Hannah and I met our freshman year of college at the University of Vermont in what we so fondly called, "The Shoeboxes" or Buckham Residence Hall. My first time seeing Hannah was at Buckham Hall skateboarding down our shared hallway. She was wearing a floral skirt and a cropped t-shirt, believe it or not, and I remember feeling like I NEEDED to know who she was. While we had not exchanged anything more than a few hellos at the time, I recall walking down our hallway one particular day and noticing that Hannah and her roommate had left their room door open, a not so uncommon practice on our floor. Unsurprisingly, I took it upon myself to take a little peak inside their room to find a canvas with the image of a rainbow flag hung up above Hannah's bed...now I was really intrigued. I quickly ran over to my room where my roommate was hanging out and mentioned to her that I saw a rainbow flag hung up on the skateboarding chick, Hannah's, wall. "Do you think she's gay?" I asked her FAR too excitedly. This would be the first time that I had met an out, young, gay woman and the first time I had ever had feelings for one. Some time later that semester, Hannah had invited herself into me and my roommates dorm in order to vent about some college woes. She told my roommate that she'd appreciate sleeping in our dorm room for the night as to avoid having to talk to other people. My roommate so graciously offered my bed....that I had planned to sleep on. Did I mention Hannah and I were still JUST acquaintances? Lol. Needless to say, sleeping back to back with someone you barely know can really bring two people together. Hannah and I became a lot closer after that day and as we grew as friends, we knew that there was something more between us and the rest was history. SIKE! Hannah and I would go on to maintain relationships with other people for a few years because when we met, I had not yet grown comfortable in my sexuality and did not know how to take the next step with her. Luckily, our paths never strayed too far from one another and we remained friends all throughout college. Finally, our Senior year, we had reconnected to be closer than we had ever been and a good (gay) friend of mine gave me the space to talk to her about my fear of coming out and ending my, then, long term relationship to live my truth. While we did not have the easiest go about, we knew that nothing was going to stop us from being together. Here we are over 5 years later living in Massachusetts together with our crazy puppy, Kiwi. Hannah no longer wears floral skirts and I'm still a nosey gay.