I drove down from Dayton to attend my first Swing dance exchange in Cincinnati in hot, humid August of 2013. Aaron drove up with friends from Louisville. At the first big Friday night dance, I started chatting with a group of girls, and Aaron joined in. He got real serious and said he had a question: "Hypothetically speaking, is it wrong to ask a girl to dance just because you think she's pretty, even if she's a bad dancer?" Not really knowing the guy, and trying to be sociable, I did my best to answer honestly and thoughtfully....something along the lines of, "No, not necessarily..." After he let me finish my long-winded answer, he looked and me and said, "No? well, in that case.........would you like to dance?" Stunned by his gall and his insult (He said I was a bad dancer!!) I immediately said NO! And went to dance with someone else. I kept him in my peripheral vision after that, but somehow he still managed to sneak up at the beginning of a song and grab my hand--without asking!!--to dance with me. I continued to 'bump' into and talk to him throughout the rest of the weekend, at the late-nights, formal dances and afternoon dance/hangouts. By Sunday night's dance, he admitted to me that he "may have screwed up with this one girl, by offending her when he really just wanted to get her number." Seeing that he meant me (!) I decided to do something clever too. I found a slip of paper to write my number on. When we danced again a few songs later, I told him I thought I could help him fix this problem...I then attempted to suavely pull the paper from my pocket and slide it into his hand during a turn...key-word "Attempted." I don't think I dropped it but it certainly wasn't smooth or sneaky! But I think he still appreciated my attempt to be as clever as him... ;)

After that first weekend Exchange, I was pumped! By that Sunday I had given him my number, and a group of us had agreed to go to another dance a few weeks later in Tennessee. Aaron called me that week and we talked on the phone a few times about the upcoming event. That weekend, he and I were able to spend a lot more time together, hanging out, goofing off, and of course, dancing! By the end of that weekend, we had dinner together and agreed it was worth trying long-distance dating.