Two years ago I went with friends to house party on New Years Eve. I was nervous to go to a stranger’s house for a party, but felt reassured that my group was so large. I didn’t know everyone in it well, there were lots of “friends-of-friends” but since everyone was someone’s friend I felt safe. A couple hours in, I was in the kitchen refilling my drink and some guy I didn’t know came up behind me and started doing some dance against me like I was a pole. I think he was just doing it to make his friends laugh. I don’t think it ever occurred to him that I would have a problem with him touching me. ...
He was a boy from my youth group a few years older than me. I was a freshman and he was a senior. He was the kind of guy that all the moms loved. They thought he was “such a nice boy.” He and I had become friends over the last few months and I felt special that an older guy wanted to be friends with me. One night he called and asked if I wanted to hang out. I was in kind of a down place that year and was excited to have plans. My mom wanted to know exactly what we’d be doing and he said he wanted to take me to go get bubble tea. My brother ...
When I was little all I wanted was to play with my older brother’s friends. He was in high school and I had just started junior high. They would lock themselves in the basement playing video games for hours. My brother would sometimes let me play with him when he was alone but never with his friends. One of his friends was nicer to me than the others. He would talk to me when none of the other guys were around and call me his “baby girl”. He said the other guys couldn’t know, they wouldn’t understand, but that maybe one day if I grew up into a fine looking woman he would be my boyfriend. That day I had ...
My roommates and I went to a pool hall by our house for a relaxing evening. I've never been good at pool, but it was always fun. It was a college town. You might not know everyone, but if you talked to someone for 10 minutes, you would find people you had in common. So it wasn't at all unusual when someone I didn't know started talking to one of my roommates. My roommate had been on student council with this guy in high school. He was a senior her sophomore year. Now he was a medical student and was home for spring break. We all talked for awhile and played more pool. At the end of the evening, you ...
