerleading outfit. I arrived at the gym with butterflies in my stomach. Maybe he would notice me tonight. I went inside and started practicing our pathetic routine with the other cheerleaders. That's when he walked by...with some of his teammates...and smiled at me and said something. I don't remember what it was he said, and i'm sure he was only being polite since that's the kind of guy he was, but it was all i needed. I couldn't stop smiling. I'm sure i looked like an idiot with a big grin glued to my face. All night i secretly cheered for him when i was supposed to be cheering for my team (Are we all embarrassed for me yet?). I gave him the ritual "good game," and was sure that he was as happy to be hearing those words from me as i was to say them to him.
To make a long story short, i did the same thing the rest of basketball season that i did during soccor season. Nothing happened. The next year, my senoir year, arrived, and i looked forward to the prospect of seeing him again. Soccor season was the same. Basketball season was the same. By the time the baseketball tournament took place, i knew i had to make a move or spend the rest of my life wondering. So, i marched my nervous little self right up to him after the tournament and told him what a great player i thought he was. We held a decent conversation; turned out he was very easy to talk to when i could make my vocal chords work. The more we talked, the braver i got. I mean, he wouldn't be standing there talking to me like this if he didn't care for me at all, right? I took a deep breath and went for it.............................................................
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NO, i didn't kiss him! I would never have had the nerve for that, plus i was pretty sure i would have been in trouble. I was scared to even think about kissing boys. haha!
I did ask him to prom though. That's what i wanted. Brady Rose taking me to my Senoir Prom. Walking in on his arm would have been the highlight of my highschool career. So i asked him. And he did the most increadible thing ever in the eyes of a highschool girl who'd never been on a date in her life. He asked me for my number. I'm pretty sure i stopped breathing for a second. Was i allowed to give him my number? Once i got my breathing under control, i gave it to him, and he wrote it down....ON HIS HAND. I could have died happy right there. A guy, a really really good looking guy, wrote my number on his hand, and then he told me HE WOULD CALL ME!!! Really??? Brady Rose was going to call me? I was going to go to prom with him??? I couldn't believe it. I have no clue how that conversation ended, but it did, and i immediately shared the good news with my girlfriends at a sound level that probably only dogs could hear.
Then the waiting began.
I waited.
Every day i waited.
Would he call me today?
Maybe tomorrow he would call me.
Maybe he would wait and call me on Valentine's Day.
By the phone i waited.
I would literally jump sometimes when it rang.
If my mom called me to the phone, i would get nervous. I just knew it would be him.
I imagined what he would say, and what i would say, and how much fun we would have at prom.
So i waited....a long time....hoping.

And he never called me.

I remember the night it hit me. He hadn't called because he never intended to call in the first place. I let the feelings of rejection and dissapointment wash over me, and i cried myself to sleep....more than once. The year before, 5 guys had turned me down for prom. My mom had finally called my brother for help, and one of his college friends took me. Lucky me, right? Not even close. The dude talked about how he could see ghosts, and then he sent me a letter basically asking me to marry him. WEIRD. Now, this year, my perfect prom was not going to happen because the perfect boy had turned me down. As sad as i was, i couldn't bring myself to hate him. He was still Brady Rose, and i still had a crush on him (why do girls do that to themselves??).

I went to my Senoir Prom with Robby Lacombe. He was an Abercrombie & Fitch model. He also worked at the local grocery store with one of my friends. She asked him for me, and he said yes. At least i had a date. And he was probably better looking than Brady, if i'm being honest. He was also a lot of fun and easy to talk to. And, he told me i looked like Nicole Kidman - definately a much needed boost for the self-esteem. OH, AND....he told the other boys they couldn't dance with me. That was a big deal; especially when he informed "Joe" that he could not dance with me. I had a history with "Joe" and he had broken my heart in the past. This boy pretty much thought he could waltz right into my life whenever he pleased and play with my emotions. Prom would have been the perfect place for that, but Robby flat out told him no way. Points for Robby.

Robby was a great prom date, but we never really talked again after that. I was still waiting around for someone to realize what he had missed out on and call me. Of course, that day never came.
I did see Brady one more time, though. I went to Liberty University for College for a Weekend, and he was there as well. Our paths crossed, and we ended up talking for a while at a Liberty Basketball game. That's when i realized how self-absorbed he really was. He kept talking about everything he could do, had done, or was going to do. It got old fast. Oh, and he was really self-righteous and religious. We all discussed going to a movie that night and he informed us, in so many words, that as a good Christian he couldn't go to the movies. He was going to stay in and read his Bible or something like that....yeahhhhhhhh right.
Having grown up in a very religious school where people were always doing things to show what good Christians they were, i was immediately turned off. The last thing i needed in my life was a religious boyfriend telling me how i was never doing anything right to be a "good Christian."

And so Brady Rose was no longer the epitime of the perfect guy in my life. He was still disgustingly good looking and charming, but i was over him. It was time to move on. Besides, i was going to college, and i was bound to meet someone better there....