I first shared our love story when my blog was still quite new, and the formatting is quite off on those old posts, especially now that I’ve switched to WordPress from Blogger. At first I was just going to update the posts, but I’ve decided to completely re-write the series and publish them in real time, for all you new readers. I hope you enjoy learning a little more about Kyle and I!
It was a Sunday in late August 2008 when he caught my eye for the first time. I had just moved into a new apartment, in the Riviera complex, with my best friend, Dani, and we were getting ready to start our sophomore year of college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It was our first Sunday in our new ward (congregation). And as we sat at a row of desks in one of the classrooms of the Tanner Building on campus, waiting for Sunday School to start, two cute, tall, blond guys walked in the door opposite of us and sat on the floor. We nudged each other and giggled about them, and then turned our attention to the teacher and the start of class.
And so, that’s how we met. Within the next few weeks, those two cute, tall, blond guys became our friends. Their names were Kyle and Jay, and they were best friends and roommates. Our apartments were part of the same FHE (family home evening) group, which means we’d do different activities each Monday night together, and Kyle was called to be one of mine and Dani’s home teachers (he basically came and visited us, left a short spiritual message, and made sure we were doing ok). One of our other roommates, Lindsay, had lived in the complex during the summer (as had Kyle and Jay), and already knew them as well as their roommates, Sam and Garyn. So we were thrown together in various ways, and, as I said, we became friends quite quickly.
We were constantly hanging out, watching basketball and football games the boys’ apartment, playing Rockband on Kyle’s XBOX, watching movies, and going on late night Wendy’s runs. (Kyle jokes that I fell in love with him because he bought me JBCs and Frostys, and it’s probably at least partly true.) Kyle often gave me a ride to church on Sundays, and as a result we generally sat by each other each Sunday, as well.
So, we became friends. And I developed a small crush on him. But there was an itty-bitty problem. My boyfriend of 15 months had recently left on a 2 year church mission, and I was planning on “waiting” for him, so we could get married when he got home. I was planning on having fun, and maybe dating around, but not seriously in any way. In fact, Kyle’s first memory of me is when I was showing off my wristband (quite proudly) that said “Elder A’s Girl” on it to my friends in my ward, haha!
But back to Kyle. He became my shoulder to cry on when the boys I was dating were acting stupid, he was the one I went to when I was having problems with having a missionary out, he was the first one I went to when something sad or hard or awesome happened. Simply put, he became my best friend.
To be honest, I’m not sure how he fell in love, or even in like, with me over the course of that year. On paper, I was a mess. But he somehow grew to like me anyway. And soon we were spending every moment we could together.
I could tell you about those little moments like —
The time me and my best friend crashed a date he was on at his apartment by going over and hanging out with his roommate.
Or the night we spent playing ping pong and just chatting in our complexes clubhouse while his roommates watched what was (in our opinion) a stupid movie.
Or how he invited me to dinner at his brother’s house in February and I fell in love with their cute kiddos.
Or the time me and my best friend heart attacked his apartment for Valentine’s Day, and got caught, and proceeded to stay for hours.
Or all the times we went grocery shopping together, and the one time we were both wearing BYU sweats and my best friend said we looked like a “regular, old BYU couple”.
Or the time we had a St. Patrick’s Day party at his apartment, and we were the last 2 up, watching Far and Away, and I “fell asleep” with my head on his shoulder.
Or the time we were driving in his car, singing along to Dashboard Confessional, and my mom called and I answered, and Kyle all but yelled,”MAKING OUT” at the top of his lungs.
Or the time he was sick and I took him Poweraide, and we watched Bedtime Stories, and I left my phone on silent, and I totally forgot my mom was coming to get me and I missed like 10 calls from her.
Or the time he came home to find me cuddling with his roommate.
Yep, all of those things (plus more) happened, over the course of about 9 months.
And so, we became best friends, who really secretly liked each other. I went through spurts of thinking I should date him, but I always came back to nah, he’s my best friend, and I love my missionary. I had a plan, and to be honest, I didn’t want my heart to get broken (although that didn’t work out too well for me, I had my heart broken at least once that year….), and I didn’t want to break any hearts, either. I wanted it to be easy and I didn’t want to make any hard decisions.
But of course, that’s a story for another post…..
Next up? How we started dating.
