Andrea Czarnota is one of those people who you absolutely adore but almost never get to see. The first time I met her was when I went to a concert with her and her brother Dominic and it was after the show when we were at my house and started chatting about the series finale of The O.C. that I realized this isn't just Dominic's sister, this is a genuinely awesome girl who I'd like to get to know better.
My favorite memory of Andrea is from when she went to a Brand New concert with me during their Daisy tour. I called her up, offered her a ticket, and she came with me, which I loved because it's always fun when people take you up on spontaneous offers, especially when the person you offer is a gorgeous Polish woman. We went to the concert and the show was amazing as Brand New always is, but the real reason that this particular concert sticks with me above the others we've been to together is the little things that still remind me of that night. I doubt she remembers, but that was actually the night when she named my car Sasha, a name that has stuck ever since.
When I think of Andrea I think of her as an independent, artist, as a beauty, and as a music lover, but I also think of another thing: missed opportunity. I had a huge crush on Andrea and my senior year of high school I asked her to go to homecoming with me, to which she accepted after I showed up to her house with a dumb ass "Homecoming?" sign I made. I think I wrote too big so I had to separate the words so Home and Coming were on two different lines....such a dork. But I had big plans: we were going to go out to dinner at this great Japanese place with another couple and have a fun conversation, then we would go to the school and have some good time dancing as I showed off my lame moves, we'd bring the night to a close by going to an after party of one of my friends then at the end of the night I would walk her up her walkway then right before she went to grab the door I would take her hand and say "Wait..." as I pulled her in and kissed her.
It didn't go that way.
Her friend's date cancelled, so now it was the three of us which meant Andrea's sad friend had become the focus of the night...something I wasn't pleased about and due to immaturity, handled more poorly than I care to admit. We had a decent time and still danced and whatnot, but the night was essentially ruined and while I like to say I was robbed of my opportunity, my handling of the situation is just as much to blame as the unfortunate circumstances. But that's life, and at least I'll always have the memory of tie shopping with her and seeing her walk down the stairs looking absolutely stunning in her brown dress.
If there's one thing that has been unfortunate to observe from time to time about Andrea, it's when I see apathetic or angry posts of hers online, and can't help but feel a little sad and a little angry. On the one hand I'd love to just give her a tight hug and tell her how amazing she is, then on the other hand I find whoever made her feel that way and beat the shit out him. But honestly I just want to make her smile, tell her how great she is, and how rare it is to be such a unique person because she deserves to be happy. And because imagining a face as beautiful as hers damp from tears breaks my heart.
Cheers to Andrea, the lovely hipster.
-Andrew
