His nickname in high school was “King,” dubbed by the rest of the guys who played sports with him.

My guess was, as much as it was accurate, there was some male sarcasm there….maybe even a little jealousy?  

Do guys get jealous?

But he was King, there was no denyin’ that.

He was excellent in sports especially football, a serious good looker… tall, blond, blue eyes and just a good heart…..the entire package, KING he was!!

I honestly don’t remember how we began, I mean how our closeness took hold, 

or why a sophomore guy like Dennis cared about freshman me, but he did, I felt it.

It’s almost like we just always were.

Maybe it began because he dated my best friend on and off.

I had a steady boyfriend but he spent a heck of a lot of time studying and doing homework instead of with me and so, when Dennis and my girlfriend were off and my boyfriend was doing homework…we were kinda left with each other.  

Sometimes we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and …..hung out.

It doesn’t happen with everyone but there was something special between the two of us from our very beginning.  

We both felt it, we even talked about it.

Many times the doorbell would ring and there he’d be. 

I could be with no make-up and big rollers in my hair…..he didn’t care.

“Let’s take a ride,” he’d say.

With fifty cents of gas in the tank, we could drive all night if we wanted.

We had a favorite spot.

We’d park and just TALK. 

We shared our hopes, our dreams, our disappointments and fears.

It’s sad when I think about it now.

Two really confused young kids wondering WHY was our home-life like a nightmare?

Why couldn’t we have normal families and homes like everybody else?

Oh my dear friend Dennis…..little did we know, huh?

Normal families?

What was that?

I don’t even remember when we decided to share our truths with each other.

Our truths about what went on behind closed doors where we lived.

What I DO remember is we were close, it went way deep.  

He had an image to keep up, remember he was king.

And me? 

I was living a nightmare behind closed doors.

With our peers, we had to pretend all was well, but with each other, those rides and those talks well, we gave each other hope.

We talked about our “some day,” how it would be when we’d escape and we’d be in charge and how wonderful it would be.

It kept us going, believing.

I know, I know….it’s the Harry Met Sally Hormone Syndrome….. guys can’t be just best friends with girls.

But, we were!

Well there was one time when neither of us had a steady so what the heck?

We talked about it and decided;  hey, we always had a good time together, we hung out, we danced, we took long rides and shared our dreams so why shouldn’t we go steady?

So, he gave me his Class ring and I wore it…..that afternoon and night and that was it.

I don’t remember what happened but for sure there was a disagreement.

We both had the same kind of bull-headedness which was not good for a boyfriend/girlfriend thing.

He had his ring back before it ever grew comfortable on my finger.

No one ever knew about it but Dennis ’n me.

And there were other times when we kinda clashed.

Not a lot, but a few.

I remember once when I was SO mad at him that the Friday afternoon of a big game, the last thing I said to him was I hoped he screwed-up out on the field Big Time! 

That night, I watched him play his heart out as usual and I wanted to run out on the field and tell him how sorry I was.

When the game was over, and he did great by the way, I was on the sidelines waiting to catch him before he ran into the locker room. 

He saw me, I mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

He zipped over, lifted me up, swirled me around and told me to wait for him and we’d go for pizza.

That was Dennis ’n me.

Mostly we had fun.

Most of high school, he had girlfriends and I had a couple boyfriends but always we had time for each other.

 

Sometimes the doorbell would ring in the evening and he’d be standing on the porch,  “Let’s take a ride.” 

It’s all he needed to say.

Sometimes I’d catch him in the hallway during a school day, “Let’s take a ride tonight.” 

It’s all I needed to say.

It meant…..”I need to talk.”

And, WHY?  

We just wanted to know WHY?

WHY couldn’t we have normal homes?

It wasn’t our moms, they tried. 

It was alcohol and our fathers.

They drank the poison and we lost dads that we could have/should have had.

And so for us, the dream was to grow up and get out.

