C and I meet

So if you've read my "whos who" post you would have seen that I have an ex-fiancee named C. Now some of you might be wondering how old I am to have an ex-fiancee & those of you a bit nosier want to know where & when we met, how long did we date, and why did we ever broke up, so here goes the details of us meeting . . . (stay tuned for the other posts)

C & I met in September of 1997, when I was starting my second year of college, but at a new school because I had transferred. We were both in Biology 101 with Dr H every Mon, Wed, Fri from 9-10am. I recall the first time I saw him, I was already sitting in my seat (being the geek that I am I was early). I was watching all the kids as they came into class. In strolled these two really hot guy in BDUs (army fatigues). It looked to me like they were checking out everyone who was sitting down already & when C glanced in my direction I thought he was smiling, though maybe that was just me wishing he would. They walked across the lecutre hall & sat on the opposite side from me, but at about the same level up. I remember pulling on the sleeve of the girl sitting next to me & asking if she knew who he was. It was obvious from his uniform he was a sophmore, but that didn't really help me. I would need to some how find out what his name was, easier than you think, since his last name was on his uniform, but when was I ever going to walk to that side of the room? A few days when by, I only ever saw him in class & I didn't notice him looking around the room anymore so I sorta gave up hope.

I needed a job on campus & one night wandered down to the Admissions office to the phone bank, to see if they had any openings. As luck would have it C & his hot roommate (TK) where already working there. The director gave me a job & found me a seat next to TK. The director had done it stratigically b/c you needed to mix the military & civilian along with male & females in case the person you called had a question you were not able to answer, you could swap phones for a minute or two. The job wasn't great but it paid well considering what we were doing & what could be better than sitting next to two hot guys?!?!?

A week or so went by & I noted that C&TK typically left at 9pm, so around 8.50pm one night I start to flip the papers around & look like I was going to head out. The director came over and asked what I was doing - I explained that I thought I was going to be leaving around 9pm. She sort of giggled & said, I need to talk to you before you leave. TK nudged my arm & said "Now you're in trouble." Worried I was getting fired I stayed on the phone until my normal leaving time of 9.15pm & then slowly found my way to the director's office down the hallway.

Once in the office the director asked if I had a boyfriend. I was totally thrown off guard sort of sputtered for a moment & then sadly admitted I didn't. "Are you looking?" she asked. I replied I wasn't actively looking but if someone asked me on a date I would consider it. She then explained to me that she was trying to hook some of the guys up with nice girls so they would have dates for the upcoming Regimental Ball. Inside my heart was pounding. She asked if there were any guys who I thought I'd be interested in. I'm sure my face turned red & I know I mumbled something like, yeah a few. Realising this approach was not going to work she blurted out that she thought C & TK were really sweet. With a smile grinning from ear to ear, I totally agreed with her! She said I could leave & she'd have a chat with some of the boys.

Understanably, I was very nervous to be heading back to work, since there was a possibility that the director had told C & TK that I thought they were hot. Luckily the next few nights of work went off without a hitch & that Friday night I was sure to get ready to leave by 9pm & walked out a few seconds behind the boys. Looking back they must have known b/c for no good reason at all they were milling around outside the front door as I opended it. I said a quick goodnight, half under my breath, worried they didn't want to be associating with the likes of me. When C piped up, "which dorm are you in?" After my reply, he said, oh we'll walk with you, we live right next door. Them esxourting me back to my dorm went on for a few days. By now there was snow on the ground so I'm guessing it was about early November. One Thursday night, as we were walking past one of the dorms which happen to have a HUGE hill next to it the boys had been running in circles, joking & throwing snow balls at eachother when all of the sudden C grabbed me & threw me down the hill. I was totally unaware this was going to happen, but my instinct was to grab him & not let go so that maybe I wouldn't go. Much to my dismay, it didn't work, we both ended up tumbling down the snowy hill. I had heard TK laughing hysterically as we slowed to a stop but by the time I looked up at him, he'd run away. C helped me up & appologized, it had been a bet for a few nights & he hoped I hadn't minded. At first I was pissed off cause I was cold & had plans to go out that night, but as we stood there alone together I felt a warm fuzzy feeling take over my body. We exchanged numbers & then didn't see eachother for a few days at all. I figured he'd won the bet & was done with me.

I returned home after lab one Friday afternoon to see a note from my roommate, JC, which said, "C called, wants you to call him back at ####. WHO is this boy, is he the hotty from bio class?????" I returned his phone call asap. He had called to ask me to the regi ball, but since it wasn't a date I had saved on my calendar, I had friends coming from outta town that night & wouldn't be able to go. I was uber bummed! Knowing that my roommate was gone for the weekend, I offered that he could come over & watch a movie in my room if he wanted. (I knew I was not allowed in his dorm since it was military.) He agreed & we ended up watched tv & movies in between all of our meals for the entire weekend. (We could not eat meals together, again a military thing.) From that moment on we probably spent every free moment we had, together.

At the end of the semester he announced that he might not be coming back due to money issues (understandable as this private college was NOT cheap!) I was really upset, but knew I couldn't do much about it. I will never forget the night before he left, we were all standing out on the parade field in front of his dorm & one of his rook buddies came over to gave me a big hug and tell me she was so sad to see him go since she hadn't seen him this happy in the 1.5 years she'd known him. We exchanged contact details, but in my heart I figured it was just one of those things you were suppose to do even if you had no intension of staying in touch.

I went back home 2 days later, excited to be home with my family for Christmas and still thinking about C every once in awhile - he called once in the first week I was home. One afternoon my mom called me up to the kitchen saying something about getting a delivery. I figured it was an early Christmas present from my god-mother. To my surprise it was 3 red roses in a clear vase with a note that said, "just wanted to say hi" - no name attached or anything. We asked the delivery service & they said they are not allowed to give out that info. Not knowing anyone else who could have sent me flowers I called C immediately. Before I even had to ask, he said "did they arrive?" My heart melted. He also told me that he'd been able to borrow money from his grandfather and would be returning in January. I'd never been so excited for a vacation to end in my life (I doubt I ever will again either.)

The first few weeks of the spring semester were just like the end of the fall - every waking moment we had we were together - studying, watching movies, and talking. On my birthday (25 Jan) we were talking about "us" since we'd never really put a label on what we were. You know I was asking questions like, "What if my friends want to know who you are? Do I say, just a friend from phone bank or can I say my boyfriend?" He responded with, "Did you just ask me out?" To which I replied, "yeah I guess so, will you be my boyfriend?" So on 25 January 1998, C and I officially started dating.

WOW that was just about 9 years ago, geez time flies, even if it's not all fun - LOL.