Nick worked at Dutch Bros Coffee, a frequent stop of mine. I usually mindlessly pay, grab my drink, and leave. I pulled up to the drive-thru window expecting to meet some overly friendly barista and not the love of my life. It was a short interaction in which he asked what I was up to that night, recommended a few Halloween movies for me to watch, and handed me my chai latte. I drove away, looked at my friend, and said, "I'm going to marry that boy". Love at first chai?

Depending on who you ask, this story could look different. After a few weeks of texting, I finally got him to go on a "date" with me. It wasn't formal or anything, just a "Hey, I'm going to this if you wanted to come". He agreed. We decided to meet at 9:30 at the park. Me being my punctual self, I arrived at 9:20. I waited and waited but to no avail. At about 10:30, I decided I had been stood up and went home to sleep. At 11 pm (ish), my phone is lit up with calls and texts from Nick. He was at the park, waiting for me. I never showed, obviously, so he left assuming I had stood him up. The next day we decided to try again - we were both hesitant because of the night before. Finally, we met up (an hour late, but none the less). After spending a few hours at the park, the moment was there. You know, the moment when you are like contemplating a kiss but have no idea if the other person is into it. He finally did it (WOO! GO NICK FOR MAKING THE FIRST MOVE) but about 5 seconds in an industrial-sized sprinkler went off, soaking us from head to toe (totally romantic, right?). I think we could both agree that that was the moment we both knew that we loved each other.

Because you are all dying to know. Nick secretly coordinated for me to work from home that day. I don't know why that wasn't my first clue. At about 9:45 am, Nick asks me to grab his Amazon package off the porch. I went to the front door, opened the door, and found not an Amazon package, but 24 red roses with a note saying "I'll see you in an hour and a half, no questions asked". Now, if you know me, you know I had ALL the questions. I got ready and he came and picked me up. We went to Dillion Beach for the day. I was starting to get more suspicious. After 20 minutes of just sitting and talking, Nick gets up and signals for me to get up. Once I got up, Nick started "the speech". Immediately, I teared up. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him (awww). We laughed and cried and screamed a little. Then we went to get sandwiches.