We’re getting married!!

Near the end of freshman year, I met this kid named Tayler in the band room. I thought it was so weird to meet a boy named Tayler since I always met girls with that name. I thought it was even weirder that his name is spelled with an “e.” We bonded over having the same name, obviously. That summer, we didn't talk that much, I don't think we even talked at all. Sophomore year starts, and we both have our music classes (I was in orchestra, he was in band) and we had the same graphic design class. And after graphic design we had the same algebra 2 class. Basically we were together for the first 3 hours of the day. We bonded over a page on Instagram that made us laugh and we had the same friend group, so we saw each other every day at school and talked every single day. Everyone in our friend group had nicknames, and ours were Princess and Prince. Even our French teacher made up a nickname for us, Tay Squared. Apparently everyone saw us ending up together, besides us. But I am so happy we did. I really am marrying my best friend.

It's a long complicated story, but basically it all started when me and my ex broke up. I was taking it pretty hard and Tay knew I was crying. Without hesitation, he had his friend drive him to my house so we could hangout before I went to work. We bonded that day, but it was in a new way this time. This time it was as two single people. We hung out after I got off work that same day as well. We've been talking every day since then.. well besides the days he was in boot camp and MCT. Telling our friends was the best part, because they had all been waiting for us to finally become something. I remember when he officially asked me to be his girlfriend, prom was right around the corner so when he texted me to wait for him at my locker, I thought he was going to ask me to prom. His two best friends were behind him, and they wanted to watch. He didn't have a poster with him so I realized prom had nothing to do with why he wanted to talk to me. I started to get super nervous because it was Tayler, we had always been friends, and now we were about to take that next step. And then he asked me to take the next step with him, and I said yes (obviously). And I am so glad I did. I always feel like if it wasn't for our friends always questioning when we would get together, we might not have happened. But I can't imagine getting to spend my the rest of my life with anyone other than Tayler.

It was totally unexpected. I had been talking about going to see the Hollywood sign for months since we were supposed to go for our anniversary in April. We left later than I wanted (of course, we all know who I am). We took a tour and it was supposed to stop at the Hollywood sign, but there was construction so we weren't able to get out and look at it. So once the tour was over, we decided to walk the 3.6 miles up to the sign. Now I didn't know exactly where Apple Maps was taking us, but I knew it was pretty close to the sign. Tay thought it was taking us to the observatory. Why we decided to walk, I have no idea, because I was wearing flip flops and he was wearing vans, terrible hiking attire. But we finally made it just up under the sign. It looked like there was another trail so we started walking that too but it didn't lead anywhere. When we walked back down the trail, there was a couple sitting down, and Tay asked if one of them would take our picture, which is totally normal since he's the more social one. The girl took a couple photos of us, and they were pretty cute. My hair looked a mess but that's what happens after you walk 3.6 miles uphill. Then Tay asked her if she would take one more. I still didn't suspect anything, I thought he just wanted a couple cute photos of us since the ones we had just taken were us smiling at the camera. So we walked back to the spot and I looked at him and went to ask "what do you wanna do," and he turned me towards him and reached for his pocket and I instantly knew. He then got down on one knee and started saying words. I don't remember what he even said, because I blacked out. All I said the whole time was "Tayler" because I was in disbelief. And the girl taking the photos and the guy she was with both just kept saying "Oh my God" the whole time because Tay didn't give them any indication that he was about to propose, so they were just as shocked as I was. It was the best moment of my life.