welcome to the wedding of the century

Picture it: Finley Middle School in 2009. It was Misses Kish's 7th grade English class. They were seated right next to each other. James was cracking jokes and giving Emily compliments like the charmer he was. It was a FAST friendship to say the least. He never failed to put a smile on her face. The friendship continued throughout the entirety of their school careers; sharing many classes together and probably getting in trouble for talking at some point or another. James was definitely in love with Emily at this point, constantly making nonchalant comments about them "getting married one day." These usually followed with Emily rolling her eyes and saying "Yeah, okay. Keep on dreaming." Although Emily DID love James, she loved him as a friend. Unfortunately, he was stuck in a deep dark cage in Emily's heart. It's a place no man usually leaves once he's there; an awful place we call "The Friend Zone." James stayed positive but he didn't think he would ever leave the friend zone. The couple graduated Ringgold Highschool in 2015. After sharing a very tearful goodbye, the two parted ways. James attended Waynesburg University and Emily attended cosmetology school at Empire. They didn't talk at all after graduation, simply just being busy with all the newness going on in their own lives. Around May of 2016, James was home from school and was going to eat at the Elrama Tavern with some friends. Someone had mentioned if Emily wanted to come, so James got the nerve to ask Emily to come meet them at the tavern for dinner. Once she got there and they saw each other in the parking lot, it was like nothing had changed in that one year of them not seeing one another. Emily got out of her car, started running, and James met her half way and picked her up in a hug! The next three hours or so were spent at the end of the table catching up on everything the other had missed. There were some wild college stories, some wild hair school stories, and Emilys hair was bright red so she looked completely different; everything was brand new. They talked as if they were the only ones at the table. At the end of the night, James continued to be the gentleman he always was and walked Emily to her car. As they hugged goodbye (something they had done a million times since 7th grade), something had clicked for them both and fireworks were basically going off right there. They almost kissed. They DIDNT kiss, but almost. Emily got in her car and left and the entire way home she couldn't even believe what had just happened. Like, couldn't believe it at all. James did the exact same thing on his ride home with his friend, telling him every single detail of what just went down between them. This is where it ALL started. They both met for ice cream the very next day. In the middle of some conversation, Emily asks James if they almost kissed, just trying to verify that she wasn't crazy. James can't even believe that she felt the exact same thing he did and confirms it to her. From this point on the two agree to go on a date or two and see where it goes but they promised to each other that they would remain best friends no matter what. James went on to ask Emily to be his girlfriend on Labor Day on her grandparents porch and she told him she loved him on the same day. His friends went on to later throw him a "Get out of the Friendzone" party. It was official; James had gone where not many men have gone before and survived. He was out of the friend zone! The two got engaged in December of 2020. When James got down on one knee and proposed, the first thing Emily asked in the midst of sobbing was "Are you serious? I hate you." And the rest is history! He definitely told her so!