our meet cute, part one.

I’ve known Jeffrey since the fifth grade. He attended our youth group’s program for fifth graders. I liked him right away. I probably like liked him right away, but it’s been awhile, so who really knows. What immediately struck me was that he wasn’t afraid to show all the colors of his personality. I gravitated toward his humor, his easiness, and his genuine interest in making friends with the people around him.

In the sixth grade we attended the same middle school. I remember being really excited about it. (I definitely had a crush on him at this point.) I remember talking to my best friend, Sara, all about him and how much I liked him. She was very gracious about the whole thing because I’m pretty sure I talked too much about Jeffrey in those days. Still, Jeffrey and I were just friends. I was only in middle school, though, so it’s not like I was waiting for some serious relationship to bloom. It hurt a little when he dated another girl at our middle school*, but I was resilient and carefree. It didn’t matter. I think after that time our relationship was strictly friend-to-friend. I pushed him out of my mind as a crush and moved him into the friend category. Let’s just say we carried on as friends for a long time. Like, fast-forwarding-to-our-junior-year-of-high-school long. I remember my sister cajoling me to like Jeffrey (He’s a stellar guy. She was smart.), but I was a dum-dum and liked a few other guys during my high school years.

* I use the term ‘dated’ very loosely. We were in middle school, people. However, I feel the need to point this out because it will matter later, when I tell you that Jeffrey was my first boyfriend and I was his first girlfriend. Because I technically don’t count his middle school relationship as an actual relationship. You understand.

In high school, Jeffrey, Sara, and I took French class together. We sat together, we had nicknames for one another (our names spelled backward, so original), and we were a regular Three Musketeers kind of bunch. I think I probably had a crush on Jeffrey at that time. I probably (definitely) told my family members (like I said, my sister and mom were (are) big fans of Jeffrey) that I did not have a crush on Jeffrey, but it’s time to confess – I was lying. I think they knew. At the end of our junior year, I really had a crush on Jeffrey. I remember we joked about him taking me to prom that year. We were both shy, it ultimately didn’t happen, but I remember wishing that it would. The school year ended, and Jeffrey and I spent many a summer nights conversing on AIM (it was popular at the time, kay?). I loved staying up late and talking to Jeffrey. I think, at that point, my parents wondered if the amount of time I was spending in front of the computer was healthy, but I really wanted to be old-fashioned (What am I talking about? The computer is the opposite of old-fashioned. I guess I mean old-fashioned in the wanting-the-guy-to-make-the-first-move way) and didn’t have the guts to make the first move.

I'll be back tomorrow with the rest. And on Wednesday I have a list of Christina's quirks to share with you! Have a wonderful Monday! xo, R.