-Roy
It was the first Thursday of the 2009 summer semester at BYU–Idaho. I walked into my Nonfiction class, which I was really lucky to have gotten into. Technically I was off-track (meaning that I wasn’t scheduled to take classes that semester) but my plans to do a summer study abroad in London had been thwarted. And so I had decided to stay in Rexburg to get more school done and apply for the fall study abroad instead. Luckily the professor, Sister Gee, was a friend I’d gained on my Mesoamerica tour. She kindly added me to her full course group. So that’s how you finagled your way into my life.
Walking into the class, I immediately recognized a girl sitting in the far corner in the back of the room. Leanne had been in my religion class the semester before. We’d never become close friends, but it was good to see a friendly face in an unfamiliar place. Did anyone else notice the rhyme? How sublime. J I chose a seat beside her and we talked for a few minutes. Then I whipped out my notebook and made sure I had everything mapped out for the day. This has got to be where I come in, because the first memory I have of you is the top of your head as you busily scribbled in your little book. At the time I was taking seventeen credits and juggling two jobs– one as an editor for the school paper and one as a TA for an English professor. I knew I had my work cut out for me and I didn’t have time for too many distractions.
That was when Roy popped into my life. The ultimate distraction.
I didn’t look up from my notebook when Leanne excitedly greeted someone. Haha told you! In fact, I don’t think I looked up until she got my attention to introduce me to her friend. So that was when I first laid eyes on him, sitting on the other side of our mutual acquaintance. Leanne introduced us and we exchanged names.
“Yes, Elliot like the boy name.”
We jumped that hurdle quickly, but I actually made a bigger deal out of his name than he made of mine. I thought Buckmaster sounded so intense, and I complimented him on it. I never in a million years thought I’d take that awesome name as my own! Nobody better be laughing at my name right now.
I thought he was cute. Eyes and smile especially. But he was so friendly to Leanne and Leanne was so stinking pretty that I connected the dots prematurely. Off-limits. Back to my notebook. So that’s why I thought you didn’t like me at first.
Or at least I appeared to be back to my notebook. I was totally eavesdropping and gathered that they had been in an FHE group together once. They had fun reminiscing until class started. However, Leanne didn’t stay in that class for more than a few days.
Our three established seats in the back corner became only two seats when Leanne decided to drop the class. When she didn’t show on that day Roy took over her seat, and from then on we were neighbors in nonfiction. This was all planned, I knew how to strategically place myself in the path of the pretty girl.
During class whenever we were asked to pair off for an exercise, Roy was quick to ask me to work with him. But I secretly think that Sister Gee wanted to play matchmaker as well. Somehow she always had us in the same groups for projects. So that’s how he got my number– out of necessity for a school project. Romantic, right? I thought it was sly.
But he actually didn’t call me unless it was for class. We hung out in class for almost two hours straight every Tuesday and Thursday, and then sometimes extra for any projects we were working on. We basically became instant friends and I felt completely comfortable around him. Everyone saw it coming but her. Eventually he and his friend JP started eating lunch with me and a group of my friends right after our nonfiction class. Ok, so this was smooth: I got her a free lunch from KFC from Oprah. Weird huh? When I gave it to her I said that she owed me lunch. That is when I got invited to her friend lunches. The girls, of course, thought Roy was so cute and that I should open my eyes and realize what was in front of me. I insisted that we were just friends. Nothing to freak out over.
Once day in class we had an assignment to pair off, walk around the building, and write down our observations. Well… we just talked and made our way down the hall to "observe" the vending machine.
That was when peanut butter Twix got involved. Yep that’s our relationship, we don’t have a song but we have a candy bar. I’m a sucker for peanut butter filled anything…
When the girls found out that Roy had bought me a candy bar they insisted that he liked me. I thought they were so full of it. Seriously- it was just a candy bar. I remember sitting in the Scroll office with Alicia and Brittany, who were eager to Facebook stalk my nonfiction friend.
I didn’t believe them because Roy didn’t show the symptoms of past pursuers. He didn’t call or text me the minute he got my number, he didn’t overcrowd me or try to get into my business. I never caught him staring at me and he never awkwardly insisted on paying for my lunches. In fact, he and I sometimes switched off paying for each other’s lunches- though I don’t remember why. He wasn’t chasing me, and it actually caught my attention better than if he had been. I was actually trying to avoid girls at the time, I never thought shunning girls would get me married.
When Sydney asked me to find a date to double with her and another guy, I figured I’d pick a friend. Alicia and Brittany were thrilled with the idea of choosing Roy, of course. I casually asked him at lunch right as the rest of the group began clearing the table to head to their respective classes. He knew it was just as friends.
But by the end of the night we’d both felt enough chemistry to realize that we wanted to be more than nonfiction friends. Well put Ell, love you.
This is the night Roy asked me to officially be his girlfriend. We think it was June 11th? Roy made it a kind of game with a scavenger hunt that ended on top of a University building. (Illegal? Yes.) One of his best friends, Kenny, helped him out with things like scouring the city for tulips (my favorite flower). And his girlfriend, Andrea, got to experience it all with us. At the end of the night when we climbed onto the roof, Andrea and I were surprised with a table set with candles, bon bons, and sparkling cider! It was so cute! (P.S. Kenny and Andrea are now married!)
And we're not far behind!
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