Background: Alaycia had just been living in Northern Virginia for her last semester of BYU student teaching in Fairfax County. Justus was living in Logan, Utah, and had just been hired by Salt Lake's Unified Fire Authority. Story: When the semester ended in April, Alaycia was in Provo for the summer, waiting to move back to Arlington in August. Justus was coming down to Salt Lake from Logan to do job interviews and onboarding before his camp started in August. Alaycia had not been on a date in a long while, and Justus was looking for companionship. They both turned to the tried-and-true Hinge dating app for love (or at least a free meal for Alaycia). Somehow, despite their great geographical distance, their profiles came into contact at the beginning of June. Justus was the first to initiate contact by liking one of Alaycia's pictures. (Pointing at the Liberty Bell with a lumberjack in the background - how quirky!) She received the notification and saw that he was a firefighter- it was an instant swipe yes! After exchanging some cringy messages back and forth, they lost contact for a while. In the meantime, Alaycia went to Panama on her graduation celebration trip. When she got back, Justus messaged to see if she wanted to get lunch in Provo. They exchanged numbers and planned to get some Canes on a Wednesday afternoon.
Short answer: Canes, bowling, BYU Paleontology Museum, BYU Creamery Ice Cream, and the Y trailhead parking lot. Long answer: Justus and Alaycia planned to get Canes at 2 pm. Alaycia got there right before Justus and was waiting outside. As he approached Canes, Alaycia asks if he was Justus, and then, without letting him take another breath, goes, "How do you say my name?" He, of course, says it wrong, so she corrects him, and then they go inside and eat. The meal was wonderful, so they decided to keep it going and do some bowling at Fat Cats across the street. On the walk down the road, apparently, Justus tried to be smooth and ask to hold Alaycia's hand. Alaycia is a dummy and was too concerned crossing the street to notice the moves Justus was making. After an awkward exchange and thoroughly crushing Justus's spirits, the two continued on to go bowling at the local FatCats. They took turns bowling, but mostly talking and expressing their past accomplishments and future dreams. After the game (Alaycia demolished of course), they still didn't want to go home. Because Justus had never been to Provo before, he suggested going to the BYU Paleontology museum. Alaycia loves a good museum so they headed off to see some dinosaur bones. They got there and bantered as they strolled through the dinosaur bones- right up until they were kicked out because it closed. Again, they didn't want the time to end, so they went to get a sweet treat at the BYU creamery ice cream (#classicprovomoment). They got their scoops and then Alaycia suggested they go eat it at the Y trailhead parking lot. (Side note: This is her favorite place in the whole world) Justus agreed, and they enjoyed more conversation and yummy ice cream over the best view of the valley. Finally, Alaycia realized that it was 7:30 and she was late for an activity! She thanked Justus kindly drove her back to my car and they parted ways. In conclusion: It was an epic first date.
Justus will still be working for Unified Fire Authority and taking online prerequisites for a paramedic program. Alaycia will be working at a junior high in Ogden teaching 7th-grade math. We will be moving to Ogden shortly after Justus's lease ends in Tremonton!