Girl of Mine

A cute heart hidden behind a gorgeous face, powered by a beautiful mind speaking simple words, through small lips he wanted to kiss. That is Amira, Steve’s first ever crush, in high school. She’s a chic dark-haired American-Pakistani businessman’s daughter, whose mom was a part-time model and chef.

Here they all were, in a small town in landlocked Luxemburg, where Steve and Amira’s parents were both working on their consulting business and Government job respectively. Amira, Steve’s soon-to-be girlfriend came from a family of millionaires, her two siblings one, an upperclassman and the other in middle school, seemed to be the popular kids in school, not because of their looks but outstanding performance in class, creativity in arts and their being friends with everyone, not just their clique.

Unfortunately for Steve, Amira already had a boyfriend called Max the guitarist. His skinny guitar-playing fingers and shoulder-length hair serenaded her into a relationship Steve admired from a distance. Never in a million years would Steve dream of talking to Amira let alone being her boyfriend, but fate would have it another way.

One day Steve’s dad Jackson went to a parent-teacher conference and upon returning home remarked “Hey Steve, your teachers really like you and say that you have so much more potential. They told me you do just enough to pass, but don’t put any extra effort!” Jackson, knowing his son knew all too well, wanted to inspire his kid to be more passionate about... life, school, anything. But his son’s mellow personality was one he was born with but the situation was about to change as he began to grow an interest in figuring a path to happiness.

One summer as everyone was back from their break, ready for the senior year, feeling all grown up, Steve walked into school ready to tackle life and have fun. To his surprise as headed toward his newly assigned locker, there she was. She walked right toward him and as they stood face to face, she opened her locker that was right next to his. They barely exchanged a “Hi” when she ran off to class and Steve did the same. Anticipating this when with Amira, Steve gathered up courage to blurt out some small talk but more often than not, nothing came out.

A Turnaround

For a number of months Steve and his friend Marty were in the middle of a series of serious discussions about why it was so hard to get the girls they loved to love them back, and as frustrations grew, Steve, completely unbothered, decided to prove himself wrong or right. He lingered at his locker just a few minutes longer than he usually did knowing that Amira was about to show up. She approached with his heart beating out of his chest as he gathered the courage to say “do you have a date to the dance?”. Just moments before he noticed her hair gliding as if with the wind, her steps with composure and elegance he had grown to admire, and he braced for her simple response that came immediately: “Sure. I’m late for class, let’s talk later”. His heart sank into an “Ok, see you later” with a sense of shock that caused him to forget that they were both in the same class, and he too was late. He gathered himself from the floor where he had sunk in shock and began to plan how he would spend his last few days of high-school.

Mrs. Greenbeck, their 12th grade math teacher, was great. And Steve loved going to math class not really to learn math but to see his high school crush and soon to be date, girlfriend possibly wife. He could not see himself settling into life with anyone else. As ideal as that day went in the end, with Steve, bouquet in hand, Amira’s dad taking pictures of the young couple, the dance going well and even going out to the down-town restaurants to continue the celebration; Steve would not see Amira or hear from her for the next 15 years. He would never forget his first girlfriend, first love who was his for a week and a day.