The best day of our lives awaits

It was my first semester at Nyack College. My roommate, Erin, quickly became one of my best friends. One day we decided we wanted to go to a local store to get some snacks, but we did not want to walk there. Erin's older brother lived nearby so she asked him if he could drive us. On the way there we were listening to music, jamming out to songs, and he asks me what instruments I played, if any. When I responded with the piano, he asked if I was interested in jamming out some time with his band. Super low-key and chill. I thought it sounded like a lot fun, as I had never played music with others as a band before. So the day I go to play with his band finally comes. I'm excited, I meet his band and JD was the lead the singer. They go over all their original songs, and me thinking it was a jam session, I was a little confused. But assuming I'm probably just sitting in on one of their practices, I went a long with it. We start working on one song where there is a lot of piano parts and female vocals, and JD says "you'll probably have to rewrite all this stuff" and that's when I realized "maybe this isn't just a jam session". Erin immediately texted me asking if it was I knew I was joining the band, and if I was ok with it, because it was never previously discussed. I texted her back, essentially saying I was unsure, but if they asked I would probably join. Practice officially ends and JD sits down in front of me and asks "Ok, what were you told this was? Because we're obviously thinking different things". I told him I was under the impression that this was just a jam session, nothing formal. JD then proceeds to tell me that he was told that I was auditioning, and that they've been looking for a pianist. After everything was cleared up, JD asked me if I still wanted to join the band, and I happily accepted!

It had been a while since I had been in a band so I decided to start something. I called upon a few friend that I knew would be interested. Over the course of a year it had gone through a few line-up changes due to myself and others kind of unsure of what the future was entailing, especially when it came to my decision of moving to FL for school or staying and working for Chick-fil-A. When I finally made the choice to stay with Chick-fil-A and do school online, myself and the remaining members decided to move forward. One day the bassist of the band told me he knows of this girl who plays keyboard and sings and "really wants to join!" He showed me her instagram and my first thought was "man, she's cute!" He then told me she was 18. which led me to my second thought "Nope, she's young!" I told him let's set up an audition though, so we can determine if she's a good fit. The night came and there were FAR too many people in this meeting, but I asked her what is the best way for her to learn and she kind of shrugged. I was already kind of annoyed about the fact that we were practically having a concert that I decided we can just play through the songs and see where she picks up. We got to one song that her part was very important so I walked her through it. I could tell she was very confused at why she was here, which made me more upset. After we were done I kind of felt like I was being a jerk, and decided to be more understanding so I went to her and asked "Why do you think you're here?" She told me she "thought we were just gonna jam but realized that that wasn't the case about half way through." I asked if she even wanted to join the band and she said yes! We immediately brought her in. After practice we went to my favorite diner. Heritage, in Hackensack NJ. I watched her interact, with her friends and thought "She's really cool. Kind of immature, but really cool!" The idea of "us" wasn't even a possible notion...who knew!

How we started dating is such a complex story, but I guess it started when I needed a job and a place to live for the summer. The job part was easy, JD got me a job working with him at Chick-Fil-A. But as the semester got closer to the end, the harder it got for me to find a place. Then, one evening, I was actually at my parents in Connecticut for the weekend when I got a text from JD saying “Hey, I found you a place for the summer, it’s in my grandparents basement”. I was so excited! I really fell in love with the band, and did not want to have to be gone for the summer. After consulting my parents, and my dad coming to NJ to see the place and meet JD, My dad allowed me to spend my first summer away from home all the way out in New Jersey. Of course also not after he told me that JD most definitely liked me and that I needed to clear things up with him. So I moved into JD’s grandparents basement and started working at Chick-fil-A. Working with JD and living next store made it very easy for us to become very close friends very quickly. I remember when I first realized I had feelings for JD. It was after one long hard day at work. I was pretty drained and upset to say the least. So JD went out, got us food, and we sat on my floor eating and talking about anything and everything. From that moment on, we started spending all of our time together. If we weren’t at work or asleep, we were hanging out. We spent so much time together we started jokingly calling each other our “non-intimate” boyfriend/girlfriend, kinda hinting to eachother that we liked eachother. Continued....

