Our Love Story - by Julie O'Connor

“'Scuse me, could you tell me where Dickens Hall is?” I felt stupid asking this random girl where it was, but than again, I was a freshman. I shouldn’t know where everything is yet.

“Right over there,” she said as she pointed to a building that I had just walked by earlier. “I must have FRESHMAN written all over my face,” I thought. How embarrassing. So I found the room where my environmental geography lab was in, and I walked in the classroom, only to find I was one of the last one’s in. I found the closest empty chair and sat myself down. The guy to my right looked at me and then continued to sit patiently, waiting for the teacher to start. As the instructor explained the syllabus, the rules, and the first topic of study, I noticed this guy (to the right) looking in my direction a few times. He would just look and then look back at his notebook. I didn’t know if I had some huge thing on my face or what. It kind of made me uncomfortable, but by now I didn’t care; I was just glad I’d found the place and was settled in.

Finally the teacher said we could start on the lab manual, and if we wanted to work in pairs, we could. Again, this same guy beside me looked in my direction, so I asked if he was going to help me with the lab assignment. Just as we were starting, the teacher, Chris, recommended us to use a pencil. I noticed this guy helping me that he was using a pen.

“Do you need a pencil?” I asked helpfully. He did, so I dug in my backpack for my other pencil.

“Here you go,” I said grinning. The lead had broke off, but I didn’t want to give up my good (sharp) pencil, so I gave him the bad one. He took it and scrambled out of the room, looking for a pencil sharpener. Right then, I remembered something. I had a little sharpener in my backpack. OOPS. I sort of laughed to myself. Finally he returned, and I told him how I had had a sharpener. He was like, “so when were you going to tell me that?” I apologized, still thinking it was kind of funny; especially after he claimed he went looking all over the entire building looking for a sharpener.

Finally we got to the lab manual. But somehow we got to talking to each other more than working. I asked if he was a freshman (I guess I thought since I was a freshman, everyone at this school must be freshman), but he let me know that he was indeed a senior, at Manhattan Christian College. Hum, I thought, that’s cool, he’s a Christian. So I told him how I had been going to the Mennonite Church here in town, just so he knew that I was a Christian too. So we talked and talked and I found out his name was Brent. He told me his last name, but I couldn’t remember it. We worked the entire class time together, and when we had to leave, I was hoping he’d walk out with me and maybe we could talk a little while. This guy seemed easy to talk to so I wanted to talk a little more. But he had other plans. He tore out of Dickens Hall, and I was kind of upset. “Jerk,” I thought. Why was he so nice to me, and then he couldn’t even talk to me after class? I went back to the dorms and continued on with my day, but I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I laid in my bed, feeling sad because I enjoyed talking to him, yet he didn’t seem to feel the same way.

That was a Thursday; the first week of my freshman semester at college. The next week during the geography lecture, I heard someone calling my name. I looked and there was Brent. He invited me to sit with him, so I (obviously) accepted. We talked during the lecture instead of listening to the professor (Dr. Goodin). I remember him complimenting me on my shoes, and I had noticed he was a wonderful artist. Of course he was modest, but he was a great artist. Somehow we got on the subject of what I had done the night before. I told him that my roommate and I had went to Wal-Mart, looking for the new “ Alabama” CD, but couldn’t find it. He told me he worked at Wal-Mart, so we got to talking about the CD. He informed me that he liked Alabama, and he liked a certain song, but he thought I’d laugh at him if he told me which one. I reassured him I wouldn’t, so he started singing “Play me some mountain music,” and I started to sing along with him. I loved that song too. So there we were, in Environmental Geography lecture, singing a country song together. It was quite a sight.

