It all started August 8th, 2011 on Omgpop.com. I was bored of all of the games that I usually played, so I decided to play checkers; something I never do.  After playing a few games I was starting to get bored with it like usual, until I was matched up with Chris. I was really bad at checkers, part of the reason why I never played it, so he started making fun of me.  I was too shy to say anything at first so I would just put sad faces.  Feeling bad, he let me win a few games, which made me mad.  The sad faces turned into me saying short things like “You let me win! No fair” and “I can win on my own! Stop!” Those short phrases eventually turned into longer sentences which led to actual conversations. We played checkers and other random games for hours; literally. He told me a little about himself and let out that his picture was a really old picture of him.  This was sort of a relief for me, seeing as how in his picture he was about 14 or so. He told me about how he was a vegetarian his whole life and all about Nevada and I told him about the not so exciting state of Ohio along with many other things. I had a boyfriend and he had a crush on this girl. I opened up to him about my relationship and about how it was falling apart.  I talked him into uploading a recent picture of him, and finally got to see what he really looked like. We openly flirted and it seemed as though we had already known each other for months. After hours upon hours of talking and playing games we were both extremely tired and decided to go to bed.  I remember saying to him “Promise me that we’ll talk again?” I already liked him so much and I was terrified of never talking again.  He promised, and we both went to sleep.

The next day I woke up (or I guess more like the next afternoon seeing as how we didn’t go to sleep until really early in the morning) and got on omgpop hoping to see his name under “online friends”.  When I seen that he was online I was so incredibly happy.  I honestly can’t remember if he messaged me first or if I messaged him first, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter.  We started talking again on chat and he eventually asked me if I had Skype.  I didn’t, but I eagerly agreed to download it.  We added each other as friends, and started Skyping! At first I was too nervous to show my face or talk, so he had his webcam on and talked while I typed.  I remember that we couldn’t figure out how to use Skype’s chat while webcamming, so we talked on omgpop still.  After a short amount of time I finally turned on my webcam and let him see me.  I still wouldn’t say anything, but we figured out how to work Skype’s chat, so it wasn’t as difficult for me to type to him.  I remember him taking his laptop into the kitchen and making tofu tacos while I watched, and I remember him showing me a song that his friend showed him.  It was The Perfect Two by Auburn.  He sang it to me, and it eventually became our song. That night we fell asleep together on Skype for the first time.

After about a week or two of constant Skyping I got brave enough to make a suggestion. I’m not really sure how I brought it up, but I asked if he would mind me coming to visit him.  We both agreed that we wanted to meet each other in person and I started looking up flights.  I found a few cheap ones and decided that I would visit him the weekend of Halloween (his birthday).  However, there was a problem.  I was still dating my ex at the time.  Even before meeting Chris I was thinking about breaking up with him but was too afraid to do it.  A couple days later, with the support of Chris and my best friend Megan, I broke up with my ex.  I was then free to visit Chris and to fall even more in like with him.  However, there was one more problem regarding the visit.  My parents. They had known that I was talking to this boy over the webcam, but they didn’t really know who he was and probably wouldn’t let me go visit him.  A couple things crossed my mind, one being just go seeing as how I’m 18, but I figured that wouldn’t go over well.  I decided to introduce Chris to my mother first, and ask her what she thought of him, what she thought my father would think of him, and how she would feel about me visiting him.  Luckily, after meeting him on Skype, my mother approved.  She agreed to help sweeten the deal with my father to make it easier.  Thankfully, everything worked out and they both agreed to let me go. 

Things were finally starting to happen.  I bought the plane ticket and us meeting soon was official.  It wasn’t just talk anymore.  I was extremely excited, but also very terrified.  There was a three month wait from the time I bought the ticket until I would actually get on the plane.  I started a count down on my calendar and every day I would announce to him how many days were left. During those three months we grew closer and closer. On days that I had class he would call me before he left for school and we’d talk for about ten minutes before my class started.  On days that I didn’t have class and he did, we’d wake up at the same time after sleeping together on Skype, and talk while he got ready for school.  We’d spend every moment that we possibly could together.  Soon, I started to fall in love with him; it’s something I do quite quickly. However, I didn’t dare tell him.  We treated the word “like” as though it was love and would end our phone calls with “I like you” and “I like you too”.  We acted like we were a couple, but we weren’t, and that scared me.

Before I knew it the day that I would finally get to meet Chris had come. I shook almost the entire flight to Vegas because I was so nervous. When I got off the plane I somehow managed to find my way to baggage claim. Afraid of getting any more lost, I just stayed where I was and called Chris.

He was at the airport! He told me that he was waiting for me in baggage claim. My heart sank. I slowly turned around and looked to see if I could find him. I didn’t see him. This was a relief for me. I mean, it was actually happening. I was actually about to meet Chris. All of my nerves came rushing back and I panicked. I told him that I wasn’t really sure where I was and asked him to find me. Cautiously looking around, I caught a glimpse of a tall man in a suit walking my way. I looked closer and realized it was Chris. My nerves got the best of me and I turned around to face the other way. I remember saying “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no” over and over as he got closer to where I was standing.

I felt the presence of someone standing behind me, and I knew it was him. I slowly hung up my phone and forced myself to turn and face him. I looked up at him for a second so that I could see his face (he’s at least a foot taller than me). When he looked back down at me I went in for a hug and buried my face in his chest, too afraid to look at him. We had planned a super cute run and jump “starfish” hug, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen; I was far too nervous. I’m not really sure when or how, but I somehow managed to stop hugging him. He put his arm around me and we walked to get my bag.

On our way to the parking garage we talked quietly, I’m sure not what it was about, but I am sure that I probably didn’t say much. Before driving off we hugged again and he tried to kiss me. I was too nervous and pulled away. I felt really bad, but I promised him that I would kiss him before we got into his house and that I just needed to get over my nerves. He drove us out of the parking garage (which I thought was the coolest thing ever. It had a spiral thing you had to drive down to get out!) and headed to his house. When we arrived at his house he stopped the car in the driveway and looked at me. I forgot all about my promise to kiss him before we went inside. It took him a couple tries before I would actually let his lips touch mine, but eventually I let it happen.

The next day he introduced me to his family, gave me a tour of his house, and showed me around his town. We went to Vegas and went to Fright Dome, which unfortunately due to my immense fear of chainsaws, didn’t last too long. We walked all over Vegas and ate dinner at the Bellagio. He showed me around all of the different casinos and hotels, and we went to the shark reef at Mandalay Bay.

On October 30^th , a little over a day before I had to go home, Chris asked me to be his girlfriend. I had been waiting for him to ask me since before I even got off the plane, but I wasn’t sure if he was ever going to ask me. I was so afraid that he wouldn’t want to do long distance. Thankfully, I was wrong. The next day, after watching Up, I was crying and looked over to notice him kind of crying as well. I asked him what was wrong.  He kind of cuddled on top of me and held my head in his hands and said something like “if this movie showed me anything, it’s that you have to spend your life with someone you truly love…and I think that I love you…” (I’m not sure if that’s exactly what he said, but it’s pretty close)  He attacked me with kisses and as soon as he stopped I told him that I loved him too.

My stay with Chris was short (it was only four days long) but it was the greatest four days of my life. I’ll never forget it.
<3