B: Well, it was actually one of those moments you only see in the movies. No, I'm serious. I was at a rehearsal for Phantom and it was the first time the dancers were going to be meeting the actors. We were fully made up in our stage makeup and wearing these puffy white tutus (just my luck, right?). Then this guy walked in and all of the other actors instantly lit up. Everyone went over to him to say hello, shake his hand, give him a big hug. At the same time, all of us dancers became your typical group of school girls. Giggling and blushing and staring. Like honestly, it was like we'd never seen a boy before. But I knew in that moment that I wanted him for myself. Oh. The boy was Logan, by the way. L: My first encounter with Brandi was one evening after some sort of theater thing that my dad was kind enough to let me tag along for. Sitting with some new friends and some Pepsi cola, I look back towards the kitchen and see a pair of big brown eyes and the cutest ears I’ve ever seen. I remarked, and my people were quick to point out that I was 1) looking at the owner’s daughter so back off, and 2) she’s too young for me, so quit being a creep. A while later, I was finally welcomed into the theater on my own, and was in rehearsals for Phantom. One evening some dancers came by to take part in a ballet scene and I saw this one girl with the cutest ears I’ve ever seen. Without a dimly lit bar and a small kitchen window between us, I could tell that the rest of her face was pretty nice, too! A while after that, I tried to flirt with her but did a really bad job (is anybody surprised?). Thankfully, Brandi kept the conversation going (first mistake) and now here we are!
B: Let's start off by reminding everyone that I was a serious rebel in high school. This was the night of my senior prom and I had told my mom that I was going to my friend, Danielle's, afterwards. I had an entire back story and everything. I gave her the address, a list of people that were going to be there, and a phone number in case she wanted to fact check me. In reality, I spent twenty minutes trying to find Logan's house (he gave very bad directions). We went his room (scandalous, right?) and eventually decided to watch something. He went to his computer and turned on Super Troopers (yassss). Apparently, he liked my response to him choosing that particular movie. After several hours of watching various movies and shows and your basic first date chit-chatting, I did a thing that I often: I told him I was tired, proceeded to roll over, and instantly fall asleep. He calls it my robot shutdown. L: The first time Brandi and I spent time together that I might call a date, she came over to my house for a movie. I’d say Netflix and Chill, but it really was Netflix! We talked a whole bunch and watched Super Troopers (the start of a truly great thing, to be sure). It was really amazing. Brandi was exhausted and at one point, she rolled over, curled up, and shut down like somebody flipped an off switch - it was amazing. (She still shuts down like a robot, but now she sprawls out over the entire bed instead of curling up into a tiny ball). Our first real date, though, we went to Olive Garden in Jamestown! I was stalking her twitter (you know, like a creep), and noticed she mentioned Olive Garden a lot, so I asked if I could take her there. I remember that she looked so beautiful and we had so much fun together, which is still the case to this day. I also remember that I splashed pineapple juice all over myself. There was also a man with a baseball cap on, which bugged me.
B: *see Logan's response. Honestly, enough said* L: I really struggled to find the right way to propose. Surely, Brandi will say yes no matter what I do (or she’ll say no, regardless). But how do I balance my performative nature and my desire for spectacle with a tight schedule and a modest budget? Finally, I decided that the most important thing about the proposal was Brandi. We met on stage, we’ve performed plenty, we’ve done enough - this is a situation where I can focus on the Love of my life and our friends and family. I decided to take her to Dinner at Snuffy’s on night. I figured we could have a nice dinner for two, and then at the end of dinner, I’d have some people waiting in the kitchen for us. I could tell Brandi how gorgeous she is, how much I’ve enjoyed the past few years with her, how I can’t imagine spending my life with anybody else, how she is the only thing that I’m sure I need from this day until my end of days…. Then I’d get on one knee and ask her to marry me, and her loved ones would come out of the kitchen to join us. I told many friends of the plan so they could come by afterwards and celebrate with us! It was going to be a beautiful way to keep things about Brandi and to involve our loved ones. Well. There were some miscommunications, it seems, and some misunderstandings. People showed up at the wrong times, people didn't come through the right doors, I got flustered, things went south. So I stuttered out a few quasi-coherent one-star rom-com lines - tried to take one knee (but ended up getting the back of a chair up my ass), and ended up making an overall fool of myself. Which I guess is totally in character. Brandi was absolutely not caught off guard, she knew what was happening literally the entire time - bless her heart for playing along and letting me try! And she still said yes. Which is pretty neat.