REO freakin Speedwagon

“I can’t fight this feeling any longer”….the first few notes of that song hit my ears and it’s 1985. I’m standing against the wall in the gym at my middle school, the lights are low and it smells like Polo, Loves baby Soft and Aqua Net. Against the wall on the other side of the gym from me are all the boys.  You remember the rules, boys on one side, and girls on the other with the exception of the few brave dudes who would get out in the middle of the room and breakdance. Yes. I said breakdance and yes I realize how old that makes me sound. What about the girls who would walk back and forth between the DJ table and the girl’s side of the gym with that look of purpose on their faces?  Like they were on a mission or something.  I stood my ground holding up the wall on my side of the gym and intently stared at one particular boy. Tall, braces, pegged levis, skate highs, a plain white t-shirt and a black members only jacket.  I sat next to him in science class and observed that he had the Subhumanz and DRI logos written on the front of his pee-chee folder. I was in love.

I kept up the same routine at each dance for the entire school year. I was committed to being a wallflower and since that boy was one of the most popular guys in school the chances of him picking up on the purpose behind my awkward staring was not likely. The last dance of the school year came and I decided to be brave. I marched over to the boy’s side of the gym when the DJ announced “ladies choice” and that damn song was on. REO freakin Speedwagon. And a slow song at that! Why couldn’t it be something cool? Depeche Mode?  Yaz?  DRI?? YEAH right. The chances of any of those bands being played in the gym at a middle school in Palmdale were about the same as that tall handsome, polo drenched boy saying yes to me asking him to dance.

But he did. He said yes and there we were following each other onto the dance floor with all eyes on us. At least that’s what it felt like. REO Speedwagon “I can’t fight this feeling” was now our song. He draped his arms around my waist instead of just laying his hands on my shoulders Frankenstein style like all the other boys. His hands were folded at the small of my back and I was sure he could feel the butter flies in my stomach as I reached up to put my arms around his neck. That was a stretch since he was taller than me. Another attractive quality in the land of “I haven’t hit my growth spurt yet”.  The top of my head hit the bottom of his chin which made his lip catch on his braces and begin to bleed. Our magic moment was cut short for a trip to the nurse but not before I managed to get covered in his Polo cologne and have my 13 year old body closer to a non-related boy than it had ever been.

I apologized for my clumsiness as his friends came over to assess the damage. He looked over his shoulder at me as he was headed out of the gym to the nurse’s office and winked. He winked at me like he was Frank Sinatra or something. This boy had swag before any of us even knew that word existed. I went home that night and wrote all about the dance in my diary with my Lisa Frank pen like any good 13 year old in the 80’s would do. I’m writing this now entirely from memory however because some things just get burned THAT deeply in our minds.  1985, REO Speedwagon and that boy. It’s the memory lane trifecta.