Opposites Attract

Walking through the halls of High School in April my senior year, I was all set for summer and going off to college.  I didn't have a care in the world, but little did I know that God would completely change my life in a single night.  Like your typical High School girl, I was ecstatic as prom got closer and closer.  I had to have the perfect dress, the perfect hair, the perfect nails.  It had to be the perfect night, and it ended up being just that.

Two of my best friends and I got ready and took the classic plethora of pictures in front of someone's fireplace.  All dressed up and with our make-up all done up, we drove to our friend's house for dinner-where we took even more pictures.  Once they had exhausted our smiles, we rode off to the dance.  It was senior prom. The decorations were carefully arranged.  The lights set the mood.  The music was blasting.  The people were dancing.  It was truly a night to remember, but not because of the dance. It was most memorable for what happened after.

As the dance was coming to an end, a guy from a couple of my classes approached my best friends and I, asking us to come to an after party with him. The DJ announced the last song while they were still talking, and he and I ended up dancing for the last 30 seconds of the song.  While we were leaving, he invited us again, and we told him we would think about it.  Giddily and giggly, we went straight from prom to our friend's house to the best place to go after prom: IHOP!  It was girls' night to the max. The five of us besties ate IHOP pancakes and swapped stories of how our evenings had gone (two of the five had not come to prom).  About halfway through eating, one of my friends looked up and asked what I thought of the guy who had asked us to go to the after-party.

This boy, Daniel, had been in three of my AP classes throughout high school.  The first class we were in together was AP Psychology during our junior year.  He was cute in that skater/musician kind of way.  He was the class-clown and really close with my best friend.  I was immediately intrigued by him.  He slept through most of class, but never got caught.  He could always answer the questions he was asked with a hint of wit but was always respectful of everyone around him.  Yet, I had always discounted him because I figured I wasn't his type. I figured he wasn't my type.  I figured he had another lady interest.  I didn't give it much thought aside from wanting to get to know him better.

Senior year, we were in AP Lit and AP Government and Comparative together.  Both of these classes were more discussion based, and I got to understand his personality and find out little things about his life outside of school.  He always had girls who were friends with him, and he treated them all with equal dignity and respect.  His sense of humor became more evident when class discussions became more opinionated and heated.  One of our first memorable conversations was about the Chick-fil-a that was opening in our area.  He and his friends were planning on going the night it opened because the first 100 people got free sandwiches, which all Chick-fil-a lovers know are simply scrumptious.  I got really excited when I heard him talking about the new Chick-fil-a and expressed my fanatic love for its food.  He offered for me to come with them, but I had work that night and wouldn't have been able to make it.  This conversation ended up becoming a key later in our relationship.

Later in the year, we had to perform King Lear in my AP Lit class. We were in the same small group, and got to spend more time together.  He was King Lear, and I ended up being Kent. SPOILER ALERT!! It worked out perfectly because I lost my voice the week of the play, and there was an extensive scene where my character mourned the death of King Lear and his daughter.  The entire skit was full of jokes and simple humor.  Both our class and teacher loved our group's performance.  Our group worked well together to add humor to such a tragic play, and now Daniel and I had more memories to share.  We grew closer in our academic lives, but we never hung out outside of school.  Throughout projects and just attending classes, our conversations covered interests, school, family, and friends, but that was also when we realized that we were very different.  I had never really given it a second thought and was just glad we had been able to become friends.

So when my friend asked me what I thought of him, I wasn't sure what to say.  Eventually, I said he was a friend that I only talked to at school.  But why?  Why did she want to know?  I should have seen it coming. I should have realized what she would say next.  He had just texted her and confessed that he had a crush on me.  I was shocked. Daniel had a crush on me?  But it was April right before we were going to college.  Why hadn't he done anything about it sooner?  Why was he doing anything about it now? Wasn't it too late?  I wasn't really sure what to think.  So, we carried on our girls' night without bringing it up because none of us knew what I should do about it, if anything. I knew I had to do something about it though because when we went back to school, things were different.

The next time I saw him, he averted my gaze.  We just didn't end up having any conversations, and it irritated me.  I actually missed talking to him in classes.  I hadn't realized he had meant anything more to me than simply a classmate.  As any girl in my situation would, I went to my younger sister and complained.  After I finished complaining about it, she took my laptop.  I was logged on to Facebook, and she looked him up.  Soon after, she pointed out his most recent Facebook status: "Need somebody new to talk to. Hmu." She looked at me expectantly as I read it.

"Come on!" she said in exasperation "He put that up for you!" I didn't believe her, but figured I may as well send him a subtle message that I had at least seen it. So, I liked his status, to which he soon replied with: "Is that a yes?" So, I sent him my number over Facebook, and my life would never be the same.

The next week or two that followed held late night conversations, chatting between classes, stolen glances here and there. Until FINALLY, he asked if I wanted to go to Chick-fil-a with him because he remembered how much I like it (I told you that conversation was important!). And so you have what led up to the first date, but between then and now, we've had a break-up and gotten back together.  It's been a crazy adventure, but it's also changed my life for the better. I thank God every day for Daniel who's the love of my life, for my friends who've spent too many hours listening to my endless stories and worries, and for my family who's loved me through it all.  It's amazing the plans that God has for us and how much He loves us.

To know how the rest of the relationship developed, stay tuned for "Summer Romance" and "We Are Never Getting Back Together," which will finish the story some other time when I don't know what to write about.