Dedicated to a lovely young lady that would have graduated in 1960 with a first initial of "J"

First and most important, this is a totally true story. Because it is true, there is little sex and what there is, has not been embellished to the best of my knowledge.

One almost always remembers their "Firsts." Their first kiss, first date, first love, first sex and first crush. This is a story of all the above and more.

I have always been a shy person. All through my freshman and sophomore years, I didn't even date much. I just could not go up to a girl, start talking and get around to ask her for a date. I had to know the girl first. May be we met at a party or was introduced by a mutual friend. Then may be I would get my courage up and ask her out.

The other thing was we lived in kind of a rural area with no bus lines. I was not old enough to get a driver license, dad worked every night and when he was off, it was family time. I got my drivers license before my mom. She really never needed one. This made any dates I did get kind of hard. Every once in a while, we, the neighbor kids, got together and rode our bikes to the beach. Boys and girls, but I would not call this a date.

Oh, there were private parties where I may hook up with someone for the evening but that's where it ended. Kid's games like spin the bottle or seven minuets in heaven and that's another story.

I was kind of a nerd, how I hate that term. Geek may be. Dad said if I ever got married, she would have the shape of a radio tube. I was much in to electronic. I had an amateur radio license before I got my drivers license.

In my junior year, I was one of three A/V set up persons. (Audio-Visual) You know, before VCRs, digital TVs and network classrooms. We would set up and run sound equipment or set up and run movie projectors for teachers. I must have watched "Tale of Two Cities" a 100 times. Boring.

Each winter, the school held an Amateur Night where students would show off their talent. I was in charge of sound for the show. The night before we had a rehearsal.

A junior, I will call Jane for this story, was going to dance. She came over to me with a record (remember those) and told me which cut or band to play. I did not recognize the music at all. What kind of dance was she going to do? She took her position center change down on one knee with the other foot pointed towards the audience. She dropped her head to look down at the stage and that was my cue to start the music.

The music started and she rose to her feet. She was a ballerina. Jane was beautiful. About 5'4", brown hair in a ponytail, brown eyes. She just had on leotards and a white blouse tied at her waist and her, and know I know, ballet shoes or Pointe shoes as I latter learned. Firm, toned legs going up the right side and down the left. I hadn't noticed before but she had small breasts. Tight A cup at best but still beautiful petite figure.

I could not take my eyes off her through the whole routine as she gracefully moved around the stage. She looked over my way and caught me drooling watching her and gave me a wink that only I could see. I think my heart skipped a beat. I think I was in love. Latter I learned the she was "Spotting" on me as she spun on point. That's where the dancer will focus their eyes on one spot during a spin to keep from getting dizzy.

At the end of her dance, she came over to me and as I tried to hand her record back to her, he took my hand and held it and asked me to play it again as she was not sure at one part on this new to her stage. My heart did stop and went right back to sinus tachycardia. Beating out of control. So we did it again. My heart was beating so fast, I had a hard time setting the needle in the grove. She started. God was she so graceful and beautiful.

Now I have kind of known Jane all through grade school and in to high school. We even had a couple of classes together but I was so shy I never even thought about asking her out.

The music came to the end and she came back over and said she felt better. I handed her the record and asked her if I could drive her home. Now that I have a car, dating came a little easier. She said that her mom was out in the audience to watch her, as she could not make the show tomorrow. I asked if I could take her home tomorrow and may be stop for the pizza party after the show. She said that sounded great and may be even pick her up and bring to the school but I would have to meet her mom first.

Two more acts and I was free. Jane and her mom waited until I was done. I shut everything down and went down in to the audience to meet her. Jane introduced me. That went well and I was approved.

That was Friday. Saturday after breakfast I started my weekend chores. The day just dragged on and on. I could not wait to go to Jane's and pick her up. I showered and got dressed. Had an early supper as the "Cast" and crew had to be there by 6 PM for seating and curtain at 7 PM.

Drove over to Jane's and parked the car. Went to the door and rang to bell. Jane's dad answered the door and said, "You must be William. Jane has been bouncing around here all day waiting for the show and told us all about you." I am wondering what she could have told them.

"I am and please call me Bill." I replied. "Please come in Bill, Jane will be down in a minute." Mr. Carson said. Girls always have to make an entrance. As I walked in, I noticed that Jane's mom and dad were dressed like they were going out for the night. I went over to Mrs. Carson and told her how nice she looked. (Eddie Haskell, Leave It To Beaver) Never miss a chance to score points when you can.

She asked what time I would be getting their daughter home and I said, "Show should be over by 10 and we should be out of there by 10:30 after clean up and there is a pizza party for the cast and crew after. How about midnight." Mrs. Carson replied, "That sounds good. We should be home around that time also." Damn I thought to myself.

