Smitten Kittens

So this week Dustin (who is 12) had his first "Date." (I'm doing air quotations as I type this).
He's known this girl over the phone for the last few months and they met through a mutual friend. After making and receiving nightly phone calls (in multiples) they decided that they should finally meet face to face.

On Tuesday Dustin's school had their Christmas Orchestra Concert, and since Dustin plays the bass, he was required to go. We were doing our usual running late sort of thing when the phone rang.

"Dad," he yelled..."Can we give _________(name deleted to protect her privacy) a ride home from the concert?"

"I guess," I said "If her Mom is okay with it..."

"Dad" Dustin yelled..."Can we give her a ride to the concert?"

"Dustin, we're really short on time...if we do, we'll have to drop you off at school and then go get her...is she going to want to ride with a family she's never met?"

"I'll ask her..." he answered.

After talking with her Grandmother and figuring out directions, we dropped Dustin off at the school and then headed over to his object of interest's house...(I was going to say affection, but their both pretty new to the game...)

So into the van hops a cute 13-year-old girl with bright eyes and an even brighter smile. Jared (who is 6) must have noticed too, because he began to look at her the way he looks at puppies and ice cream. (In fact, I had to get onto him for staring at her...) She turned out to be not only cute, but polite and a very good sport to put up with my good natured joking... (I told her that Dustin only liked Country music and the 3 stooges and that he'd only go to sleep if I whistled the theme to the Andy Griffith Show to him...)

The concert went well and Dustin played great! Afterwards the school provided refreshments and I had to prod Dustin along so that he'd walk alongside his girl "friend" and even so he'd make small talk with her...he was the epitome of shy. As they walked on ahead I asked Jared if he liked her and he said "Just as a friend..." (This is a 6-year-old we're talking about!!!)
Sherry later asked Jared if he thought Dustin's friend was cute... his answer? "DUH!!!"

We stopped and let the kids run into Quik Trip and get cappucinos and then we drove her home...since it was nearly 9:00 on a school night. They resumed their phone calls the following night... Ah, first love...

David