The Mixed Tape

This is one of the songs that was on a mixed tape Mechanic Hubby made me so long ago. Yes, it says "Leather and Lace," it's a cover of the popular song originally sung by Don Henley and Stevie Nicks or Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

So I met my Mechanic Hubby in high school. He was a sophomore in my chemistry class. I first noticed him when he was fighting over pennies with the weird kid who was his lab partner. It was a lab about copper vs magnesium. Apparently it took Mechanic Hubby a very long time to find 6 copper pennies and he wasn't about to give them away. All the while I was thinking, "Dude (yes I say dude, a lot.) it's just pennies. Jeez that kid's got some wild hair." Mechanic Hubby liked the messy look back in the day.

A few months later, while waiting for the bus after school, one of Mechanic Hubby's friends (who is a very good friend of mine now too), Mr. Awesome (the name he came up with himself along with an elaborate story as to why it's perfect for him), came up to me. He says, "Hey, we live on the same street right?" We got to talking and apparently none of his friends showed up for school that day. I was introduced to Mechanic Hubby and I would sometimes hang out with him and his friends after school. We'd go grab a slice, go to the local record store, comic book store and walk the streets of central Phoenix. It was pretty weird being the only girl in this group but they were easy to talk to and pretty funny.

It was the last day of school and by then Mechanic Hubby and I would talk about stupid stuff all the time. I gave him my phone number and told him to keep in touch over the summer break. He called me soon after to see if the number I gave him was real. We sent each other letters, talked on the phone but we never hung out. My mother was really strict and there was no reason for me to be out with some boy. On my birthday I got a mixed tape in the mail. It was full of ska/punk bands, most of which I've never heard of. The Drags, The Magoos, Smoking Popes, Plinko, Voodoo Glow Skulls, the Specials, Madness, Horace Pinker and even a recording of Mechanic Hubby playing a short version of Swan Lake on the piano. As I listened to the tape, my sister said, "That boy likes you." I thought she was crazy. I guess a lot of the songs had a similar message of boy likes girl but I found it pretty darn impossible.

I started dating an older guy, well 2 years older; during the summer. It wasn't working out and Mechanic Hubby knew all about it. I would call him and tell him what a jerk this guy was and Mechanic Hubby said I deserved better and that I should break it off which of course was all apart of his plan. Looking back though, I always liked Mechanic Hubby. We would "bump" into each other a lot when we got back to school. He would also always play songs over the phone, or his "concerts for one." I was racking my brain. I broke it off with the other guy because I knew who I was supposed to be with. He makes me laugh, sings my praises and I knew that when he looked at me nothing else mattered. My plans for New Years Eve fell through and he invited me to his sister's house. His whole family was going to be there so I didn't think it was a date, plus I had to be home by 1 am. I had a great time and the family was really nice. When he dropped me off at my doorstep, I hugged him. He hugged back, like he didn't want to let me go.

I had to tell him.

When we got back from winter break, I wrote him a note pretty much saying, "Hey, I like you. Like, like you, like you." I handed it to him before our first class of the day. I "bumped" into him before third period and he gave me a regular "What's up?" I was certain he was playing it cool and trying to be very subtle about not having the same feelings. He was so hard to read! I kind of stuttered and ran to class. He thought I was acting really weird so he decided to read the note I gave him, maybe it had a clue for my behavior.

Bombshell.

Hurt and wishing I could go home, I tried to make myself scarce during lunch. Of course he would notice that I wasn't at my usual hang out but I didn't want to see him. He REALLY wanted to see me and he found me alright. He gave me his own "Guess Who Likes You" note. A week later, he gave me another note. It was a love letter complete with postage that was never sent. I opened it up and it was dated a month prior to my "I like you" note to him.

It's been 11 years 7 months and 3 days since we decided that it would be pretty cool to be together. Sorry about how dark this picture is, it's old.