Serious Flashback Time

Recently, while visiting a friend, I found myself casually observing the interactions between her teenage daughter and the girl's male "friend" throughout the evening. At first, it appeared to truly be a friendly situation only. However, as the evening progressed from ping pong to lazing on the couch in front of the TV, it became clear that a teenage romance was budding before my very eyes.

It also amazed me that despite my inability to see the awesomeness that apparently is Lady Gaga (really? No, really??), very little has changed in the realm of teenage flirtation since my hormone laden days. Apparently, the rules in trying to score the attention of a cute boy have pretty much remained the same. Lots of smiling, a careful amount of laughing at the right time, a lot of questions fired off about his school activities (whether you really cared or not), and then when it came to that time on the couch, after you had assessed your proximity to him, when you had edged over just a little, perhaps just to cross your legs in his direction, after you noticed that he had responded to you by turning your way just the teeniest bit, after you finally took that deep breath, you would would make your move to...

put your head on his shoulder.

Yes, this is what I walked in on the other night. A little cuddle while watching Glee. I had walked into the living room to grab my purse and accidentally witnessed what I can only assume was a very calculated head-on-shoulder move. The boy, sitting there all tall and rigid, also had a ridiculous, goofy smile plastered on his face. As I hightailed it out of there, I stifled a giggle. I could only imagine the racing hearts, those exciting endorphins, those obsessive thoughts of FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHEN IS HE GONNA KISS ME?

Oh, to be sixteen again.

Funny, then, that I'm heading that way myself tonight. No, there's no time travel involved. But I'm going to be seeing my old high school boyfriend in just a few hours, the guy I dated when I was sixteen. We've actually hung out quite a bit throughout the years after the requisite "I HATE YOU!" stage that seemed to last not only senior year but a good chunk of college, too. (What can I say? I was an angry teenage girl.)

I can't say that either one of us is secretly pining after one another "after all these years." No, it's morphed into more of a brotherly/sisterly "Oh my God, you said what to her?" kind of relationship than anything else. But it's absolutely fascinating to me that just seeing this guy can resurrect funny old memories and sweet, innocent feelings that I had thought were long ago lost. How can that not make me smile?

It's also amazing to me how some of those initial feelings, questions, and behaviors of our teenage dating years still manage to creep back in twenty years later when we're all mature and beyond all of that awkwardness. Right. Body language is body language and I don't think that changes all that much.

But do I still think putting my head on someone's shoulder is a big step? Actually, yes. Especially after hours of quiet chatter on my back porch. I guess I'm a sucker for a Summer of 1992 kind of romance. And it kind of makes my heart melt to see it happen all over again in 2010. Maybe I'm not so darn old fashioned after all.