To get far away from all the bad memories.

To build our lives and follow our dreams. 

I think back to those times now and I cherish the memories.

Two young, lost souls tryin’ to figure out why.

There was a Thanksgiving that I don’t think either of us could ever forget.

I wrote about it in detail in one of my other Blogs.

(see UNFRIENDING MY BFF, the first of a 6-part story at suefoneunplugged.com)

It happened at my girlfriend’s house.

The table was set…..turkey and all the trimmings.

A fight broke out betwen her parents. 

My girlfriends mom told us to get all the food and just get out.

It was November, it’s cold back east in November.

We called Dennis.

He was there in a heartbeat.

The food was all folded up in a big tablecloth….

Where do three teenaged kids go on Thanksgiving with the feast bundled up in a tablecloth?

We went to a nearby park, unwrapped the food and had dinner.  Just the three of us on a cold November Thanksgiving day.

We laughed about it then but when I think back now………..well, it was way more sad than funny.

I had a boyfriend who sometimes was made to stay home and study while everyone else was out having fun.

I could have missed hayrides in the fall, toboganning in the winter and a few teen-club Thursday nights dances. 

Those were times I felt lucky that Dennis didn’t always have a girlfriend.

He graduated a year before me.

I watched him walk in his cap and gown and I was sad.

I knew things were about to change.

We had a few evenings before he left and then he was gone, a couple hours from home…..college.

The doorbell didn’t ring anymore.

He wasn’t there on the porch needing to take a ride.

We did promise to always stay close, never lose each other.

We meant it when we promised but well……what did we really know about life at that point?

We didn’t write letters, we didn’t call and he only come home a few times that first year.

We did take rides those few times but we were in different worlds.

Dennis had escaped.

I was still captive. 

He was still in college when I was married and  moved far away to make all my dreams come true.

Every now and then he’d come to my mind and I’d wonder how did it all turn out for him.

I knew he’d graduated, married and stayed in Texas.

I hoped with my deep heart that he’d found his happiness and he was making those dreams come true.

The years seemed to pass quickly.

Older people say that a lot and the reason why is because it’s true.

We got caught up in the big people world and we lost all contact.

And then many years later, for some reason Dennis was coming “home” and there was gonna be a party.

And it was a wonderful party.

There he was, cowboy hat, boots and a Texas drawl.  

We began to talk, it felt like right where we’d left off.  

We were them again.

We couldn’t let go when the evening was ending.

He came home with me and we sat on the sofa and talked, confessed secrets, laughed and even let a few tears drop.

The sun came up and it was another day.

First we were young and we dreamed our dreams together.

Dennis was gonna escape with a football scholarship.

Me?

I was gonna wait for that studious boyfriend to finish his academy education, get married and live happily ever after. 

Dennis got that scholarship and left.

Before that boyfriend of mine was even graduated, I was married with a little girl.

We lost each other in the middle part, while we were chasing our dreams.

BLINK and we were the old people, looking backwards and marveling at what we did and wondering why we didn’t do what we didn’t do.

Sometimes now when we talk, we wonder why we just didn’t fill up the tank of that blue Chevy and head on out….. far, far away and never look back. 

And knowing all the things we know now, we also wondered about a few other things that we DIDN’T do that,  well what the heck…..maybe we should have and WHY the heck didn’t we?

Not much time goes by anymore when we aren’t in contact with each other. 

I asked him the last time we spoke if he accomplished all he set out to do.

His answer was, “mostly, but not all.”

I guess that’s how I feel too.

Maybe that’s how we all feel?

But one thing I know for sure…..we DID escape.

That dream did come true.

We stumbled and fell but we gave it all we had.

Sometimes when I mention something to him, he tells me he doesn’t remember.

Says he wishes he could remember but he just doesn’t.

So for as long as I’m able, I’ll keep telling him things from our story over and over. 

I love you Dennis  Collins and …..I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR RIDES!