Specifically, Mike propping his foot on the arm rest of Jackie’s chair in the movie theater during a Chi Alpha service. Coincidentally enough, the topic was navigating romantic relationships. We met each other sporadically after that, little meetings here and there, but our relationship didn’t really take off until we both participated in a spring break mission trip to St. Louis, MO in 2018. The semester after that fateful trip, we would hang out every day. Studying, eating, procrastinating, …. We started developing feelings for one another but were too scared to admit it. Finally, after almost 6 months of constant interaction, Jackie asked if we could hang out one day… together… alone… Both nervous and excited for what was coming, in the XA house kitchen, Jackie was brave enough to admit her feelings and we both breathed a huge sigh of relief. A few weeks later, we went on our first date.

MIKE: I knew Pho was her favorite food, so I practiced ad nauseum to learn how to use chopsticks to impress her. And when we sat down, I put so much sriracha in my pho that I could hardly eat it, but I did; I had to! After dinner, when we went to look at Christmas lights at a nearby neighborhood. We held hands and didn’t know when we were supposed to let go of our hands, so we walked without letting go for at least 45 minutes with our palms sweating. Finally, we laughed as we wiped our hands off, only just now realizing the kind of relationship two extremely awkward people were signing themselves up for. But it didn’t matter, still doesn’t matter. JACKIE: I didn’t want the night to end. Even though it was getting late and we were both really tired, I suggested we try House of Pies to end the night on a sweet note. We didn’t talk much but it didn’t matter because I was with the best date anyone could ask for. Happy and exhausted, Mike dropped me off home and I went to bed. MIKE: Her night may have ended, but I still had an hour drive to my best friend’s house, Mike, where I was staying. When I got there at 1am, I accidentally locked myself outside of the house and had to spend the night in my truck. It was worth it though.

There were many other dates. Chalupa Night 2019: we became delirious after eating three-year-old frozen chalupa (my treat), leading to an hour of delirious laughter over the mispronunciation of “Shea Butter” and subsequent food poisoning that night. The night we watched Train to Busan is both the night I first saw Jackie ugly cry (after the main character turned into a zombie) and the night we first kissed (so romantic). And who could forget when I told her I loved her. We started at Thumper’s, ‘motivated’ to study, but left right after we got our coffee leading to a three-hour long drive around Nacogdoches. The night ended with us sitting in my truck in front of the XA house in complete silence as I worked up the courage to utter those words. For ten minutes (might as well have been ten hours) we sat in silence, both of our minds racing; Jackie thinking she was about to get dumped, and me trying to work up the courage. Finally, the silence was too much to bear and I said a quick “I love you”.

So many things went wrong that day leading to Jackie almost figuring it out; it was a very stressful day indeed. I was so nervous that when I went to grab the ring before we walked out the door and drove to the spot, I made the trip back and forth three times to ensure she wasn’t watching or following me when I pulled it from its hiding place. It felt like an iron weight in my pocket as we drove to the XA house, a constant and incessant reminder of the joyous moment that I knew was about to take place. All I wanted to do during the car ride was scream that question! It drove me mad to sit still and make conversation neither one of us would care to remember in just a few short minutes. Finally, I got down on one knee and the first words from her were “You’re lying!” followed by many more utterances of disbelief… and crying… manic crying. A lot of crying happened. She eventually was able to say yes, and we kissed with our staple awkwardness (none of which will be present at the ceremony) (hopefully). While so many things went wrong along the way, every moment of our time together has been beautiful and perfect, and we wouldn’t trade a second of it away.