Nothing in Common

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I was always one of the oldest kids in my class. The school put off your starting date if you were born after Dec 31st. And since my birthday was Feb 2nd, I started late. Yeah, Groundhog Day, and yes I've seen the movie, haha very funny. There were always a few of us who were in that older-kid category. I was also taller than most of the other kids, except for a couple of the boys.

Being tall was a pain, especially as a girl, making me the butt of so many jokes and so much teasing. Once I got to High School and started playing sports, being tall became an asset. Girls volleyball, field hockey, swimming, basketball, and softball. Especially softball. I was good at most sports, but I was great at softball. I could pitch, I could field, I could run, and I could hit. Oh yeah, I could hit. You'd think they would have called me the Queen of Diamonds but no, that was my friend Marissa. She had the hooters for it. And she had the most solid armor-plated sports bra she could get to restrain those puppies. They called me Bat Girl, because I pounded so many homers over the fence. And unlike Marissa, I almost needed to pad my bra to look like I belonged on the team. And so they also called me Flat Girl.

My mom told me I was 'just a late bloomer' but when Christmas rolled around and my 18th birthday loomed on the horizon I had to just admit that this was all I was ever gonna get. I consoled myself that I was *almost* a B cup, but the reality was that I didn't actually have to wear a bra. You know how self-image affects people, especially young people. When the teasing for being tall stopped, the teasing for being flat-chested began. I could not catch a break. So I was always a little body-shy because I was too tall and too flat.

Having a somewhat androgynous name didn't help either. My name is Devin Adams. Devin is kind of a girl's name, but also a boy's name. I used to get mistaken for a boy all the time, until I started wearing more 'girly' clothes and grew my hair out. So here I was, almost 18, and none of the guys were really interested in me. I was taller, faster, and stronger than most of them. Seems like very few of them wanted to go out with a girl who was better at sports than they were. And of course, no one wants to go out with Flat Girl.

When I got back to school after Christmas break, my friends were getting all excited for me. I was going to be eighteen in a month. A real milestone! Some of my less wholesome friends were urging me to get my V-card punched ASAP. Gotta get out there and enjoy life, right? Uh. No. No thanks, ladies. Sure, there were probably lots of guys, as in any of them, who would jump at the chance to hop in bed with me, simply because it was sex and who cares how big her tits are if you've got your dick inside her? Gross. That kind of thing was not my style.

And what was my style? Under all the muscles and 4% body fat, I was a romantic at heart. I wanted to be a beautiful princess, with a big strong handsome man on my arm. That whole Prince Charming thing. That was my style. But none of the tall dark and handsome boys I knew could even come close to fitting the bill. And 'boys' was the correct term. Not 'men'. They were so juvenile. And of course I didn't exactly meet the spec for the beautiful princess role either. Too tall, too flat, and too strong.

The few boyfriends I'd had were all really tall. Seems like no one wanted to date a girl taller than they are. And of course they were jocks. Mostly basketball players. But they were also jerks. So none of those relationships ever amounted to anything. I figured that once I got to University there would be a better chance of finding someone nice I could hang around with and actually call a 'boyfriend'.

January passed quickly, along with first semester exams. And with my friends getting more and more excited about my birthday, and me getting more and more depressed about it, Marissa said they were going to throw a huge party for me. Ugh. No. The last three years I'd just had a few friends for a sleepover with pizza and gossip and trashy movies. When I gave them a hard NO on the big party I got a lot of sad faces. Uncharacteristically, they seemed to let it go. I should have known something was up.

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Spring semester started Feb 1st, along with new classes. I needed one more science credit, and I had signed up for Biology. I would definitely need that if I went into sports medicine like I hoped. Day one was when lab partners were assigned. Yeah, assigned, not our choice. I ended up paired with some guy named Devin Young. Yup, Devin and Devin. Everyone but us thought it was funny. I heard his friends telling him he should be studying my biology, 'nudge nudge wink wink'. I think that was some nerd movie reference I didn't get. The meaning was pretty clear, anyhow. I didn't hear his response but he turned red and seemed to be a little pissed at his friends.

