My Marine ~ Our Relationship Journal

How We Met

It was February 13, 2019. I had a date with someone that I had been texting with for a few months. We were finally meeting. His name was Hunter. We met up at a bowling alley. He was with one of his friends. I actually hate bowling. I always have. I watched him bowl with his friend like they do every single Wednesday night. I can't even remember who won. It was a good date though, he bought chicken nuggets that we shared. We even made out in the parking lot. After a few minutes of making out, he said, "Oh I have to go home. If I don't do laundry tonight then my sister will take up the washer tomorrow and I won't be able to do it." I was confused. He wanted to stop making out and leave to go do laundry? Maybe he didn't like me as much as I thought he did. Nonetheless I said "okay, I'll text you tomorrow" and started driving back to my dorm, as I was in college.

Almost to the dorm, my friend Jacob called me, asking if I wanted to go dancing at our favorite bar with our other friend Rachel. I told him that I would be there in ten minutes.

It was about 11pm when I got to the bar. As soon as I walked in, I saw him. He was in the loft above the dance floor. Hunter. The guy that I was JUST on a date with that claimed he had to do laundry was in the loft with another girl drinking a beer. My first emotion was anger. I walked right in the middle of the dance floor and looked up at him, making sure he saw me. His eyes widened but looked away quickly. Walking off the dance floor, the anger turned into hurt.

Jacob and Rachel were dancing so I stood awkwardly near the door as I waited for the song to be over so I could tell them that I was leaving. I couldn't believe I had been played like this. Everything felt so right on that date, where did I go wrong? What happened?

A voice interrupted my thoughts. "Hey, are you okay?" I looked up, realizing that my eyes had filled with tears and I probably looked like someone had stolen my puppy. "Yeah.. I'm fine." He tilted his head and looked at me in a way that told me he didn't believe me. That he feels bad for me. It was then that I began to really notice him. How tall he was, at least six foot. His blonde hair that curled at the tips. The scar on the edge of his chin. His tan skin and bright, charming blue eyes all but compelled me to tell him the whole story. What had happened that night. I told him all about the date, how great I thought it had gone. "Wait, he's here? Which guy is he?" I pointed at Hunter in the loft beside the girl in braids. "You're kidding. Him? You're crying over a guy like that? I promise that you could do so much better. And you deserve someone that will treat you right." His grin told me that maybe he thought he was that someone.

We talked more for about thirty minutes. I liked him. I wanted to see more of him. The bar closes at midnight and it was almost that time. I remembered that every Wednesday, a campus organization serves pancakes at midnight. They call the event 'Stacks'. "Would you want to come to Stacks with me? I love pancakes. It's a place on campus that serves free pancakes at midnight." He smiled at me but looked out in the crowd of people, his expression then troubled. "I love how you look when you talk about pancakes. You're too cute. I would like to go but I have to get my friend home,  he's really drunk but I still want to see you again." We exchanged contacts and he went on his way with his friend. I found Jacob, telling him that I'm going back to my dorm. As I walked outside to my Jeep Renegade, I looked down at my phone, at the new contact "Nick".

(This was the first time I met Nick. We met up 4 more times before he left for Marine Corps bootcamp. We did not define the relationship before he left but it was clear that we weren't just friends. He asked me to write letters to him while he was in bootcamp and he promised that he would write me back. )