We're getting married!

[Claire's version] Growing up in a small town, you tend to know everyone--especially in Wilmington, everyone knows the Van Duynes. However, I never really knew this particular Van Duyne, William. Until one day at school, we were passing each other in the hallway and he said, "Hey, nice job at your dance recital." He was there to support his niece, Laura, and I still vividly remember what he was wearing in that theater; a grey baggy Wildcat hoodie and red penguin pajama pants (his fashion sense has slightly improved since then). I suppose you could say he caught my eye and stood out from the start. From that point on, I began to notice William more and more and developed a silly crush on him. I swooned and talked a lot about him at cheer practice with several teammates and conveniently enough, we had to cheer for him at basketball and football games. I was able to get his Snapchat (shoutout to Jessica) and worked up the courage to reach out to him while ice skating with some friends. Our relationship didn't take off right away because William, like typical teenage boys, failed to notice the hints that I liked him. We spent nearly a year as just friends, attending homecoming together and hanging out. Finally, on October 22, 2016, after a football game in the Burger King parking lot, he asked me to be his girlfriend; his best friend Dustin providing moral support from the back seat. The following day, we had our first date at Dollinger's pumpkin farm, and we still keep that a tradition every fall. We were the cliché high school couple: the football player and cheerleader, cheering him on every Friday night from the sidelines. Cute, right? William has always encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone, in the best way. We followed each other to Aurora University, graduated (even while being remote for half of our studies), and here we are today. We happily live together, still in our small town of Wilmington—at least for now!