Kenny made quite the first impression on Laura. One morning, in the hallway outside the study room for foreign language students, Laura came across a strange guy sitting on the ground filing at some sort of metal symbol. Someone in the hall asked for the time and when someone else responded that it was 9, the strange guy on the ground broke out into singing "9 in the afternoon" by Panic! At The Disco (pretty loudly too) then began to laugh at himself. Laura had a hard time getting the whole scene out of her head for days after and found out from her friends that the strange guy's name was Kenny and that he was also in the Japanese minor program. Too shy to introduce herself or make the first move, Laura kept to herself but found herself listening to Panic! At The Disco more often than she had been before. Kenny first started to get to know Laura after going on a CSUS sponsored trip to Japan with a few of her friends. After the trip, Kenny started spending more time with Laura and her friends that he went on the trip with. As time passed, Kenny started to notice that Laura might be also into science as much as him. But, being shy and not sure how to break the ice, he decided to start playing science videos on his phone when he found himself in the foreign language study room alone with her to see if he could catch her eye and get to know her better. This was not only a super cute tactic but also very successful since Laura has always had a hard time not being nosy. Pretty soon our relationship blossomed from acquaintances to fond friends and study buddies. Laura was the first to fall for Kenny. But, to be completely transparent, neither one of us was ready to move the relationship from "friends" to something more. But....Laura thought she might be. After a poorly done confession through text during winter break (I know, what on earth was 21 year old me thinking???) Kenny and Laura talked things over and agreed to stay friends. Staying friends after was not easy at first and took a lot of work from both parties. But as time went on, something really shifted. With all the nervousness out of the way and the trust built from both parties committing to stay friends through an uncomfortable situation, our friendship deepened and grew beyond what either of us thought it could be. Eventually, Kenny realized that he wanted to be more than friends. He set a date on the calendar to take Laura out for gelato where he planned on asking her to take the next steps of becoming more than friends with him. He picked Laura up and drove all the way to midtown, just to find out that the gelato place was closed. We ended up getting gelato at the mall instead, since it was one of the only places still open. After driving Laura back to her apartment, Kenny confessed his feelings to her in his car (which, apparently is a Mercado family tradition). Laura had no idea that this was coming and panicked. She said she needed time to think and RAN back to her apartment to call her mom. Talking everything over with her mom calmed Laura down enough for her to realize that she had made a huge mistake. She didn't need time to think, she already knew how she felt. So, Laura called Kenny and asked him if he could come back and talk. Kenny had been only a few blocks away from home when Laura called him asking for him to come back. Knowing that this might be one of the most important moments of his life, Kenny flipped a U-turn and drove back immediately. When he got to the apartment, he got out of his car and started walking towards Laura's unit. She was walking towards him. When Laura saw Kenny, she started running to him and tripped over a stick. Even though she was thoroughly embarrassed she kept going and wrapped her arms around his neck. She said: "This isn't something I need to think about, I know how I feel. Yes". The rest is history.