You know that feeling when you have a crush on someone, and when youre with them, all you want to do is touch them? Yeah, that was me at Warped Tour. I was finding every excuse i could to hold onto JD. While walking through big crowds, waiting in line, watching shows, anything. “Im just trying not to lose you in the crowd”, “my legs are getting sore, mind if i lean?”, “people keep bumping into me”. JD happily obliged everytime i asked too. Then i just figured he didnt want me to be uncomfortable and was being a good friend. Now, i know otherwise lol. The drive home from Warped Tour was big moment too. We stopped at a AppleBees to get dinner, and the rest of the drive JD went on a little tangent about how amazing he thought i was. It was almost like a date. But not. Flash forward about two weeks. Since then we started spending every waking second together. One night we were up late watching movies, hanging, and talking. And JD kissed my cheek. There were so so SO many moments when I wanted him to kiss me, and he never did, so I always figured he just wanted to be friends. So when he kissed my cheek, I looked up at him, and he then gave me a real kiss. This sparked a long conversation that took two whole days to finish. We finally decided to give us a go, and we haven’t been happier!

There are so many parts to this story, but I guess it started when Essie told me she'd have to go back to CT for the summer. The band had just hit a stride and I couldn't lose my keyboardist for an entire summer. She told me the only way she could stay in/near NJ is if she had a place to stay and a job to work at. That latter part was easy. I had her apply at Chick-fil-A. Brad Spurlock and myself interviewed her, and she was hired that same day. Now came that pesky living situation...situation. I must've went to every friend and family member that had a spare room to no avail. Finally my grandpa and grandma who lived next door came to the rescue. They offered Essie their basement.I honestly was sure she was going to say no, but she replied with "Sure" within seconds. Essie's dad had come to see the basement and asked her which one of us she was dating. Her reply..."Eww dad, they're like 30." So she moved in on May 1st. At the beginning of her time here she spent all of her time at my house with myself, my family, or friends. We joked that she moved in with us because the only time she was next door was when she slept. We slowly began becoming best friends. We would spend the days at work together and then come home watch Rick and Morty while talking about EVERYTHING. I started to get to know this amazing girl and spend time with her, and I got to see the real person coming out of this massive brick shelter she built. We went on trips together, went for drives, walks, and had movie marathons every night. I remember one day we spent the entire day together at the mall, and said you're probably not gonna wanna see me for a few days, but then we got home, and had dinner together too. Then came Warped Tour! We went just the two of us. This was our first trip that we took alone. The entire ride there we talked about how we're single, but we'd be awesome boyfriend and girlfriends for other people. Slowly and unknowingly dropping hints for each other. Continued...

Four important things happened at Warped Tour. When walking through crowds, she'd grab onto my back pack. At one point she was looking at her phone so I grabbed her hand so we wouldn't separate and I thought hmm...that's interesting. A little later we were waiting on line for food and her leg was hurting so I told her to lean on me, instinctively I wrapped my arm around her waist to help her stand. I remember thinking, this is weird that this is not weird AT ALL. Finally we were sitting down on the floor, waiting for Mayday Parade to come on when I looked at her eyes. I was stunned, this was the first time I ever really looked at them. I said without thinking that this is going to sound like I'm coming onto her "Your eyes look like they have galaxies in them!" At the show I bought her all her food, all her drinks, and a tank top to remember the day. On the way home we joked that she was my non-intimate girlfriend. That; however, was the moment I realized I had feelings for her. We still say that Warped was our first date. A few weeks after that we went on a walk and I wanted to kiss her so bad, but didn't because I didn't think I could. We went home and went to bed, I chickened out. The day after we went for another walk. We came back to my house and watched Rick and Morty. We fell asleep and when I woke up her head was on my chest. "I have another chance!" I thought. My heart pounded as I kissed her cheek. She looked up at me and I felt my heart racing while every nerve ending in my body shook. Thoughts swarmed my mind. Am I going to ruin this friendship; does she want this too; ShouldI just go to bed. I went for it! I kissed her. We both sat up and looked at each other. "Are we actually doing this?" I said. She said "I was going to ask the same question." We talked about it for a while and even went for a walk the next day continuing our conversations about age, where in life we are, ect and finally decided to go for it. I never looked back!