Last night was pretty glorious. It felt amazing outside, it was a beautiful Saturday night, and I had the pleasure of being back behind my favorite bar at work- the outdoor patio bar. I'm usually there every weekend during the spring and summer and although it's exactly what you would expect from a bar- sticky counters and screaming 22 years olds- it will hold a special place in my heart forever. How dumb does that sound? I know. I'll be 30 soon and a bar is one of my favorite places but just try and hear me out- it's not for the booze. Ok, the booze are a perk but anyway... This bar will always be where I had my first kiss with the guy I would soon fall in love with and spend my forever with.
Andrew and I were pretty good friends from the minute we met. Well, that's not really true, he was actually my boss at a local tequila bar and- truth be told- he scared the hell out of me. He was intimidating, didn't smile much, and I can tell him now that I messed up sooo many orders and paid for the mistakes myself because I wanted nothing to do with telling him that I messed things up. In fact, the first time he ever sent me a text, it was him telling me that I left the bar without making sure one of my tables was clean. I left an entire table covered in dirty plates and glasses, completely inadvertently, and was sure he was going to fire me after that. But over time, we would hang out after hours, do shots at the bar next door, and got to know each other better and better. We became best friends and no day went by that we didn't text each constantly. Keep in mind there was no flirtatious messaging, no sexual innuendos, nothing. Just a phone full of messages talking about anything and everything and fun fact- those texts are still floating around in my phone today, which I kind of love. Friends of mine would always assume that there were stronger feelings and I became a broken record, spitting out "shut up, he doesn't like me like that. he's my friend" over and over. and I believed it. Everyone loves Andrew and he's just a nice guy. And damn those nice guys, that make reading between the lines nearly impossible. But then last summer, after getting to know each other on some of the deepest levels a friendship can reach, everything changed.
It wasn't until one night out of nowhere that Andrew was sitting on top of a beer cooler at work and I came over to him to say something, god only knows what. For some unknown reason, I chose to whisper whatever it was into his ear. Why did I lean in to whisper? No one else was around, the music wasn't too loud, and I had never done that before. But for whatever serendipitous act of fate, our cheeks slid away from each other, locking our lips, and changing my life forever. I pulled away from the kiss, stared at Andrew probably with my jaw down to the floor, and yelled "I need to process this" and ran away, like an actual insane person. He came back to my apartment that night after work, spent the night, and not another word was mentioned about the kiss for a day. A day, you guys. The next night, we kissed again. A much more structured, planned, intentional kiss and it was quickly evident that life after that would change forever. And it did. Over the months, we have started to build a life together; a life that probably could have begun sooner if either of us had the guts to be honest with ourselves but better late than never, right? A day hasn't gone by that I don't thank the universe for that kiss last summer. It was one of the best decisions of my life because here we are; at the beginning of what our story is going to be and I can't wait to watch it all unfold.
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