I knew Devin sort of peripherally. He was one of the art geeks, who never took any gym classes or played sports. We moved in very different circles. He seemed like a nice guy I guess, not one of those smelly creepy gamer nerds, thank goodness. One thing that struck me was his height. He was as tall as I was, but scrawny. And Devin wasn't as shy as some guys. He was... different. Most of the guys I knew fell into two categories: either Jock Alpha Males or Frightened Little Geeks.

The geeks were completely overwhelmed by girls, and wouldn't even make eye contact, let alone conversation. The jocks were awful, so full of themselves, wanting to be better, faster, and stronger than everyone else, and always trying to prove it. Devin seemed able to converse normally and wasn't all tongue-tied or anything. He also wasn't all full of himself, just kinda friendly and engaging. And it seemed like we both needed all the help we could get with this class, so I figured we would be working together a lot on it.

Friday was my birthday, and I got the usual squeals and hugs and silly gifts from my friends and teammates. At lunch there were only a couple of us at our usual table, which made me a little suspicious. And sure enough, a big group of people came in carrying a cake with lit candles on it. I'm sure the teachers would lose their shit over that, but they would not be lit for long, hopefully. They started singing 'Happy Birthday' as they came in. But I heard singing behind me too.

I turned to look back and saw a group of people with a stack of pizza boxes coming in from the back door. There were lit candles stuck in the top, and they were singing too. Happy Birthday Devin. But not to me, apparently, because as my friends came up with the cake, the other group stopped at the next table where Devin Young was sitting. I hadn't even noticed him there.

By now the entire Caf was belting it out as the flaming cake and pizza boxes came to rest in front of me and Devin. He was looking at me now, so I smiled and said 'Happy Birthday', then turned to blow out my candles before the fire alarm went off. There was a lot of laughing and joking, mostly at our expense, because now everyone knew we had the same name, the same birthday, and the same kind of idiot friends.

I cut the cake and made sure I set a slice aside for Devin, because hey, who doesn't like birthday cake, right? A few minutes after everything calmed down and people were sitting down for lunch I got up and took a slice of cake over to Devin. "Happy Birthday." I said.

"Thanks. Same to you! Here." he said, as he handed me a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it.

I laughed and said "Pepperoni and mushroom, my favourite. Thanks. See you in Biology class."

"Yeah, see you there."

I took my slice of pizza back to my seat and ate it. I get so much exercise that a few extra calories never hurt. I finished eating my lunch, followed by a slice of cake. Marissa and my other friends were all over me about Devin, wanting to know who he was and how come they never knew there was someone who shared my birthday. Like I said, I recognized Devin, but hadn't had any interaction with him at all in the nearly 4 years we'd been going to the same school. That's High School social circles for you, like oil and water. When my friends found out we had not only the same birthday but the same name, and were lab partners, they got all excited that maybe I'd found my true love. We had so much in common, right? I squashed that pretty fast. We had nothing in common.

When I got to Biology class Devin wasn't there, but he slipped in just before the bell. "Cutting it close?" I asked him.

"Yeah, my friends are all going insane because I'm 18 now."

I was about to ask why when the teacher started his lecture. Mr Stevens droned on and I took notes. Then I noticed that Devin was taking down different notes than I was. It was like, when I heard something 'noteworthy', I wrote it down and he didn't. And he wrote down stuff I didn't think was important. That was weird. When class ended I asked him about what he'd written. We only had a few minutes, so I asked if we could get together after school to compare notes.

"I have rehearsal for the spring play. Can we meet later?"

"Maybe. I have volleyball practice after school." I said.

"How about like 7 or 8?"

"Okay, 7 sounds fine. Where do you want to meet?"

"Is my house okay? Or yours, if you want?"

"Yours is fine." I told him.

We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and headed off to our next classes. It wasn't until halfway through next period that I realized I'd just given my number to a boy. And all the teen angst that that entailed. God forbid that Marissa ever found out I did that. She'd be totally goofy about me having a new boyfriend if she did. But it had just seemed so automatic and natural at the time, just so we could keep in touch about Biology class, right?

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I rang the doorbell just before 7 and Devin let me in. Of course his mom wanted to know who was at the door, and she got a good laugh about us having the same name, but we didn't tell her about our common birthday. His Dad was watching a hockey game and all he said was 'Nice to meet you'.

