| The Meeting Tim and I started dating officially on March 15 of 2000. Our relationship, however, started long before that. Sometime during my freshman year of high school (1997), we met at Bob Jones Academy. We were very close friends before anything romantic ever came about. Of course I had a crush on him. I couldn't help it. He was the first guy that ever treated me like a true friend, and he was the only guy that I didn't give me the jitters. I felt comfortable around him--like I'd known him for years. I felt like I could talk to him more openly than other guys. I always put on a front for certain people because I got so nervous around them. When I was with Tim, I didn't feel like I had to do that. I was myself, and that was okay. The First Kiss We kissed once--when I was 16, and we both felt a connection. Of course, I had always had a huge crush on him, and he, for the first time, was seeing me as a potential girlfriend and not just a gal pal. Scared of what he felt, Tim wrote me an email telling me that we needed to forget that anything had ever happened and just be friends. He said we were better off friends. I was crushed--and angry--when I read his email. I wanted to be with him so badly. I thought after what happened that it was finally our time. The Conflict Several months passed before we ever really spoke again. We had a few phone conversations right after that email he wrote. All we really did was argue, but we came to the conclusion that nothing was going to happen. I swallowed my feelings and pushed him out of my mind. He had graduated high school and started working full time, and I was in my junior year, so we were both occupied with other things. I had crushes on other guys, and I thought that he had found another girl--one that he had "loved" for years. I heard that they had kissed, which she would never let him do before. I assumed that they were an item, and the he and I were never going to be together. I was even angrier when I heard about their kiss. I thought that he was just fooling around. Our kiss--my first kiss--had meant nothing to him. The Resolution Almost nine months after that email, Tim called me. He asked if I wanted to hang out with him and a few other friends. I said yes. I was bored, and I hadn't seen him in a while. We didn't really go anywhere. The five of us just hung out on my porch and near my house. We walked around and talked and stuff. Tim kept putting his arm around me and looking at me. He looked at me in a different way that he did before. There was a funny look in his eye. The First Date After we hung out that night, Tim called me and asked me if I wanted to go to a movie. I thought it was a little gathering of friends, but I had a feeling that there was something more. I remembered that look in his eye, and I knew that he wanted something more. He picked me up at school to take me to the movie. When I got into his car, he said, "You do know that this is a date, right?" I said, "Sure." He gave me a white carnation. "This is for you." He had always talked about white carnations being the perfect flower. It made me feel special. During the movie he put his arm around me and held my hand. After the movie, we kissed again. The Decision We went on another date before he asked me to go steady. He told me that he wanted me to be his girlfriend. He told me how much he liked me and how beautiful I was. I still couldn't get past the way that he treated me before. I told him how hurt I was, and that I couldn't even think about getting back together with him unless he apologized. He knew that he had been foolish. He told me that he wanted so badly to ask me to be his girlfriend after that first kiss, but he knew that it was too soon. It wouldn't have worked then. This time, he knew it was for real. I told him that I still had to think and pray about it. I talked to my mom about it. She said that I couldn't just make him wait around. She said that sometimes you have to go for it. I kept telling Tim that I just didn't see the green light yet. I was waiting for some kind of sign. The Happy Ending The next morning, we were in the car going to school, just like every day. We came to a stoplight. I had thought a lot about Tim, and what I should do. I looked up just as the red light turned green. That's when I knew. I had the green light. It was time for me to go. Tim came over to my house that night and I told him what happened. I told him that I was in. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be his girlfriend. On March 15, 2000, I gave Tim my heart. We've been together ever since. The rest is History... |
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