Part 5
The next day I agreed to take my little sister and her friend to the Rec Center to swim away some energy. We were in the shallow end when I saw two familiar faces peeking in the window from the main part of the gym to the pool. Incredibly self-conscious, I convinced the girls to come to the deep end with me where we wouldn't be visible from the windows. Dave and Dan weren't stopped, they climbed the stairs to the observation deck and watched us from above. After what felt like an eternity Dan came down and walked right up to the edge of the pool to say hi. We talked for a while, a lot longer than I would have expected. The two of them let it slip that they were planning on showing Greg a good time that evening while Kim was away at the beach with her family. They promised a phone call if they found something fun to do. They called, but never found something fun to do. All we did all evening is sit in Greg's basement listening to music and watching tv. At one point the boys decided they needed a cable to hook Dan's iPod to Greg's computer, the cable was at Dave's house and my car was at the end of the driveway blocking everyone in. Dave drove and I held on for dear life in the back seat. At his house, Dave left us in the alley while he ran inside. It was the first time we'd been left alone since Kim's party, and it was nice talking to him without everyone else watching. At the end of the night I mentioned to him that we were having another party at Kim's house in two weeks to celebrate my birthday and I'd love for him to come. He said he would definitely be there.
The next Friday Kim and I decided we'd have girl night so we could talk about everything that had been going on lately. We ran out to buy hair dye and bumped into Dan's parents. We called him just to say hello and he ended up joining us, claiming to be a big fan of pedicures. The guys played video games while the girls gave each other highlights, but it was nice to just relax with him. We agreed to get together again the next night for pizza and movies, again having a good time relaxing. That week I went to the beach with my family, but we started calling each other at night before going to bed. I came home for the weekend of my birthday. Kim made me a nice pasta dinner and invited some of our closest friends over. The night could have gone better. I'd had about my fill of his friend Dave by this point in the summer, when he arrived uninvited I got a little testy. When Kim spilled her drink all over the front of my skirt he pulled me into the bathroom to get me cleaned up, and when I started to cry from pure frustration (including at him, though he didn't know he was part of the problem) he sat beside me and let me get everything out. The next day was my true birthday and Kim invited us back to her house to enjoy the cake we'd forgotten about the night before. Afterwards he took me to Zia's for my first drink, a malibu baybreeze. We sat at the corner table in the middle section of the dining room for hours, talking about anything and everything. Again alone from prying and encouraging eyes, I found him opening up to me. The place closed so we relocated to his basement. This was the first of many nights spent sitting on his couch talking until the early hours of morning.
The next weekend we spent Friday night at Dave's house and Saturday at Hershey Park with Kim and Greg. Plotting her evil ways, Kim dragged me on a ride she knew Dan wouldn't go on, giving her a chance to question me and Greg a chance to question Dan. I confessed to her that I really liked the guy. I'd been attracted to him at the beginning of summer but I'd just spent the last several weekends with him, including many late nights in his basement talking about very serious things, and I felt we were just about perfect for each other. Problem: I was going back to school in two weeks and if he didn't make a move soon, I'd be gone. At the same time, he was telling Greg that he really liked me but was too afraid of rejection to step up and say something. I guess Greg must have encouraged him because at the end of the weekend he asked me to go with him to a comedy club in Wyomissing the following weekend. We had a great night together, I found myself not struggling to impress him because I knew he liked me for who I was on the inside. Despite a good night, he still failed to acknowledge it as a date or admit wanting to be more than friends with me. At the pool with Kim the next day, I told her I was giving up. I found myself having a wonderful time with him, but I was starting to wonder if he wasn't just having fun for the summer and had no plans of anything else.
That night we had dinner at Zia's with Kim and Greg. The mood at the table was definitely strained, I'd had enough. He'd brought me to dinner, on the way home he asked if we could go to his house to talk. Truth be told, I'd spent the whole day convincing myself why I needed to move on with my life, and had one too many drinks at dinner, and wasn't exactly in the mood to spend more time with him. Sitting in his backyard, I found myself getting more and more angry. Neither one of us said much, we sat in silence, anger boiling inside of me. I found myself becoming sick, and having never been inside his house except the basement, I didn't know which direction to run in for the bathroom. I ended up vomiting in his back yard and then insisted on cleaning up after myself. I assured him I was a nurse and was used to it, he could make himself useful by finding me some gum. After rinsing my mouth out and getting rid of the taste, we retreated inside. I think he was finally starting to realize how upset I was becoming over the games we'd been playing. He told me his reluctance was over a comment I'd made a few weeks prior. He'd asked me what would happen when I went back to school and I'd responded that I'd come home for holidays but that I had plenty of friends in Grantham to keep me busy. He'd interpreted it as me not wanting to start something at home when I was leaving home. He asked if I'd consider coming home more often, if I had something to come home for. I remember thinking to myself I was sitting in front of the guy I'd liked for over a year, it took him forever to finally admit it, would he please just shut up and kiss me.
