I met him on August 4th, 2016, when he stole my schedule from me and ripped it up just because he wanted to know my name.

I was upset with him but at the same time, I was intrigued.  It was pretty cool; we would talk a lot during the whole school year and were friends all through seventh grade.

The best part really began in October of 2017 after a field trip to Hobbs Grove in eighth grade. I remember it perfectly. I was at a grocery store and we had been texting back and forth when the question came up, “So…Who do you like?” I wouldn’t say, I mean I liked him but, what if I said that and then he didn’t like me? What if he laughed? What if he really wanted advice about some other girl? so I made him tell me first (I wasn’t about to suffer any humiliation) and he said he liked me! It was the answer I’d been hoping for, waiting for with butterflies in my stomach while I waited for him to text back. I texted ” I like you too” back (pretty quickly I admit, but I did!). But that was it, we weren’t “going out” we just said we liked each other. We talked from October until January when he FINALLY asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes, and we dated for a couple of months, until summer.

Going into freshman year we didn’t speak, in fact, we didn’t speak all of Freshman year. Sophomore year rolled around and we would talk here and there, not going out of our way or anything, but you could say we were friends. At the Granite Bowl Football Game two years ago my friend told me she wanted to take a picture with him (he is a football player) on the field after the game, so I agreed to go with her. After finding him in the crowd we saw him and she asked if she could take a picture with him. I took their picture and when I went up to show it to them, that’s when he asked me if I wanted to take a picture with him. I said yes awkwardly laughed and my friend took our picture, after that, I went home, no biggie. He texted me (guess he kept my number all this time) and asked me to send him the picture, but then he kept the conversation going and it kept going until before I knew it we started dating again.

Then a global pandemic hit the planet (aka COVID) and we broke up again. We still texted here and there, always stayed in touch and we would always catch up with each other. During a short period of time, we didn’t talk at all and during that time I moved to another town and since we were in a lock-down doing online school I never went out. I moved around the end of March and thought we would never talk again (I was wrong).

A couple of days before my birthday (in May) when he started texting again. He asked me if I was doing anything for my birthday, I said no and he offered to take me out. I was hesitant at first but after all the months in lockdown, only seeing people on Zoom and Facetime, I agreed. He came to my house (which I had just moved to and not told him the address of ) and told me he already had an idea about where I lived (creeeeppyy). We talked outside covering everything that had happened during the time we were not speaking, and then he left. The day of my birthday he took me out for the day and it was like no time had passed at all, it was comfortable, and so we started dating again. We have been together since. Although I know I am young, I’ve learned a lot about both of us and can see how much I’ve changed, he’s changed, and we’ve changed and grown mentally since we first met.

Everything takes time and nothing is perfect from the jump. Be patient and remember to communicate, because your feelings are valid. We are absolutely not the same people we used to be. We are still growing and learning new things about each other every day. To make things work it can’t be one-sided, both people need to know their intentions and work their way up from there. Is this a fairytale ending? No. Will we end up together forever and live happily ever after? Who knows. But what I do know is this. Every moment is not the absolute best and there are moments when you want to maybe rip your (or his) hair out (especially when it’s a bleached mullet). Relationships are hard work, but regardless of all of the obstacles you will face, you’ll be facing them together.