There is a difference between the unexpected and spontaneity. The unexpected is finding myself in New York at this very moment. Spontaneity is buying delicious mint chocolate chip gum in the checkout line. The unexpected throws surprises both good and bad. Spontaneity can have either good or bad consequences. This is a story about both The Unexpected and Spontaneity.
Flash back to freshman year of college, March 2006, SPRING BREAK. I don’t know about you, but I did many foolish things as a freshman in college, some I will admit to, and others I will deny ever doing. It’s that newfound freedom of finally being on your own and having the chance to make choices no one will ever know about. Don’t get the wrong ideas, though. I’m still a goodie-two-shoe. But spring break 2006 I decided to be a little more adventurous than I thought I was capable of.
SPONTANEITY
I was in the car with two boys; let’s call them Henry and Harry. They were friends and they were my friends. Henry had a thing for me and unbeknownst to me at the time, so did Harry. I had a thing for neither, but I still enjoyed hanging out with them. They were funny, friendly, and it was safe. I was still getting over a breakup that broke my heart and I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I would risk my heart again. So, there I was with Henry and Harry, completely safe from broken hearts and laughing all the time.
There we were in the car, bored as ever on Monday evening during spring break. The three of us had nowhere to go and nowhere to be with our homes so far away from our university in Virginia. It was 5pm in the evening. I don’t know who’s idea is was. It definitely wasn’t mine. I would never be daring enough to come up with such an idea. Henry or Harry, it doesn’t matter who, shouted “LET’S GO TO NEW YORK CITY!” In the back of my mind, I thought what a fantastic idea! Wish we had the guts to do it. Little did I know that he actually meant it. All of the sudden, this spontaneous idea turned into a plan and the plan was put into action. I ran to my dorm room, grabbed a toothbrush, sweatshirt, and pillow and was back in the car within fifteen minutes. Henry drove, Harry was the navigator, and I enjoyed the scenery from the back seat.
We expected to arrive in New York City around 11pm. We had nowhere to stay. The boys were older; I expected them to have a little more experience and know what they were doing. They said they had it all covered with a plan.
NOTE TO SELF: Do not leave the planning to boys EVER AGAIN.
Their plan, indeed, was to keep with the tradition of spontaneity.
THE UNEXPECTED
About three hours into the drive, we pulled over to a gas station to fill up for the remainder of the drive. At this point it was dark and Henry was getting tired of driving. So, Harry went outside to fill the car with gas and Henry moved to the back seat to take a nap. We were going to do a little switcheroo and I would be navigator and Harry would be the driver. I stayed in the backseat to chat with Henry before Harry returned from filling up and paying for the gas. This was all a part of Henry’s little scheme, by the way.
We chatted and it fell silent in the back seat of the car. Henry turned to look out the window and I took that as my cue to move to the front seat. I unbuckled and moved slightly for the door. At that very moment, Henry whipped around, grabbed my face and kissed me hard on the mouth.
CUE BELLS AND FIREWORKS.
Now, I don’t know about you girls out there, but I always imagined an unexpected kiss to be romantic and breathtaking. Doesn’t it seem like it would be like that, especially in the Movies? The handsome young man walks up to the shy young girl, grabs her and without a thought, kisses her. She melts and they fall in love. The end.
SCRATCH THAT.
Oh heck no. Life is not like the Movies, that’s for sure.
After Henry kissed me all he had to say was, “Did I scare you?”
And all I had to say was, “Yes.”
Right then, Harry came back. Harry was one of those tall, lanky, goofy looking guys. He always had a silly expression on his face and never had any idea what was going on. This was one of those times that I was thankful he was clueless. I moved to the front seat and it was silent in the car.
PUT THEM TOGETHER AND THIS IS WHAT YOU GET
We passed through the Lincoln tunnel and suddenly we shot into a bright city of lights and lots of scary people at about 11:30pm. While the boys were ooo-ing and awe-ing at such a big city, it suddenly hit me that we had no idea what we were doing! We drove around the city for about an hour. I knew we wouldn’t find a safe place to stay the night in the city, so I devised a plan myself. I told the boys it would be safer to cross back over to Jersey, find a small hotel there, and then take a ferry over to the city in the morning. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a place to stay. So, the boys modified my plan. We stayed in a parking lot. Oh my goodness.
This is one of those experiences where I can laugh about it now, but honest to goodness, I was scared out of my mind at the time. Three dumb Mormons sleeping in a car in a parking lot in Jersey City.
We survived the night. They slept like babies, and I shivered under my blanket at the thought of the wrong person discovering us. I was happier than I’ve ever been when the sun finally came up and we headed to the shore.
The next 18 hours were loaded with a ferry ride, the metro, a walk through central park, and lots of fruit and yoghurt parfaits from McD’s. I introduced the boys to the world of H&M, we strolled down 5th avenue and walked around Times Square where we joined the largest kick-line in the world in support of Deep Vein Thrombosis awareness and wound up on TV. We saw the Statue of Liberty, and wandered around Ground Zero. We ended our crazy day on Broadway with Beauty and the Beast, which was pleasantly entertaining.
The boys wanted to stay one more day, but I wasn’t about to relive another night in a parking lot (they thought that was a great idea, by the way…ugh). So, we drove back down to Virginia that night and I was safely back in my own bed by 4am.
During our whirlwind adventure in The City, Henry and I didn’t mention a thing about our kiss. We acted as if nothing had happened, but I knew the whole time he was thinking about it. Harry just continued to be absolutely clueless. I was on my guard, hoping Henry wouldn’t spring on me like that again. I let the events from the night before replay in my head over and over, trying to figure out what was going on between us.
New York City was thrilling, exhilarating even. I enjoyed every minute and was entertained by our ridiculous impulsiveness. But Henry blamed his kissing me on that.
The day after we returned, Henry called me and wanted to talk. I wish I could say that this story had a happy ending. I went to see him and he tried to kiss me again. I walked away, sad that our friendship had ended. But I learned a good lesson, for a naïve 19 year old like me: kisses are nice, but don’t let them distract you from what’s really going on. Heart AND head have to go hand in hand and for me, kisses have to mean something. Is that old fashioned? I don’t know. It’s a difficult balance that I’m still working on to this day. It was something that I needed to learn, and even though hearts were hurt, I’m glad I did.
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