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| NAME: Catherine NICKNAME: "Cathy" HOOKED-UP: Never NOTEWORTHY: I met her through Judy, making her Link #3 in "The Tina Chain."(TM) We began hanging out together at School in early 1987. At that time, I was working the cafeteria's hash lines. Several friends would habitually be waiting for when I finished up my shift to come out and join 'em. It wasn't long before Cathy joined this group, and soon became a front-runner. Although possessing a lot of tomboy tendencies, she was quite feminine. After crackin' a joke that most adolescent guys could laugh at, she would turn around and be this tender girl who often caught me by surprise. It did not take long for me to notice the extra attention she sent in my direction. And there were times that I was indeed attracted to her as well. However, the attraction was something neither of us acted upon. There were times when the flirtatiousness between us was so bold, and even lewd, that others would half-jokingly instruct us to get a room. And while the flirting was a fun, comfortable thing between the two of us, striking up an actual relationship seemed to be that final barrier neither could cross. It is easy for someone to read this and dismiss it as two high school kids, who were 17 (me) and 16 (her), as being too young, innocent(?) and inexperienced to take a relationship to higher levels. And while such a thing might be correct about me, it was not the case with her. Cathy was already very sexually active by the time we met. While her age and lack of maturity might have been what kept her from making an outright advance on me, her experience was not a factor. Quite simply, if she seriously wanted to fuck me, she would not have hesitated. Instead, I tend to think the blame for a lack of forward progress rested solely on my shoulders. Even though not a virgin, my development was significantly behind Cathy's in the Experience Department. More important than being intimidated by that fact was my own inconsistent attraction to her. Sometimes I would be drawn to her (or rather, the idea of dating someone); other times there would be no attraction at all. In knowing there was no serious interest in her, I ultimately decided it would be much better not to hook-up...and then later on, having to break-up with her after finding out for sure (the hard way) no real attraction existed. As was the case with Tina. And to a similar extent, Judy. After my Junior year, Cathy was transferred to another school; but I still saw her once in a while. She'd met my mom, and even came by our apartment to visit occasionally. I think Mom actually liked her. Summer of '87, when I first started workin' as a temp at DCAA, Cathy reappeared; and we discovered that she was workin' part time in another of The Agency's offices in Van Nuys--even knowing some of the same people I did. Back then, I thought things like that were cool. But nowadays, nearly two decades later, my cynical mind finds something like that just creepy. Anyway, after we were out of high school, we actually tried to go out on a date once or twice; but signals got mixed, or other plans got in the way, and such an occasion never occurred. And as time passed, we lost touch. I can't remember ever seeing or hearing from her after the early '90s. In a divine way, perhaps it was Someone trying to tell me Something; that maybe she & I were not meant to be. Or some shit like that. I'll never know for sure, and don't waste my time worrying about it. __________________________ |