Anyway, after our singing a chatting, I told him that he’d have to help me everyday during lab class because I wouldn’t understand anything if he didn’t help me. This wasn’t my “pick up line” either. I really didn’t understand the stuff. I mean, to show how bad it was, during that first lab class, Brent told me to find Moscow while he did something else, and when he asked where it was, I said I don’t know, I haven’t found it yet. It was pretty funny. So, I told him that he’d have to help me out. But, he informed me that he wasn’t supposed to be in that lab class because he was only in there that first time because his real lab time had conflicted with an MCC class. I was devastated. I didn’t want to be in the lab if he wasn’t in there, to help me that is. Well, I sort of liked him too. :)

I went home, thinking this news over. “I’m dropping the class,” I thought. So, I dropped the class, but I didn’t drop my thoughts of Brent. I thought about him a lot. I even was going to look up his phone number, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, think of his last name. So, I tried to make myself forget about him. Of course I couldn’t. He was just too nice of a guy. Just a neat, decent, fun, Christian guy. Of course he was five years older, but hey, I didn’t mind an older man.

The next Thursday, my roommate and I were in Wal-Mart again, looking for the CD. Still we couldn’t find it. I was keeping my eye open for Brent, but didn’t see him. As we were leaving the electronics department (where he said he worked), I saw him. Wow, he looked good. I’d never seen him without a cap, and he looked even better without it. “Hum,” I thought.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you during class. I thought you died and fell off the face of the earth,” is what he said to me. I filled him in on what I had done, and he seemed a little sad. I told him that I wouldn’t had dropped the class if he would have been in my lab class permanently, and then he felt bad. So we chit-chatted for a while, and then my roommate and I had to get going. He asked for my number, saying we should get together sometime. I wrote it down for him, asked him for his, and he wrote it down for me. Then he put his phone number in his pocket. So I was like, “Can I have your number? I think you put it in your pocket.” He felt kind of dumb, but it was kind of funny. So we said good bye and I left.

I was pretty excited. For one thing, no one had ever asked for my number. I felt so giddy, like a little twelve-year-old. My roommate asked me if I’d ever consider dating this guy Brent, and I said yeah, of course I would. That night I went to Christian Challenge with my roommate and during the time there, something happened to me. This kind of thing had never happened to me before, but it was pretty incredible. While at Christian Challenge, I got this overwhelming feeling that this guy Brent was the man I was going to marry. Holy Cow!! It was just this feeling that I could never even begin to explain, but it was so powerful. I knew there was something incredible about this guy, and that we were going to get married! It was almost funny; I mean I had just talked to this guy a total of maybe three times, and here I was thinking he was the man for me. I knew no one would believe me so I didn’t say anything to anyone. I’ve heard people tell me that you’ll know when it’s the right one for you, but no one warned me it would be before we even started dating!

So I thought this guy wouldn’t call. I mean, why would he? He didn’t know me, I didn’t know him, and he probably had much better things to do than call some freshman girl. But, I was wrong. That Sunday night he called. We talked about some pretty heavy stuff—my Christian beliefs and what I thought about some things. It was kind of weird, yet it was so awesome that I could have this deep conversation about Jesus Christ with him. He asked me out; well, he said he’d meet me after my Algebra test on Tuesday night and we’d go out and do something. Two days! I could hardly wait. Let me tell you what, that Tuesday night, I’ve never had such a hard time concentrating on a test; and, it was the first test of the year in that class. It’s amazing what love (or just the thought of it) does to us. By the way, I ended up getting a D on the test!

When I walked out of taking the test, I thought he’d be right there, awaiting me. But, I found him nowhere. “Maybe he stood me up. No, I don’t think he’s that kind of guy.” But still, I couldn’t find him. So I went looking all around, yet he wasn’t anywhere. Finally I saw someone coming at me, and I knew it was him. We said our greeting, he asked about the test, and I said I think I flunked it. (I was pretty close!)

