Heart Throbs

I watch The Bonnie Hunt Show. It is a new talk show and I enjoy it. She always talks about growing up in her old neighborhood and she always talks about a guy she and her sisters had a giant crush on. His name was Dukie Marcucci. Well, she talked about him so much that the show decided to call him up. She talked with him and fluttered like a school girl. I know just how she felt. Doesn't every neighborhood have a golden boy like that??
Our neighbor hood had Randy J. Oh, he was very cool and handsome and I had a crush on him a mile wide which I am sure was as obvious as the day is long. I was kind of dorky so the feelings were never mutual which in the long run was just as well but that is another story.
He was the source of my one afternoon of overwhelming popularity in the eighth grade though. He was involved in sports and one time at one of his wrestling meets I saw his dad and we had a nice little talk and hung out together for a little while.
A popular girl saw me and asked me if I was Randy's sister. Looking back on it I should have said sure I am but being and honest girl I told her I was his neighbor and she told me how lucky I was!! Then she must have told her friends because suddenly she came back and asked me to sit with her and her friends. So I did. We talked and laughed and they asked me all about Randy. I told as much as I could(I didn't really know very much) and they soaked it up like little sponges. I was sure my social success had finally begun even if it was on the coattails of my handsome neighbor.
The next day when I saw my new friends they (of course) totally ignored me and laughed at me as I walked away. They had gotten everything out of me that they wanted and they were done with me. I can remember feeling hurt and dejected but also not so surprised. It was a typical junior high move.
Well, I secretly crushed on my old neighbor as he dated all through highschool, his marriage at 17, and on his return trip home with wife number two while I was in college. I quivered with excitement even then and almost fainted when he deemed to say hello to me at the store where I worked on summer break.
If he came any where near me now, I probably would still be that silly little eighth grade girl and I would probably giggle just like Bonnie Hunt did over Dukie Marcucci. As far as I know, he is tucked safely away in Las Vegas and I'll never see him again.....but wait, that's where my daughter lives, maybe it could still happen. OHMYGOSH, that would be so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!