we're getting married!

Many of you know part of our story, but I expect few of you know all of it. Let me fill you in. Veronica and I met at Harding, and we quickly became good friends, but it wasn't until our Junior year that things started to change. Early in the Fall of our Junior year, Veronica and I went to see a play together. It wasn't intended to be anything other than a platonic evening, but it felt like a date to me, and I started to see her differently. As our friendship continued to grow over the course of the semester, so did my feelings. Near the end of the semester, I invited her to a club function, and conveniently "forgot" to ask someone to ride with us to Little Rock. On our drive back from the function, I almost asked her out, but I decided it would be better to wait until the next semester because finals were coming up. When we came back for the Spring semester, Veronica and I started spending a lot of time together. I had countless people asking if we were dating and if I was going to ask her out. So finally, I mustered the courage and asked her out. She said yes! I was so excited. We were gonna go out just a couple of days later, and I just kept thinking, "I just need a chance. I just need her to see me as more than a friend. We will be so perfect together." Unfortunately, I did not get the chance just then, because we never went on that date. Instead, she took me out back and shot me in the head. Just kidding, but she did end up canceling the date, and I was utterly crushed. We didn't talk for a while after that. However, it was her last semester on campus (because of her Master's program she was leaving at the end of this semester), and I decided I wanted to cherish the time I had with her before she left my life entirely (so I assumed). We resumed our friendship, but it never quite got back to what it was before. Not related to the story, but towards the end of the semester, when I believed my Veronica time was coming to an end, I missed part of Game 7 of the Warriors first round series against the Kings to go on a walk with her. If you know anything about me, you know that was a huge sign that I was head over heels for her. Anyways, semester ends, she graduates, and I go to Nashville for the summer. I hope some distance will help me get over her, but instead, we continue to talk a lot throughout the summer. There was no way my feelings were gonna go away. Once I came back for the Fall of my Senior year, I reached my breaking point. I didn't want to spend my last year at Harding pining over a girl. I decided I could not just be friends with her anymore; I needed more or nothing, but I could not dangle in between. So, I called her up and confessed my feelings again, and again I did not get the response I wanted. We didn't talk at all for about 8 months. I saw her at a friend's wedding over Christmas break, but I just couldn't muster the courage to talk to her. It wasn't until after my graduation in May that we spoke again. I was at my friends' house to say goodbye before going home, and she was there too, helping them move out. We started chatting a little and broke the ice that had been there for so long. Over the summer, we slowly started to communicate more and more until she called me (sometime in the fall). We chatted easily, and it felt the exact same it had when we were students. It was so easy. Over Thanksgiving, my route home vaguely (not really though) took me by her hometown, and I stopped by for dinner. She was apprently flirting with me the whole time, but I couldn't tell. However, I did realize that I was still not fully over her. Then, on 12/8/24, she called me up and said she had feelings for me. I was so excited. I finally had my chance, and I did not squander it. We quickly started dating, and the rest, as they say, is history.