I sunk down low in the chair in my living room and stared at the dots on the ceiling. I was in love. But how could I be? I had just met her a whole three days ago. I didn't even know what she looked like, for crying out loud. I heaved a heavy sigh and sank lower in my chair.

It's sort of funny about me. I fall into lust quite frequently, but my problem is I can't always tell when I am in lust and when I'm really in love. I now look back at this time in my life and realize that this was one of those times; that I was merely in lust with her. I guess I regard myself as enough of a shmuck that when I do, by chance, find a member of the opposite sex that is slightly interested in me, I immediately "fall in love" with her. Maybe this is because it is usually a very long time before another girl shows any sort of interest in me.

Still, though I was not in love with her then, this is not to say I would never fall in love with Ashlin later (Hmmm...that wouldn't happen to be foreshadowing, would it?). At the time, however, I was thought I was in love with her.

The wooden clock across the room ticked the seconds, but it seemed to me that the hands weren't moving at all. She asked me to call "around" 4 PM. Four o'clock was an hour-and-a-half away. I was eagerly anticipating this conversation. Not only because I really wanted to talk to her but to break the monotony of the day. I had been waiting all day just for the time to arrive; just so I could call her I'm such a geek.

I brushed a little piece of lint off my shirt and stared into space. Then suddenly, it dawned on me. "Hey, wait a minute," I thought, "what is 'around 4 o'clock, anyway? I mean, where do you draw the line of 'around 4 o'clock' and 'not around 4 o'clock?' 3:30 is certainly considered 'around 4 o'clock,' would 3 o'clock be? Sure. So why not 2:30?" I laughed out loud and reached for the phone, but paused as soon as I picked it up.

"No," I thought, "she'll think I'm desperate." It was, of course, that nagging conscience of mine. A famous author once wrote "conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends." The recollection of this quote brought a smile to my face. "Besides," I thought, "I'm only young once." I frantically dialed the number. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi." I responded.

"Uh, sure." I said, a little befuddled. She put down the phone, and I listened as her footsteps scampered across he room. For a few seconds, all I could hear were voices in the background, a radio probably. Another few seconds passed, and then the phone clicked again.

"Hello?" she asked uneasily, trying to determine whether I had hung up or been disconnected.

"Hi."

"Ok," she replied, a little more confident.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, I switched phones." I actually had noticed a lack of background noise after she had returned to the phone. It also explained why her voice sounded a little deeper.

"Oh, ok. So how are you?"

"III'm oookaayyy, how are you?" she asked, intentionally slurring her words.

"IIIII'm gooood," I mocked.

"Well," she corrected jestingly.

"Huh-huh?oh yeah," I clumsily laughed. "Hehehe?," she giggled, "I like that laugh." She giggled again like a first-grade girl who had just kissed an unsuspecting classmate.

"Uh, thanks. I stayed up all night perfecting it." She laughed out loud, and with it completely eliminating the fear I had about this conversation.

Our second conversation. It ended up being light years better than the one preceding it. That afternoon, we talked for 4 hours, mostly about just petty, little things. She described her friends, her school, her spiritually (turns out she is very religious). I described my interest in music, my meager life. We both had a lot to say, and I learned a lot about her. But most importantly, I learned about her parents. .

"My parents are really overprotective," she began.

"Oh really?" I said innocently, "how overprotective?"

"They won't let me date guys."

?WHAT?.

"You're kidding?" I choked.

"No. I can't go out when they aren't home, not even around the neighborhood. And I'm not supposed to talk on the phone when they aren't there, let alone to guys?".

"Haven't you protested?" I asked as if this was expected from every teenager in such circumstances.

"No. Both my older brother and sister got in really big arguments with them when I was a kid, and?I just don't want to go through with that."

"But maybe if you talked to them, they'd - ".

She interrupted. "It's helpless, Bruce."

There was a long pause. I didn't want to get into an extended argument with her on the second conversation, so I didn't know what else to say. She continued.

"But I still talk to guys behind my mom's back. Like now, for example. That's why I switched phones before. And I have dated guys."

Maybe there is a chance for me after all.

But as it turns out, her parents have been the biggest obstacles that has separated her from me. There is no doubt in my mind that had her parents not been so overprotective, I would not be writing the epic you now read.

We didn't talk much longer, if at all (I've forgotten which blush), before I had to go. "Can I call you tomorrow?" I asked.

"No, I'll be packing."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to Toronto," she replied.

"Oh?for how long?"

"Four or five weeks."

This was terrible!!! I had become helplessly attracted to her, and now I had to tolerate not talking to her for four weeks (minimum)!!!

"Ok?," I muttered softly. "Uhm?I guess I'll see you in?five weeks."

"Yeah, ok." She seemed unhappy too.

"Ashlin?" My heart was going a million beats per minute.

"Yeah?"

"I?I love you." (WHAT WAS I SAYING!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

She paused. There had obviously been a mutual attraction between us?had it really come to this extent?

"Me?me too," she said softly.

I smiled.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Ok." She was still very soft, but more nervous than compassionate.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Follow the adventures of "Bruce"?will he ever achieve the love of gorgeous (well I guess he doesn't know she's gorgeous yet, but just pretend) "Ashlin?" The author wishes he knew! Stay tuned fellow readers!