So here I was, on my 18th birthday, studying. Doing homework. Like it was any other day. Which I suppose it was, kind of. Tomorrow night was my birthday party, the sleepover with my besties. I wondered why Devin wasn't doing anything special for his birthday tonight.

We sat down at the kitchen table to compare notes. It was weird the way he filtered stuff out of what Mr Stevens said. Of course, he probably thought I was weird too, for what I wrote down. Between us I think we ended up with a really good set of notes to work from. And Devin was easy to talk to. He was a tall, scrawny guy with messy black hair and dark brown eyes. Okay, so tall, dark, but not quite handsome. Two out of three ain't bad I suppose.

When we were finishing up I remembered our conversation in Bio. "Hey, so what were your friends so crazy about, with you turning 18? You said they were going nuts or something?"

He laughed and said "Yeah, well, you can buy beer in Quebec at 18. So they want me to drive over to Hull and buy a few cases for them."

I laughed at that, "Good thing my friends haven't thought of that yet!"

"Yeah, well mine are all on my case because they think we should be a 'thing' since we have so much in common." he said with a frown.

"Oh no, mine too. I can't figure that. I mean, really, what do we have in common except our first names and birthdays?"

"Our favourite pizza?" he said. Devin opened his notebook and started writing headings on a blank page.

"Wait, you're making a list?!"

"You don't like lists?" he asked.

"Well, I don't really use them."

"How do keep track of stuff?"

"I dunno, I just do."

"Huh. Well, 'Lists' goes in the 'Differences' column then. And for common things, we both like the same pizza, have the same name, and same birthday. That's all I got so far. What's your favourite food, like besides pizza?" he asked.

"Chocolate ice cream. The good stuff, Chapman's. What about you?"

"Fresh caught fish."

"Bleah, fish is awful." I said, making a face. The smell and the taste always turned me off.

"Oh no, you've been eating the wrong fish. It's so perfect when it's fresh. Catch it, clean it, cook it, eat it, right on the shore. Nothing better."

"Okay, so you're like some kind of outdoors guy? You don't look it."

"I've been in Scouts since I was 5. I love hiking and camping, especially canoe tripping."

"Okay that's a difference for sure, I've never been camping in my life."

"What do you do for fun?"

"Sports. I'm playing or practicing almost every day."

"Wow, sounds like you got no time for anything else."

I laughed and said "Even work is sports. I work as a lifeguard, coach little league baseball, and referee kid's soccer."

"You really don't have much down time do you?"

"No, this is like the first night off I've had since Christmas break. What about you? You have a job after school?"

"Yeah, I work at the pharmacy, stocking shelves, working cash, retail stuff. Retail sucks. Not something I ever want to do again after this summer."

"So what are you looking at for a career?"

"I like the outdoors, and I like entertainment, so I was thinking of being something like an event coordinator. Weddings, concerts, theatre, exhibitions, eco-tours, that kind of stuff."

"Huh. I never knew that was a job. Does it pay well?"

"I think I'll do all right once I get established, but I'll probably be living at home for a few years. What about you? What kind of career are you looking at?"

"Sports medicine. I want to be a surgeon, a specialist for sports injuries, rehab stuff. Put people back together, help them walk again, help them live better."

"What about people like veterans and accident victims? Or is that different?"

"Yeah, actually, that too. I want to help people."

"That's cool. Sounds like a lot of work."

"Yeah, I'll be living at home a lot to keep my expenses down, just like you."

He laughed and said "That's one for the 'Common' column."

We talked, about all kinds of stuff. It was weird, he was so easy to talk to. He was in the Drama Club, and they were putting on a play this spring. Romeo And Juliet. That sounded cool, and I thought maybe I'd go see it. He played guitar too. Campfire songs mostly, he said. I can barely play a song on the radio. Zero talent. We talked about hobbies and stuff, and holy shit, he's an artist. Like a real artist. His parents got his stuff framed and it's hanging on the wall in their house. I looked around at some of it and Holy Shit, he's good. My art was always just stuck to the fridge till it faded away, none of it ever got framed.

All I did was sports and not much else. I did have a set of shelves that held all my awards. It was crammed with ribbons and medals and trophies from half a dozen sports. I showed Devin some pictures on my phone and his eyes practically bugged out.

