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I first heard of him through a mutual friend. We were having lunch at Olive Garden discussing my guy problems. In the midst of my ranting, she broke the cloud of negativity to tell me about him. She told me what a wonderful guy he was and how I had to meet him. She described him as kind, caring, and a guy who knew how to treat a girl right. I was sold, though she never followed through.
Being the kind of person that I am, I decided that it was time for me to meet a nice guy. I called one of my good friends, dolled myself up and off we went to the restaurant he worked at. Our mutual friend happened to be working that night as well, so she went into the kitchen and brought out this guy.
After a few rum and diet cokes, it appeared I had my valiant pants on. I called him over by patting the chair next to me. At the same time, thoughts running through my head "Did I really just pat the chair like he is a dog?" Despite my gesture, he came over and we exchanged some typical small talk. He offered me some of his Jambalaya, which I declined, nicely. After a few more somewhat awkward words, I gave him my number and he said he would call.
A few days later, he did. After numerous times of picking up my phone to see if I had missed any calls, when I knew I hadn't, the phone rang. We made a plan to get together that Monday, dinner and a movie. I was nervous but happy.
On Monday, I drove to his apartment and we ventured out on our first date. We had dinner at Chili's and went to go see the move Shall We Dance. He allowed me to choose, so I lived it up! Afterwards we went back to his apartment, talked a little and he walked me out to my car. I didn't know how I felt about him yet, but out of nowhere decided to give him a kiss on the cheek. It was a nice night, I had had a good time.
The next day when I was getting out of class, he called. He asked if I wanted to meet at his restaurant to hang out, but I had a paper to write. I went anyways. As we talked and got to know each other, I began to notice two things. One, I could feel how kind hearted he was. It was easy to talk with him and while I was nervous, I was comfortable. Two, I found him attractive.
I ran into some friends while there and we decided to sit with them in a booth. As we were laughing together, I suddenly noticed how close he was. I could feel his arm touching mine, and as we kept giving each other short little glances, we smiled. It was then in that moment, that he ran his fingers along my hand. Instantly, chills went down my spine and my stomach did a flip. I had experienced my first butterfly moment.
It was then, at that moment that I knew, he was the one.
We ended up seeing each other a few more times, and I couldn't help my feelings. They were getting stronger and deeper. Unfortunately, he didn't want a relationship. As soon as I thought I had found the person I wanted to spend my life with, it came crashing down with the realization that he didn't want it. It
felt awful.
After shedding some tears, I tried to focus on school and my friends. Always in the back of my mind, was him. We still talked, sometimes saw each other, but he always remained clear on his intentions. It didn't make my feelings go away though. Whether he meant to or not, he always crept back into my life in some way when I was trying to move on.
But was I really trying to move on? Whenever I would go out with my friends, we would always end up at his restaurant. I would always end up spending time with him, and I would always end up drinking a little too much. There may have been a few nights that my emotions got the best of me, and things might have been said that were thoughts of a distressed psychotic girl.
Despite my words or actions, something happened between us. It was apparent that we had a connection, he just had to realize it. Eventually he did.
We began to spend more time together, and without talking about "what we were", I could tell our feelings for each other were growing.
On the day of my graduation from nursing school, he finally met my family. They had heard about him incessantly for the past 1 1/2 years, it was a very special day. He was able to spend time with my grandma, which meant so much to me. Her first words to him still ring in my ears, "It must be so nice to be such special friends." I loved her, she was an amazing woman.
That night as we lie on his bed talking, he told me that he was in love with me. It was a day I will never forget.
That was five years ago and in two months, we will be getting married!
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