Well, it's not your typical love story. It's actually just a cute story that we should probably save somewhere so our kids can roll their eyes at it one day.
It wasn't like Romeo and Juliet. It was more like Milo and Ottis than Romeo and Juliet, but in the very best way possible.
It was summer, 2003, and I was sort of looking for a job (because I was a spoiled brat), and David was just coming home from his mission. I was sort of dating a guy in Utah, but it being a long distance thing that wasn't really going anywhere, it wasn't anything special. My roommates and I were having such a fun time! My newest roommate, Lindsay, was a rural Idaho girl who would be a fresh little freshman in the fall. She quickly got a job at the call center (a job that I had turned up my nose at). It just so happened the David had also got a job at the call center since he'd been home.
Lindsay came home one day and said something like, "There is this guy at the call center who wanted to come by later. He said he liked my pants." (She had on these crazy pants. It wasn't anything creepy.) I was a little annoyed, because this was clearly just the typical "let's go meet some girls" tactic used by guys at BYU-I because we didn't have bars. It was a little bit more forward than I thought tasteful, but whatever. We were basically in a bubble and we could do whatever we wanted. Or, more accurately, nothing that we wanted.
So, since I had wanted to run to the mall with Lindsay later, I found this a tiny bit annoying, but since we also didn't owe these guys anything, we continued on as if we were going to go out on our own. I hopped in the shower to get ready to go out.
While I was in the shower, Dave (the guy from the call center, who liked the crazy pants) and his high school friend, now roommate, came to our house. They were standing in the living room, having just walked in, when I came down the stairs in my t-shirt and wet hair. We were sloppily introduced by Lindsay. I vaguely recall glancing at each other, then looking at Lindsay to see what she was going to do. Was she going to tell them to bug off since we were going to have a girls' night? (Every night was girls' night since my boyfriend was out of town and she was just a baby.) Or was she going to invite them to stay and hang out? I had my heart set on buying some red lipstick (oddly), and it was broken when Dave pointed out that we hadn't been paying attention to the time--the mall would be closed by the time we got there. I was slightly more annoyed at this red-headed guy in my living room here to flirt with my roommate. So, we sat down and talked.
Reuben was quiet, David was not. He was funny! Lindsay wasn't picking up his jokes, and was actually being a little bit mean, almost cold. Apparently, Reuben had called dibs on me, and Dave had called dibs on Lindsay. Dave and I had talked about how I was taking a class (or had taken it) from his Dad while he was on his mission. It was fun and really easy to spend time with them because we weren't trying to impress each other. He was trying to impress Lindsay, and I wasn't trying at all because of the Utah boyfriend.
We parted ways, but saw each other pretty much every day after that. Our house of girls and their apartment of boys were fast friends and we did all sorts of things together. His buddies from high school (Edgar and Reuben, and eventually Jared) were so fun to hang out with. Apparently, after the first night, Reuben decided that I wasn't interested, so he let David step in since he liked how I laughed at his jokes. Lindsay said she wasn't interested in Dave, but I wasn't really either since I had a boyfriend (sort of). We became really good friends.
One day, after a weekend visiting my boyfriend, Edgar and Reuben came over to visit while Dave was at work. We were all sitting around talking, and we started talking about when was the last time we'd kissed someone (a stupid topic, granted, but we were basically children still). We all had a good laugh about that, and everyone in the circle of friends kind of sensed that David and I were starting to like each other much more than friends. Incidentally, I hadn't told any of them yet that I had a boyfriend. It hadn't seemed necessary yet, but it was quickly becoming necessary. My roommates teasingly turned to me and asked, "Hey, Crystal. When was the last time you kissed someone??" They knew good and well I'd just seen my boyfriend (and had probably kissed him), but they also knew that Dave's roommates were there and would probably spill the beans about my relationship status with Dave, who was clearly falling head-over-heels in love with me. (wink, wink)
I basically confessed, and begged them not to say anything to Dave. They went home. Immediately after they went home, and about the exact time that Dave would be getting off work, Dave showed up at my door (after curfew) and wanted to see me. I balked, thinking that his roommates had just told him everything and he was about to tell me what a jerk I was.
We went to our neighbor's house (also the family of a kid who went to high school with Dave) and sat on their swing bench (you know, a covered one you leave in the yard). We talked a lot about my previous relationship fails, and my current one, and his mission and life plans. He was obviously not taking me seriously, because right after I told him I didn't want to date him or my current boyfriend anymore, he said, "I don't want to make things cloudy for you." Then he kissed me.
A lot of excitement went on when I told my roommates about this. So, I broke up with my boyfriend (over the phone), and went on with my life, being friends (almost more than friends) with Dave. About that time there was a fireside by President Hinckley. He talked to the single women at some point during his talk to women in general and said that we should seek out companions that were kind to us, basically. It occurred to me, that David was the nicest guy I'd ever "dated." He was so obviously a great choice to date and marry. So, that was my plan.
He had, meanwhile, moved on. When I told him that I did want to date after all, he was a little surprised, and probably scared, too. However, that was the beginning of a great drama. On again, off again, one couple among many of our mutual friends. It was a really fun school year for us. I terrified him when I left for Christmas break by pining for him a little too fiercely, and writing him a super long love letter that mentioned marriage more than once. So, of course, we broke up in January. We ring shopped around that same time, too, which might be why we broke up, actually. He got scared. I was the first girl he dated off of his mission, which according to the "rules" is usually a bad idea. I didn't have any problems, though. I was ready. I was willing to wait for him to come around.
I was so willing, actually, that when he started dating other girls, I loaned him my car for dates. Secretly, I was just keeping tabs on him. He started bringing the car back earlier and earlier, a good sign of shorter and shorter dates. In about early March, he decided that obviously I was the one he wanted to marry. We loved each other, we had a really solid friendship, we had mutual friends, we just liked being around each other.
So when his sister, Lauren, tried out for a summer theater program, we went along to support her at try-outs. We were both invited to try out, too. We didn't have anything prepared, but we were both dramatic (and confident and talented) enough to pull something together. We decided that, although we'd started dating again, if we both got into this theater for the summer, we'd get married before that (so, pretty quickly) since it would be awkward otherwise. I think we must have both known we'd get in, and that we were both ready to get married. We got cast for the summer, and we made plans to get married in May before we had to go up to Macks Inn to work.
We went ring shopping again, David proposed and I said yes, we planned a wedding, and the rest is history. I am convinced that our friendship has made our marriage as solid as it is. I love him so much. More and more very day.
