At the tender age of 4, my daughter is somehow convinced that she's already met her future husband. His name is Niko and he's in her preschool class. She calls him "my Niko" and I can't lie — seeing her first crush is awfully cute (whether or not they actually get married).
We all remember our first crush, right? Mine was on a boy named Ryan who cruelly checked the "no" box on my "do you like me, yes or no?" note in fourth grade. His "no" and the fact that Jordan Knight of the New Kids on the Block was too old for me were the twin heartbreaks of my young life.
No, Jordan, I'll be loving you forever.
I love a good crush story, so I asked some of my friends to share their first memory of love and got some totally sweet stories. And one super creepy one. #15 — you've been warned! Click on for all the details.
Image via ABC
Still Cute
"My first crush was in kindergarten! I think I had a crush on this guy, Tim, because my last name started with a U, so we were seated next to each other all the time. And he was super cute!
We were in school together K-12, and later in high school I remembered my 5-year-old crush on him and got super shy and embarrassed around him. And we were still seated by each other all the time.
I looked him up on Facebook recently, and he is still pretty cute! (Or handsome? Maybe 36-37 year old men want to be called handsome and not cute?)" — Tracy R.
Church boy
"One of my first crushes was a boy at church. He was one of those kids whose parents brought him and I was a bus kid (it was very classist).
I was sure he was super religious, so I wrote this story about waiting till marriage for sex and mailed it to him, and I get super embarrassed just thinking about how stupid that was.
I never heard from him and we didn't go to the same school so it was easy to avoid him, thankfully." — Christina O.
Swoon
"I swooned over my friend Edie's older brother, Steve. I wrote his initials on all my notebooks. Both Edie and Steve were from California, he skateboarded to school and his bangs fell over his eyes. I never told Edie, but she probably knew I acted weird around him.
Meanwhile, Steve never acknowledged my existence. It never mattered; I was happy to adore him from afar.
S.S. + M.H. 4EVR" — Marieka H.
Freckles
"So my first crush was the local weatherman. Or is that a celebrity crush?
First real crush was in second grade. Tony R. It was the freckles. I remember playing tag around the playground and skidding on the baseball field and falling down.
And I have this memory burned into my brain of him standing over me, hands on knees, asking if I was okay. And the teacher showing me no pity as we walked back to school, blood streaming from my knee." — Autumn H.
More from CafeMom: These Texts People Wish They Had Sent Their First Love Are All Too Real (PHOTOS)
Boys Are Ew
"My first crush was a kid named Drew in elementary school. I wasn't sure I liked boys like that yet (because, ew) but couldn't stop looking at him, or talking to him. It was elementary so not many BF/GF situations. I'm unsure if he knew I was crushing.
He was a blond kinda sickly looking kid with 'plaque-y' teeth (they stains easily?). For my '80s ladies — he looked like a one of the younger kids in the movie version of Flowers in the Attic." — Megan M.
Skaterboy
"His name was Nick and he lived a few blocks directly behind our house. He was a skater and was super dreamy with a great hair flip thing going.
I started listening to INXS to impress him. Around that time my mom convinced me to chop my hair off and get a mullet-style haircut; I was convinced that ended any chance I had with Nick." — Alice S.
Fast Kids
"My first crush was Chris, in second grade. He had just moved to South Dakota from Geneva, Switzerland, and looked like a literal angel.
He was the fastest boy in the grade, and I was the fastest girl, so one would assume we would have been brought together by the joy of running quickly on our skinny 8-year-old legs across the playground asphalt.
We also were in plays together as kids and teenagers and spent a lot of time together. Funny enough, he is still one of my best friends since we went to school together (second grade through high school) and also the same college.
And I just realized that I have never asked him about who his crush was in grade school; I'll message him now, but I am quite certain it was not me, though I did date his best friend in high school (the friend was a complete jerk, unfortunately)." — Sara S.
So Over Him
"The first I can think of I don't remember many details [about], but I know I had a crush in kindergarten on a boy named Jamison. It lasted until third grade when there was a new boy in class and I told him on the playground I was 'sooo over' him and that I liked someone else now.
Pretty sure he never knew about the crush." — Jennifer K.
Paper Boy
"Unbridled passion with a crazy visceral response occurred every time I saw my crush. It started when I was 4-ish and met the older paperboy, Tom. Tom would deliver the paper and I would hope to see him every day. When I did, my love and passion for him overflowed … in the form of bloody noses!
I loved him sooooo much that I would get bloody noses when I saw him. Sigh." — Bobbi-Jo M.
More from CafeMom: Was Your Husband Your First?
Theater Kids
"We did theater together and he would give me rides home. THOSE RIDES WERE EVERYTHING. But nope! He had no idea that I was alive 'in that way.' He told me once that someday I would find a great guy — and I did! It just wasn't what I wanted to hear from him at 16.
He's still an actor (but now in movies and lives in LA) and every bit as dreamy as I remember him." — Katie H.
Field Day Love
"My first crush was waaaaaay back in Kindergarten — he was an adorable blond-haired, blue-eyed boy named Andy. He held my hand on track and field day and I remember it vividly — even 25 years later!" — Abbie W.
Friend Zone
"My first crush was John in preschool. I think we were mostly best friends but I also knew he was super cute. Fast-forward 14 years to when we met again through friends after we graduated from rival high schools.
We both remembered each other, confessed our mutual preschool crushes, and had a lot of fun talking. He called me the next day and asked me out. We went out on one date and then went away to college and moved solidly into the friend zone, where we have stayed ever since!" — Jessica B.
Couple Skate
"I had lots of crushes in grade school but my favorite was Tony B. in fifth grade. Blond, blue-eyed, super smart. Always wore wranglers with a big belt buckle.
He was moving at the end of the year. [At the] end of year on a class trip to Cheap Skate, he asked me to skate the couple skate! Swoon. It was magical." — Katie B.
Camp Crush
"Mine was totally summer tween movie–worthy. I had a crush on a boy from my fifth grade class but he was cool and I was a dork. The summer after fifth grade I went to 4-H camp (dork) and when I arrived at the place where we were all meeting to leave for camp, there he was!
We talked a few times during the week because we knew each other but nothing significant. On the last night of camp there was a dance and he came up and asked me to slow dance. SWOON. The End." — Taylor A.
Not So Happy Ending
"My first crush was Nathan B. He lived in my neighborhood and we went to school together. I adored him. He was cute, funny, charming, and my BFF for many many years. He was my first kiss in 6th grade.
We walked to and from school every day, he practically lived at my house, and my folks loved him. We continued our friendship into junior high and high school, went to all the dances 'as friends,' but I was so head over heels for him.
Finally in high school, I professed my love for him — and he told me I wasn't his type. I was devastated, but we remained friends. We kept in touch through college and years after.
Then one day, he fell off the face of the earth. No longer on Facebook, emails were all returned, cell was disconnected. NO one knew what happened.
Last I knew he was in Chicago in nursing school. A few years ago his dad died, and my friend's family owned a floral shop in our hometown and did the funeral flowers. My friend helps out her folks from time to time and was in the flower shop when one of Nathan's aunts came in to pick up flowers for the funeral.
My friend asked how Nathan was and if he was in town for the funeral. The aunt got all weird and said no, he wasn't coming. My friend kept pressing the aunt and she finally said that Nathan was in prison for owning and distributing child porn." — Name withheld
