Meeting

Kaylie and I first met at school though I don't even quite remember when I first saw her. We shared an office for the summer, along with several other grad students. I remember she sat behind me at the opposite end of the room. I must have seen her every day for a month yet we never said a word to each other. I think we were both a little too shy, I guess that's expected with physicists.

We didn't really start talking until we joined the same D&D group later that summer. I remember Kaylie walked in for that first session, I thought for sure she was dating someone I had no chance with her so I kind of left her alone. It wasn't until several sessions in that we actually really started talking one-on-one. I remember one of the first times we ended up really having a deep discussion was when everybody else in the group ended up playing remotely, and it was just me and Kaylie together for the first time. We had a tradition if bringing snacks to the games, just some chips or whatever else we felt like buying. That session Kaylie had brought the snacks and she brought some just for me. I don't know why but I found that really touching. I remember after the game ended, Kaylie and I walked back to our office together. She ended up offering me a ride home which I gladly accepted, though we both knew it was just an excuse to talk more. We ended up walking as slowly as possible all the way back to her car, and then sitting in her car in the parking lot to talk some more before we actually left. After that we basically talked more and more everyday.

I knew right away that something was special about Kaylie. I was a scared at first because I had never really gotten so attached to someone, especially so fast. Looking back it was pretty obvious that we liked each other, but we spent a long time as just friends even though I think we both knew we wanted more. For months we kept making excuses to see each other. One of Kaylie’s favorite stories from that time is when one day I was off campus texting with her for most of the day. When I was finally free I checked with her to see where she was and then showed up on campus late in the evening just as she was leaving. I said goodbye to her then waited a few minutes and went to leave myself. She ran into me in the hall as she was heading back towards the office to spend some more time with me. It was pretty obvious I had only come there just to see her, and as soon as she realized that she had headed back to the office to see me.

We started dating as friends, just going out for dinner after school, neither one of us wanting to label it “a date”. Even though we both really wanted that. It wasn’t until January the next year maybe six months after we first started talking that I finally asked Kaylie on a proper date.

I remember we were both in the office late one evening and I finally worked up the courage to ask her. She was sitting by her desk and I was standing here talking to her when I said “do you want to go for dinner sometime?” Then realizing we’d been out for dinner couple of times I quickly added “like on a date date”. Kaylie covered her mouth with a textbook but I knew she was smiling when she said yes.

As soon as I said the words “date” things changed between us, and we were quickly spending all our time together. More and more every day. Doing everything we could together. We always just wanted more time together.