When I was about 14 my mother took me to Hamburger Mary's in Portland Oregon.
I felt lucky that my mother was so cool that she would take me to this funky downtown restaurant. She fit right in and I remember thinking how hip she was, more hip then I
Then, a very fine maybe 18 year old boy came in, he was tall and retro. He wore a dress shirt, skinny tie, and shiny black shoes that matched his shiny black hair that was slicked back. I had never seen anyone like him. This was from TV or a movie, or a dream, not from Portland Oregon. I must have just been staring mouth agape. I recognized the girl he was with as the older sister of a guy I knew and when she got up to go to the bathroom I followed. “Who is that?” I was way too blown away to be cool, I was pure Dawn Wiener. She looked at me, paused, a slight smirk grew across her lips and she said so casually “He's my lover”, ……….I almost wet my pants.
My mind was racing… what does that mean exactly? I tried to reference it…. she must be French or related to the French. Whatever it was I wanted one too. She was soooo cool. When I returned to the table I couldn't look my Mom in the eye. I had somehow changed and I didn't want her to know.