That was early in the morning of August 13th, 2006. Several months later, while downloading pictures from his camera to his computer, Dan discovered pictures from his uncle Kevin's wedding. That's where he was before heading out with our friends the first night he ever met me. The date on the pictures was August 13th, 2005. I guess that date was meant to be ours. This August 13th, you'll find us standing on the beach in Stone Harbor, NJ, with our immediate families and closest friends, becoming husband and wife. I think it's pretty perfect.
The next Friday Kim and I decided we'd have girl night so we could talk about everything that had been going on lately. We ran out to buy hair dye and bumped into Dan's parents. We called him just to say hello and he ended up joining us, claiming to be a big fan of pedicures. The guys played video games while the girls gave each other highlights, but it was nice to just relax with him. We agreed to get together again the next night for pizza and movies, again having a good time relaxing. That week I went to the beach with my family, but we started calling each other at night before going to bed. I came home for the weekend of my birthday. Kim made me a nice pasta dinner and invited some of our closest friends over. The night could have gone better. I'd had about my fill of his friend Dave by this point in the summer, when he arrived uninvited I got a little testy. When Kim spilled her drink all over the front of my skirt he pulled me into the bathroom to get me cleaned up, and when I started to cry from pure frustration (including at him, though he didn't know he was part of the problem) he sat beside me and let me get everything out. The next day was my true birthday and Kim invited us back to her house to enjoy the cake we'd forgotten about the night before. Afterwards he took me to Zia's for my first drink, a malibu baybreeze. We sat at the corner table in the middle section of the dining room for hours, talking about anything and everything. Again alone from prying and encouraging eyes, I found him opening up to me. The place closed so we relocated to his basement. This was the first of many nights spent sitting on his couch talking until the early hours of morning.
The next weekend we spent Friday night at Dave's house and Saturday at Hershey Park with Kim and Greg. Plotting her evil ways, Kim dragged me on a ride she knew Dan wouldn't go on, giving her a chance to question me and Greg a chance to question Dan. I confessed to her that I really liked the guy. I'd been attracted to him at the beginning of summer but I'd just spent the last several weekends with him, including many late nights in his basement talking about very serious things, and I felt we were just about perfect for each other. Problem: I was going back to school in two weeks and if he didn't make a move soon, I'd be gone. At the same time, he was telling Greg that he really liked me but was too afraid of rejection to step up and say something. I guess Greg must have encouraged him because at the end of the weekend he asked me to go with him to a comedy club in Wyomissing the following weekend. We had a great night together, I found myself not struggling to impress him because I knew he liked me for who I was on the inside. Despite a good night, he still failed to acknowledge it as a date or admit wanting to be more than friends with me. At the pool with Kim the next day, I told her I was giving up. I found myself having a wonderful time with him, but I was starting to wonder if he wasn't just having fun for the summer and had no plans of anything else.
That night we had dinner at Zia's with Kim and Greg. The mood at the table was definitely strained, I'd had enough. He'd brought me to dinner, on the way home he asked if we could go to his house to talk. Truth be told, I'd spent the whole day convincing myself why I needed to move on with my life, and had one too many drinks at dinner, and wasn't exactly in the mood to spend more time with him. Sitting in his backyard, I found myself getting more and more angry. Neither one of us said much, we sat in silence, anger boiling inside of me. I found myself becoming sick, and having never been inside his house except the basement, I didn't know which direction to run in for the bathroom. I ended up vomiting in his back yard and then insisted on cleaning up after myself. I assured him I was a nurse and was used to it, he could make himself useful by finding me some gum. After rinsing my mouth out and getting rid of the taste, we retreated inside. I think he was finally starting to realize how upset I was becoming over the games we'd been playing. He told me his reluctance was over a comment I'd made a few weeks prior. He'd asked me what would happen when I went back to school and I'd responded that I'd come home for holidays but that I had plenty of friends in Grantham to keep me busy. He'd interpreted it as me not wanting to start something at home when I was leaving home. He asked if I'd consider coming home more often, if I had something to come home for. I remember thinking to myself I was sitting in front of the guy I'd liked for over a year, it took him forever to finally admit it, would he please just shut up and kiss me.
That was early in the morning of August 13th, 2006. Several months later, while downloading pictures from his camera to his computer, Dan discovered pictures from his uncle Kevin's wedding. That's where he was before heading out with our friends the first night he ever met me. The date on the pictures was August 13th, 2005. I guess that date was meant to be ours. This August 13th, you'll find us standing on the beach in Stone Harbor, NJ, with our immediate families and closest friends, becoming husband and wife. I think it's pretty perfect.