Valentine's Day week: Our story, part II.

Wanna catch-up? read part I here. 

In April of my sophomore year of college, for the first time, I saw Sean in a different light. I asked him how his 21st birthday was (which I had missed since I was sick), and he said "it was good, I wish you were there". And he smiled. And I smiled. And I was sold.

That same night, we had a cookout at a friend's house. And we spent the whole night subtly giving each other hints that neither of us would be opposed to other person texting the next day. This was still in the days of AIM, woah, so I figured that would be less intrusive. And so, for the next week, every time I got back to my dorm room I had messages from him on instant messenger. Letting me know that I was missed when I was at school and that he was excited for the weekend when I came home.

The following weekend, during a UFC party we spent the entire night talking to each other and texting each other, even though we were in the same room, and before I left for the night he sent me a text message to ask if he could give me a kiss. It was sweet, and genuine, and I got butterflies. For the first time. Ever. 

The next week, we texted each other constantly. Like, the bill -- when my parent's received it -- was over $400. Whoops.

We spent the next couple of weeks with friends, but together, with our fun and exciting secret. We bonded over our love of 80's love ballads, Johnny Cash, and Back to the Future. And I loved it. Around Memorial day, I guess you could say "ish hit the fan" when friends started to find out. I didn't realize it would be such a big deal but apparently it was or had to be. Sean immediately told me "it didn't matter" and that he was "all in this" and for the next 3 months while our relationship grew stronger between us... it struggled to find a place in the group of friends that Sean was once such a huge part of.

To us, it really didn't matter. In the beginning part of our relationship we took trips together, spent days at the beach, went mini-golfing and bowling, had our first official date at the Olive Garden where he choked and my contacts fell out, he wrote me beautiful songs, we went skateboarding and fishing, we went to concerts, and at the 4th of July fireworks he asked me to "be his girlfriend". I had no idea it wouldn't be the only time I would say "yes".

During my junior year of college, we were together non-stop. I moved out of the dorms and back to my parent's house since it made more sense to me to be closer to where I wanted to spend my time. But I actually spent no time there at all. My mom used to ask me to come home and she would ask me if Sean's parents minded how long I would stay at their house. Sean often jokes about this time saying "You came one day, and never left, and that was fine with me."

We traveled together, went camping, went on date nights and were utterly obsessed with being around each other. So for a while, we didn't mind... or didn't notice that we had lost all of our mutual friends. And by the time it was noticed, they were gone.

At the beginning of my senior year of college, we started talking about getting our own place. We spent so much time together, never wanted to be apart and figured it made sense. It was exciting. We saved up, and in January 2009 -- after two years together got our very first place. It was the best. Or so we thought...

Part III tomorrow.