"For weeks, my boyfriend, who goes to school six hours away, and I were counting the days until he was to come home for my birthday. But the night before the big day, the weather forecast called for the worst snowstorm of the century. We figured he'd never be able to make the trip. The next day, however, my daring darling braved the storm - and twelve grueling hours on a train - to surprise me. It was my best birthday ever!"

"While I was going out with my school's star basketball player, I joined a penpal club and began writing to Ty. As we got to know each other better through our letters, I started o trust him with the details of my relationship, and he always gave me great love advice. Needless to say, when my boyfriend and I broke up, I wrote Ty all about it. He called me to make sure I was okay, and we had such a great conversation that we decided to meet. By the time he came to visit, the two of us realized that we were already on the road to falling in love!"

"When my boyfriend, Josh, moved across the country with his family, I thought I would die! One night, when we were having our usual marathon phone call, I admitted how lonely I was without my 'other half.' A week later, Josh sent me a beautiful heart-shaped locket with his picture inside. He said when I wore it I'd never be without him!"

"I was totally miserable when my boyfriend, Jimmy, had to leave for school in California. Since I was back in New York, we were too far away to see each other even on the weekends. Luckily, Jimmy worked at our relationship: He wrote me poems and letters, he dedicated song to me on the radio. But he outdid himself when he sent me a photocopy of his hand 'so that we could hold hands across the miles'."

"If my boyfriend and I didn't have the computer linkup between his college computer lab and my parents' house, I don't think I could stand our separation. Not only does it make our 'conversations' more affordable, but I never knew long-distance love could be so much fun. It's a good thing I'm taking an introductory class in computers - otherwise, I would be totally lost!"

"After we'd been going out all year, my boyfriend moved halfway across the country. he called every night, and after we talked for a while, he would play his guitar and sing sweet love songs to me - until the whopping bills started coming in and we had to cut way down on our phone time. Just when I thought I couldn't be more bummed out, he sent me a tape on which he was singing my favorite songs and telling me that love conquers all - with or without a telephone!"

"Last year when my boyfriend when to away to college, I figured our relationship would just fizzle out. I couldn't have been more wrong! He had been gone only a week when I started to receive a one-word postcard every day in the mail. By the end of six days, I had collected cards that when put together read, I love you and I miss you. He actually kept this up for the whole school year."

"My boyfriend and I were dreading the end of our senior year because when fall came, we'd be in colleges on opposite coasts. We decided to pout away money from our summer jobs to start a fund for the upcoming monster telephone bills. The best part, though, was that we ended up saving enough money to buy camcorders. Now we send each other a weekly videotape of what's going on in our lives. It's the next best thing to being together."

"One Saturday morning, my boyfriend, Mr. Take-a-Run-at-Dawn, called and asked if I'd been outside yet. When I told him that until that moment I had been happily sound asleep, he insisted that I go out. I did, and on my front porch I found a huge package of Jolly Ranchers - my favorite candy! He had thought of me during his run and stopped by to make my day. Now I'm not so grumpy when he calls me first thing in the morning."

"My boyfriend and I got into a huge fight, and we didn't talk to each other for a week. Finally, he gave in and stuck a note inside my door. It was a cartoon he'd drawn of himself sitting on a doorstep holding flowers and saying, Please forgive me. When I got home, he was sitting on my front steps holding a bunch of flowers! I had to laugh, and I ended up making his cartoon wish come true!"

"I knew that my boyfriend, Greg, was completely broke, so I told him we could skip having a big celebration for our anniversary. But when I got home from school that day, there was a huge box addressed to me. Inside were two dozen origami roses he'd made himself! They were so beautiful, I almost cried."

"I thought my pal Charlie was absolutely gorgeous, but we were just friends. Since he was a deejay at a club, he was always taping dance music for me. Once, I asked him to make me a tape of romantic songs. He did, and the next night, when I was out with another guy, I popped my new tape into his cassette player. Suddenly I heard Charlie's voice saying, 'Ami, every one of these songs goes from my heart to you.' Needless to say, my date was pretty much over, and I went straight to the club to tell Charlie I felt the same way about him."

"I was totally bummed because my mom couldn't afford to buy me a new dress for a major dance at my school. Then, on the night before the big dance, a package was delivered, and inside was a dress my boyfriend mhad bought for me! I called him to thank him, but his mom said he was sleeping. He was exhausted - he had taken a second job to buy the dress! At the dance, I felt like a queen, and I loved the look on my boyfriend's face whenever someone complimented me on my outfit."

"I wanted to study for a huge test coming up in drama class, so i wouldn't be able to see my boyfriend for a week. I really missed him, especially since my assignment was to recite the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. While I was studying, I heard a noise outside my window. I looked out and there was my boyfriend - he had dressed up as Romeo to rehearse the scene with me! We ended up trading lines all night, and I got an A on my test. Now my boyfriend and I are always study together!"

"Our paperboy was out sick for a while, so his older brother, Jim, who was beyond hot, took over the route. I got up every morning to get the newspaper from him. One day there was a fake headline taped to the front page that read, Jimmy asks Anne out - and she says yes! I told Jim that his headline was the best I'd read in a long time. Now he comes over to see me, not to deliver papers."