Devin's list had way, way more differences than common stuff, that's for sure.

There was one thing I was curious about, so I asked him. "Hey, so why are you spending your 18th birthday, a Friday night, at home, studying? Why aren't you out partying with your friends or something?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Nuh uh, I asked first. Spill."

He sighed and said "My friends' idea of a great party is marathon video games and junk food. I don't play video games, and any activity I might want to do isn't something they'd be interested in. Right now, I'd rather be sitting in front of a camp fire in the middle of nowhere."

"But it's winter! You'd freeze."

"Not with the right gear. Winter camping is awesome."

"Huh. I had you pegged as a gamer boy, but it seems like I was completely wrong."

"What about you? Why aren't you having a birthday party?"

"I am, tomorrow night. My friends are coming for a sleepover."

"Ah, OK. So is that one of those junk food, trashy movies, and dissing guys kind of things?"

"Guilty on all counts."

"Hahaha. I just hope you won't be dissing me too much on account of my feeble birthday celebration."

"What do mean, 'feeble'? You're spending your birthday with me, which is anything but feeble I'll have you know." I stated airily. I tried desperately to keep a straight face, and watched as he tried to do the same. We both broke up into giggles at the same time. Yeah, feeble birthday party, this was it, right here.

His mom walked into the kitchen and said "Hey you two, it's getting late. You might want to think about packing this up."

Oh shit, it was 11:30 already, so I put away my notes and said goodnight. Devin was practically insisting that he drive me home instead of letting me walk in the cold. If it wasn't so late I'd have just walked, but my folks would probably be getting worried already. I was surprised my Mom hadn't texted me. So I relented and Devin drove me home.

And another difference was that he had his own car. It was old but it was his. Saved up and bought it when he was 16 he said, fixed it up with help from his Dad and his Grandpa. Okay so there's another big difference, as I have zero mechanical aptitude and he can rebuild a car. When we got to my house I said good night and went inside. I looked back as I went in and he was still there, waiting until I waved back at him.

Of course my Mom was really interested in how my 'date' went. I told her it wasn't a date. But no matter what I told her she just smiled at me like she knew better. After the fiasco with the last guy I dated I wasn't about to start going out with anyone until I went off to University in the fall. My mom told me I should invite Devin over here next time, so she could meet him. Mothers can be so infuriating.

My birthday party was the next day. Well, since it was a sleepover, call it two days. Marr, Janie, and Theresa came over and we hung out and talked and ate junk food. Coach would have a fit if she saw what we were eating. We streamed trash TV, and just generally wasted the night. And no, there were no sexy lesbian things going on, none of us were into girls. But sex as a topic of discussion did come up. A lot. And of course Marissa was completely fixated on the idea of me and Devin getting together.

I told her how different we were, how we had like zero common interests, apart from liking the same pizza and being too busy to date anyone. Marissa pounced on my words like a cat on a laser dot.

"How do you know so much about what he likes or dislikes?"

"Uh, well, we were talking last night. You know, just chatting about stuff."

"Oh really? Where did this happen?"

"His house. I was there to study, to go over our Biology notes."

"You were at his house? No! Tell us everything! What's he like?"

"Ugh. Marr, it was just school work, nothing happened, we have nothing in common."

"Okay then. Tell me something you two don't have in common then."

I was trapped by my own words and my friends were relentless. I started listing all the stuff I knew about Devin that was outside my experience, his art, camping, theatre, and so on. I was just trying to make a case for how incompatible we were, but my friends sat there with the biggest looks of shock I'd ever seen on their faces.

"What?" I said.

"Oh. My. God. You DO have a thing for him!" said Theresa.

"I do not!"

"Oh, honey, if you know that much about him after one date, then you got it bad!"

"It wasn't a date! You're as bad as my Mom."

"Your Mom knows about him? You brought him home to meet the parents?"

"No! No way."

"Answer me this. Does your Mom want to meet him?"

I squirmed, because that's exactly what my Mom had said. 'Invite him over here next time'.

"Well?"

"Fine, my Mom saw him drop me off and said he should come over here next time."

"He dropped you off?"