Jane came down the stairs. She was a knockout. Now you need to know that we are talking the late '50s. My time is right out of "Happy Days." We even had a "Fonzie." Black leather jacket, motorcycle boots and all. I have seen her dressed like this before but now she just glowed. I was in love. She seamed to float down the stairs. White blouse, pink poodle skirt with crinoline petticoats, white bobby socks and saddle shoes. This time her hair was up in a bun on top of her head. My guess it was for her dance.

Mrs. Carson called Jane over to have a private talk with her daughter. We said our good byes and they wished their daughter good luck and we were off to the school. Never found out what mom said to her being a gentleman of course, I never asked.

Everything was still set up from last night, I just had to turn on the amplifier to let them tubes warm up then put on the elevator music until show time. We had a disk jockey from a local Rock and Roll station to be master of ceremonies. You remember Rock and Roll. Jane kept me company as she was on in the second half.

About 10 minutes until show time, Ken, the stage manager, and myself check "The House." We peek through the curtain and it looked like a full house. Ken cued the MC and we opened the curtain and the show was on.

The show went on a planed. And now it was intermission. Jane excused herself to change.

Intermission was over. There were three acts until Jane's. Then came the time for Jane. I could not see Jane anywhere. The MC announced her. "Now junior, Jane Carson, dancing to--. (Damn if I can remember.) Then she comes in from stage left to her position canter stage. I am stage right. God is she beautiful in her tutu with bare shoulders and white hose. I almost missed her cue to start.

Then it was all over. The MC told a coupe of joke and made small talk while the panel of judges tallied up their scores. The judges were made up of teachers and were introduced.

Then the announcements came. "First place in dance, Ms. Jane Carson." And the final award of the night, "Best of show," sounds like dog show, "Ms. Jane Carson." She did a couple of those cute little dancer curtsies to a stand ovation and ran over to me and I gave her a big hug. Even when she ran, she was poetry in motion. This is as close as we had ever been up to this point. I could feel every part of her body pressed in to mine. She was in tears. Tears of happiness.

She went to change while I put the equipment away and helped clean up. We met up in the school cafeteria where there was a pizza party for cast and crew. The DJ signed autographs and thanked everybody for a good show.

They were playing OUR music (R & R) and kids were dancing. Remember dancing back then. You actually knew who you were dancing with and even, oh my God, touching each other. Now I am not a good dancer but I could tell Jane wanted to dance. "Jane, would you like to dance?" I asked and she accepted. I told her that I was not a very good dance as compared to her and she said neither was she. "You got to be kidding, I seen you dance. You were terrific." I said. She told me that was with a lot of training and practice but regular dance she was not her best. We did a couple of fast dances (Jitterbug if you remember those days) then the music slowed down with a couple of romantic slow songs. I was holding her in the traditional way when she let go of my hand and wrapped both of them round my neck and pulled me closer. If we where any closer, it would be considered obscene.

With the party coming to the end, I got our coats and I drove Jane home. I got her home early. It was only 10:45. Her parents were waiting up for her. She ran over to them with her trophies in hand and they congratulated her. "All that hard work is paying off." Her dad said as he hugged her.

We sat and chatted about the show. Around 11:15, Mrs. Carson said she was going up to bed. Mr. Carson was right behind her. They kissed Jane goodnight and came over to me. I stood up and Mr. Carson shook my hand and said, "It was nice to meet you Bill." Mrs. Carson said the same thing but gave me a little hug. I guess I was in. As they were going up the stairs, they told Jane not to stay up to late.

I sat back down and Jane moved closer to me. We just sat there and talked about the show, her dancing and school in general. We talked about how shy we both were. I never really notice how shy she was as in those days the girl never asked a boy to a dance or a date. The burden was always on the boy and that's where I lost out. Besides being shy, I also had a fear of rejection. Not that I was rejected that much. To get rejected you had to ask in the first place.

I told my folks I would be home by 12:30. After I started driving, one of them would always wait up for me. "I better get going so I am not late getting home." I said. It was about 12:10 I think. It would only take me about 10 minutes to get home but unlike kids today, I planed ahead. Remember also, no cell phones.

Jane got up to walk me to the door. We walked hand in hand and just before we got to the door, Jane stopped and pulled me to her wrapping her arms around me. "I guess I'll have to make the first move." She said. With that, she kissed me on the lips lightly. That's all the invitation I needed. I returned the kiss with a little more enthusiasm. She parted her lips and the next thing I knew our tongues were dancing together. We broke our embrace and I told her I would call her tomorrow. I didn't want to leave but I thought it was best at the time. Got in the car and off to home with an incredible teenage hard on. Yes, I took care of it when I got home.

Sunday morning I got up and had breakfast with my family. The talk around the table started off all about the show and somehow got to round to Jane. "Why don't you ask her over for dinner?" Mom asked. Little sister second that. She couldn't wait to meet my first girlfriend. "She is not my girlfriend. She is just a school acquaintance." I said. "She is a classmate." I told them I would call her in a little while.