Alphabooks: F is for Fictitious Dates

F: Fictional Character You Would Have Dated in High School

First of all, I just want to note that if I were to write my own alphabetical book prompts – which I might do, eventually, because why not – “F” would never have brought to mind “characters worth dating.”  I’d write about Favorite Dead Persons or Food That Sounded Delicious or Flawed Narratives or Funny Plot Devices or Flamboyant Minor Characters before I’d get to dating.

I’m also left wondering why this prompt stipulates “someone you would have dated in high school,” specifically. Am I meant to be picking from YA books, here?  Is there meant to be a hint of nostalgia for who I was then, and for the sorts of people that appealed to me at that point?

At any rate.  Rhetorical questioning of Ze Prompt aside, two particular characters come to mind.

Ron Weasley
of Harry Potter fame, by JK Rowling
My freshman year of high school involved a massive crush on Rick, the guy whose locker was next to mine.  He was tall, gangly, freckly, and had strawberry blond hair.  Hair color (mostly) aside, Rick was exactly as I pictured Ron Weasley to look, and I rather fancied myself as his Hermione Granger counterpart.  True, Rick was always more studious, with better handwriting and a wide poetic streak.  But he had all of Ron’s loyalty, amiability, and (eventual) self-assuredness.

Dave the Laugh
of the Georgia Nicholson books, by Louise Rennison
I might be about to perjure myself, given that the guy I did date in high school was not really comfortable with my family as it was.  The beauty of Dave the Laugh is this: no matter how loony, strange, or embarrassing her parents, her pre-school-aged sister, or Georgia herself might be, they are all comfortable with Dave the Laugh.  They can be themselves, in all their mad glory; Georgia doesn’t trip over herself because of Dave’s looks (like she does with Robbie, Masimo, et al.), or hide her family away, because Dave understands who they are and appreciates it.  And while he himself can be strange (or, in fact, quite mad), he’s also kind, caring, and enjoys making Georgia laugh so hard her nose spreads all over her face.  Not what I went for at 16, buuuut, well, I should have.