How many of you are the girl next door?
I was totally the girl next door. In fact, that’s how most people would describe me. I should have been stoked, right? I mean, Joey from Dawson’s Creek? She was every guy’s dream. Why wouldn’t I want to be compared to that sweet, bubblegum girl who looked good in a flannel and boy cut jeans?
It seems ideal… until suddenly you are into the bad boy who looks like a rocker, in his skinny jeans, with his long hair, black nail polish and nicer arms than you could ever hope for.
Because he’s not into the girl next door. Not at all. He’s into the girl that the guy who’s into the girl next door is not into. Follow me here? The girl with punky hair, torn jeans, smoky eyes and knows everything about rock and roll and can handle a guitar as if she came directly from Slash’s loins.
Have we not all at some point or another crushed on that guy? Maybe you are all heated up about him now. Or maybe you never liked that type. But, I have. Every now and then there was that dark and mysterious guy that made me want to be bad. And it sucked for me, cause I was just the girl next door.
I think the male equivalent of the “girl next door” is the “nice guy”. I always wanted to be the “bad guy” that the girl next-door secretly craved. At 15, I bought a guitar, wore iconic T-shirts and jeans with ripped knees. I even grew my hair long. But at the end of the day, No matter how hard I tried to be the rebel, it was just in my nature to be a nice guy.
Now I’m in my mid 40s, I’m established in my profession as a lawyer, and even though I still play the guitar (in a band no less), I am the consummate nice guy. And perhaps the “Silverlining” in all of this is that truly nice guys finish last. I have come to learn that women really really appreciate that, even girls next-door 🙂