We talked about what to do, and we ended up going to the dorms because we were going to include my roommate. You know, so it wasn’t so uncomfortable; none of the one on one yet. So I showed him up to our room, and introduced him and my roommate Leslie. Brent found our computer, and that was it. He was on that for a while. My mom called while he was there (but I didn’t tell her this guy was in our room; a guy I cared about) and told me how my cousin just got engaged; and in my mind I was thinking that could be me pretty soon. It sounds so crazy but I just knew we’d be together forever. It was crazy thinking, but it’s how I felt. Well, finally we decided to go to Village Inn. What a blast. I didn’t know going there could be so much fun. First of all, Brent (I don’t know if he was showing off or what) drove up on the curb when he was parking. Then we (or I) just got on this laughing streak while we were eating. He was so funny, and it was so easy to talk to him. When it was getting late, he took Leslie and me home to the dorms. But along the way, he had to play some Irish jig music for us (since he was Irish). The music was so funny that we died laughing. But anyway, he dropped us off, and as Leslie and I were in the elevator, she said something to me that I’ll never forget. She said, “You’re going to marry that guy someday.” To hear someone else say it was pretty awesome! I asked her why she thought that, and she said we just were. There’s was something about both of us that really “clicked.” Maybe I wasn’t so crazy thinking the way I did.

That following Thursday (two days later), I went to his place and we went to Chapel at MCC. Afterwards we went to Burger King and had lunch. While there, he told me he had something to ask me, but he didn’t want to be too presumptuous. I insisted that he ask me, because I knew it had something to do with our “relationship.” But I guess he wasn’t ready to ask me so I said that was okay.

We had decided (with Leslie when we all went to Village Inn) to go on a double date with Leslie and Brent’s roommate on Friday. But, Brent didn’t know how I felt about him, and I had no clue about how he felt about me. So we went on this double date to Topeka; first to Toys ‘r’ Us, then miniature golfing, ate at the Olive Garden, and then went randomly driving around Topeka, and finally to Wal-Mart where we played tag. Then we went back to their apartment where we watched “UHF” until 2:30 in the morning. It was a “different” sort of a double date, but it was fun. I remember sitting in the back seat with Brent, and feeling giddy every time our arms would touch. How pathetic! I was falling in love; I couldn’t help it. It was so great!

That next Tuesday Brent and I went to Baskin Robbins. We sat down and were eating when he popped that question again. He said he had something to ask me. It was pretty scary, not knowing what he was going to ask, and what would actually come out of my mouth. So he asked it; and this is what he said.

“Julie, I was just wondering if you think we’re just friends or more than friends?” Then he just looked at me. “What do I say?” I thought. Do I say “Yes, we’re more than friends!! We’re getting married some day?” I couldn’t say that, even though that’s what I thought in the back of my mind. What if he didn’t like me in return? Then again, he wouldn’t ask me this question if he didn’t feel something, right? So I said, “I think we’re more than just friends.” And then I don’t think I breathed for a while. I couldn’t believe I had just said that to him. This was not like me; I usually get scared out of my pants when faced with such a question. But now he knew. And now it was my turn! I could ask the question back at him. But, before I could ask he said, “I think we’re more than just friends too.”:) What a moment! When we found out how each other felt! What a feeling! After that, it was magical.

Things got better and better after that. Our conversations got deeper and deeper, we got to know each other better and better. The weird thing, but also something I’m glad about now, is the fact that we didn’t hold hands or even kiss until almost a month after we’d been dating. It was cool because I knew that he liked me for me, not for our physical relationship. Now to the time we kissed! One Sunday night we had went to McDonald’s for some ice cream, and then we went out to Tuttle Creek. It was pretty chilly out there, but we went out to a rock right by the water. It was a beautiful night, with the stars twinkling. We talked for a long time, just sitting there with his arm around me. Then he said he had something to tell me. He said “I’m sorry I love you,” and I said, “what?” I had thought he said “sorry I know you.” So he repeated it, “Sorry I love you.” I asked why he was sorry, and he said because when saying you love someone, it should be really special, and it should take a long time before coming to that point because it’s a huge thing to say. Since we hadn’t been dating very long, he didn’t think he should say I love you, “but that’s how I feel. I really love you,” he said. We waited a while after that, and he asked what I thought about it. I said, “I love you too!” It was so awesome! I couldn’t believe someone actually loved me! Wow!

It was getting late, and he said we should be going. We stood up, we hugged each other, and then it was like we both knew what was going to happen. He looked into my eyes, and we kissed. It was pretty great, and then we kissed once more before we left.

To be continued...

Our Love Story - by Julie O'Connor

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