One day as I was out walking the country road where I lived, I stopped to pet the horses over the fence of the nearby stables - as I was wont to do. A totally tall, dark and handsome man saw me and invited me onto the property where I could really pet the horses. That was my first encounter with Itzik and probably the day I fell in love with him.I was, of course, 13. And of course, he was 27. He never knew about my crush and he never returned my affections on any level beyond 'little sister'.
Itzik was here from Israel on a student Visa, working at the Arabian breeding facility to pay his way through college. I think he was pre-med. :swoon: He taught me how to ride in exchange for cleaning stalls. Hip deep in muck, and I was in heaven. Not only did I get to spend hours in the company of horses (yeah, I was a horse crazy kid), I got to spend what felt like forever in Itzik's company.
And he'd talk to me like I was a real person. Not some stupid gawky kid (which I was).
He was long and lean, with the most gorgeous brown eyes and what I always imagined was the softest hair. And he was superb at everything he did. :double swoon: He was like a hero out of one of the romance novels I was inhaling at that time. I totally imagined that once I got old enough, we'd ride off into the sunset together.
:sigh:
That was almost 30 years ago. He's off who knows where doing who knows what. And I'm here, writing. And remembering. And making him a love interest in one of my books*. (Hey, just because I couldn't have him doesn't mean my heroine gets jipped, too.)
How about you? Who was your first crush? Was it as silly and unrequitable as mine?
* For those of you who follow me elsewhere, Itzik was the basis for Zeke in Djinnocide. :smirk: Hope he looked like you thought he did.
Oops, I almost forgot. The winner of last week's pimpage contest is Marsha Sigman! Congratulations! Please contact me via email: besanderson at gmail dot com with your choice of ebook or regular and where to send your book.
9 comments:
You never forget your first crush. Mine was in Junior High - his name was Danny... and he was an identical twin, but his twin wasn't as cute as he was. He was tall and blond and painfully shy and the one time I got up the courage to say hello to him, he walked into a wall. I didn't want him to hurt himself, so I never tried again.
Aw man. Poor guy. And poor younger you, Clarice.
Okay, there must be a thing about identical twins. I can't even remember the name of mine (it was a one summer crush) but he was a redhead. (hmmm....imagine that, a crush on a redhead.....)
I love that your crush shows up in your book in the form of Zeke! (and who wouldn't crush on Zeke?!?!)
Love your story, Clarice. One identical twin is always cuter than the other!
LOL, JB. My first boyfriend was a redhead (and the reason why he was the last redhead I ever dated). And thanks for crushing on Zeke. ;o)
Ah, I wondered what the inspiration was for Zeke ;)
First crushes - painful! Mine was on a boy in junior high who was the.most.popular.guy.in.school. Yeah, and I was a brainiac. Sounds like the premise for a book, doesn't it? Not surprisingly, I started it years ago. Great that we can take our pasts and mold them into something shiny and bright, eh?
Exactly, Janet. Molding experiences is what writers do. ;o)
And the most popular boy in school was my 2nd crush. Josh. :sigh:
Zeke is my new BBF, by the way! Just sayin'! (That would be Book Boyfriend.)
First crushes? Dang. I'm not sure I can remember that far back. Okay. It was probably 6th grade, he was a 5th grader named Tony, but he was taller than me. As I was the second tallest girl in the 6th grade, this was a BIG deal! LOL We square danced together during music class and when we played dodge ball on the playground he NEVER through the ball at me. He moved away at the end of that year and I went on to Junior High where I discovered boys were idiots (at least until high school! ;-) )
So glad the pic didn't ruin your BBF status with Zeke, Silver. And the best boys are the ones who don't throw at you during dodgeball. ;o)
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