We Got Married!

Alina and I certainly felt something when we first laid eyes upon one another, but it was anything but the clichéd understanding of love at first sight. Instead, there was a tension, an anticipatory uncertainty as we settled awkwardly into our desks at our very first class in college. Even now, Alina is unsure as to what mechanism compelled her to take the seat next to mine. Her first enchanting words to me would be: "I'm going to punch you in the face." No doubt, she was not impressed by whatever affectations I thought to put on. If it was love at first sight, it was a confused one—something not recognizable until far later, and then, perhaps, only through the lurid haze of a reminiscence interested in its own story. And yet, there is something undeniable about those early days we spent together, even if just in one another's midst at first. I won't ever forget what I felt when I arrived to class one day to find Alina had abandoned me for another in-class partner. It was only then that I realized that I missed her. So, I began a lengthy ruse wherein I feigned the need for help with homework. Slowly, over the course of a few months of interspersed phone calls and study sessions, I was able to reform her estimation of me. I would later learn that just about everyone in Alina's life other than her realized that she had feelings for me before either of us did. As I would come to learn, her constant complaining about me to family and friends gave it away. ************************** I remember the day I walked into French class for the first time. I stood in the doorway for a moment, my eyes catching Earth sitting at the edge of the classroom. There was this strange feeling, almost like a pull. Not admiration, not thinking he was cute, just an odd sensation of warmth that I couldn’t explain. I froze there, trying to memorize the moment because it felt so unusual and so atypical to my character. Thus, I decided to sit right next to him… only to discover that the guy was incredibly arrogant and annoying. Within minutes, I already wished he would just stop talking. Because I sat beside him, we ended up as class partners. We had to exchange phone numbers, and that’s when the chaos started. Every week at two or three in the morning, he would text me asking about homework, even though it was posted online! And his messages were always weird and unexpected. This went on for a year. Needless to say, he lived in my head rent-free. I talked about him to everyone; I thought about him constantly. And after one of his pranks, I was absolutely enraged. So when he called me one day about homework, I decided to spook him by telling him I knew all his information. Instead, that conversation turned deep and meaningful, and I thought he might not be so bad after all. After that, we talked more. In fact we talked all the time. He’d walk me to work, check on me, and that strange warmth kept growing. Eventually, I realized that I wouldn’t trade that warmth, that love for anything in the world.