Chad and I became close friends in high school doing stage crew together. We spent a ton of time on weekends and late nights after school building sets, which led to us building a close friendship. Chad used to drive me home after stage crew and after a while he started asking me for a kiss every time I went to get out of the car. I would always laugh, say no, and get out. This pattern was consistent for two years of high school. One thing about Chad is that he's never once been shy about his feelings towards me. When we graduated I wrote in his yearbook, "I'll love you always," and it just feels so good to have been right about that one. Later on, in college, I ran into Chad while he was sitting on a bench at BSU with his head in his hands. We hadn't spoken in months. I'll never forget the moment he looked at me and said, "oh God what are YOU doing here?" What I didn't know was Chad has just dropped out of college moments before. I love that little moment of finding each other again. After talking for a long time we parted ways and didn't speak again for a few years. We met one final time when we swiped right on each other on Tinder (not the romantic meet cute of my dreams, but we'd already missed the boat on a few of those). We went on a real date at the bar down the street from my apartment. We clicked instantly, like there had been no distance at all. I realized that night that I couldn't let Chad out of my life ever again, and now here we are. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I do now. I can't wait to marry somebody who was always my friend first.

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