It was October 22, 2022, I woke up to the same sorrow and sadness I have felt every day for the last three months. I sit in my bed with the same feeling that today is going to be the same as every other, miserable and fake. The plans to go out with friends that day hardly brought me any joy other than that I would have a distraction from the mess in my mind. I got out of bed and put on my makeup, did my hair, and put on a green flannel, white tank top, and my favorite pair of mom jeans while I waited to be picked up. Little did I know that the upcoming events of today were going to change my life forever… 

As I was walking into the familiar brick house of one of my closest friends, I felt the crisp cold October breeze. The air smelled cool with cut grass and fallen yellow and red leaves. When I went inside, I saw the familiar faces of people that I saw here often, then I see one that I’d never seen at this house before. A boy with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, ripped jeans, and a black t-shirt who I once saw as a close friend but now see as just an old friend. It was unexpected, and I felt a sense of remembrance and a wave of all the memories with late-night FaceTimes and bus rides. I thought to myself, “Wow, I kinda miss being close with him.” The night of random talks, laughing, and just being with friends was the first sense of happiness I had felt in a long time. I was happy to be able to reconnect with an old friend and just be myself again. I thought that this happiness would only last for the rest of the night. 

The next morning, I went home from the party and got an unexpected text reading, 

“Hey do you wanna facetime tonight”? 

I feel my cheeks get red and my body filled with a rush of happiness and excitement running through my body. I happily respond with a simple,

 “Yea just call me whenever”. 

That night on the phone, I didn’t have a worry in the world. Looking at my phone screen I see the light reflecting off of his blonde hair and his bright blue eyes, which were looking slightly darker from the shadow of his hair. He asked me for help hanging things in his room because he didn’t know where to put them or how to do so. He would ask silly questions that I thought everyone knew, and I was smiling or laughing almost the entire time we were on the phone. 

The conversation was easy and never forced even after all the time we went with no contact. We said goodnight and hung up the phone and we texted for about a half hour longer then neither of us wanted to stop talking so we called each other back and stayed on the phone for the rest of the night. We continued to FaceTime every day, and he started to pick me up anytime I had a bad day or was upset. We would just get food, go to Starbucks, go shopping, or even just drive around to make me feel better. Everything turned into this beautiful routine that I had always longed for, which made me realize that he wasn’t at all who I thought he was; he wasn’t the rude or quiet kid like I had thought he would be, but instead, he was thoughtful, kind, funny, and so many other things I never would have imagined. We started to hang out and talk more and more every day. 

Walking into his house for the first time was welcoming. We went downstairs to his room, which didn’t have a door because his room had recently been built but not finished. There were red LED lights and different rapper-inspired tapestries hung on the walls and ceiling, one of which I gave to him a year or two back. I thought it was so sweet that he still had it and hung it up. We would lay in his bed, watch movies, and talk for hours. Going home was always the worst part because we never wanted to leave each other. The routine of talking and hanging out went on for about a month, and then one day I fell asleep in his bed, which was always 100 times comfier than mine. When I woke up, he was playing with my hair and started talking about how much he has enjoyed hanging out with me the last couple of weeks along with a couple other things, and then he asked me,

 “Will you be my girlfriend?”

 I could not have been happier than I was in that moment. My face was hot from happiness, and I was almost in tears. I said, 

“YES!”

 and suddenly all of my drowsiness from my nap disappeared, and I jumped into his arms and hugged him. If I told myself three months ago that I would be in a relationship with him, I would have told myself I was crazy and delusional.

I have been with the boy from the party for almost a year now; next month is our one year, and choosing to have him by my side is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have been the happiest that I have been in years. Over the last year, we have fought and we have argued, but we always work it out because we both want things to work out. I never thought I would ever have the fairy tale love story I had always fantasized about as a kid, but now I know, I get to live that fantasy now. I didn’t think I would ever find someone who was as down for me as I was for them, but what I learned is that the best things in life are the ones you never saw coming.