"Oh, 17 is Legal in Texas"

The weeks following our downtown experience, we would hang out with the girls every so often and always in bigger groups. We would go swimming, play games, and play volleyball among other things.

As I started to get to know the girls more and more, Julianne kept on sticking out to me. She always seemed happy, that life would never get her down. In fact, she hardly cries. (To this day I've only seen her cry once. Any other girl would have cried at least half a dozen times.) She would be mindful of the people around her and help out when she could - something she probably learned from her mother. She would point out any uncomfortable situation and use sign language to communicate when she felt uncomfortable. I realized that it makes life a little more comedic when you notice these things.

As my feelings for Julianne became apparent to myself, I kept telling myself, "You can't date her. She's too young! She's only 17." But I became excited to see her every time we got together, and I didn't want to leave when it was time to go. But I couldn't date her! Was age all that was stopping me? Yeah! I decided not to date her and that was that.

One Sunday, Julianne had a group of people over for the weekly ritual of game night. By the time I showed up, all the games had started. I found an empty seat at the kitchen table and who should it be sitting next to me but Julianne. I think she was playing some card game, but she folded her hand and started talking to me instead. Then the young emotions started shooting through me and I quickly analyzed what Julianne had just done.

Did she stop playing her card game to talk to me? Does she like me? She must! Or maybe she's just being nice. She's always so nice. *sigh* Okay, play it cool. Play it cool! Don't worry about a thing. Just be yourself.

"So what's up?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing much. Just got here. I guess I missed the games." Smooth, Byron. Real smooth.
"Well, do you want to play foosball?"
"Uh, Sure!"

So we went over to the living room and pulled out this ancient foosball table. The poles were sticking to the holes and the guys were worn down, but it made the game interesting. We talked and giggled the whole time, and I realized that I could actually talk to her, despite her young age. A friend and I talked about how it was hard to date younger girls because they want to talk about what they're going through in their lives, but since we older guys have already been through those stages, we don't really want to talk about them again. However, I didn't feel this way with Julianne. Our conversations were just the way I liked them: interesting and humorous.

When it was finally time to go home, I stood at the doorway with my roommates as we said our goodbyes. While everyone was giving hugs and high fives, Julianne and Sydney were having a louder than usual conversation.

"You know you only have to be 17 to date older people in Texas."
"Nu-uh. Is that really the law?"
"Yeah, in every other state it's 18, but in Texas it's 17."
"Oh, that's cool. Texas really is the best."

The room got quiet quick. Everyone had stopped and turned their heads as if these two girls had a megaphone and were announcing something important. I felt a little pressure to make a move after I had hear this, but I really didn't know what to think or do. So I pretended that I didn't hear anything and said goodnight and got out of there.