3 years ago

I promised this long ago and it's finally here...the story of how Ben and I met. It all started 3 years ago exactly. Well that's the first day we met. I had seen him a few times before we officially met, but contrary to what Ben says I did not "stalk" him. Rewind 3 years and about 3 weeks. Mardi Gras 2006 at Utah State University. I went with Sara and a group of friends to support the school since they were using all the proceeds to go help with the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

They had a casino area where you would receive chips as you walked in and if you won, you would get beads as prizes. So, we spent most of our time at the Black Jack table since it's the easiest game, but I noticed this handsome man over at the Roulette table. Sara wasn't near me at this time, so I went to get her and said, "Okay, I've seen this guy around campus a few times and I think he's really hot, but I want a second opinion, so come look." Now the reason that I needed a second opinion is because if both Sara and I thought a guy to be VERY attractive, we would then reward him with a "nickname" so when we were talking about them, nobody else would know who we were talking about. We did this because in most cases a)we didn't know their names and b) it might come across as stalking someone if you didn't know us.

Anyway, I lead her over to the area and right when she saw him, she said, "I've seen him too, and yes I think he's attractive!" Success. I'd found someone cute enough to have a nickname, what nickname you ask? Well, here's another thing about the nicknames, we had to choose something clever so no one else could figure out who we were talking about. Sara was along for the ride, but at the moment she was working on her own nickname boy, "The Hot Hockey Guy" whom she is now married too :)

So, first we decided to head down to the Roulette Table to get a closer look. We soon realized that he didn't really know what he was doing and one of the people playing was pretty much running the show. It still didn't change the fact that he was cute. After a while, we wanted to play Black Jack again, so we set off to find the perfect name for our newly found attraction. We decided that if we just called him "The Hot Roulette Guy" it would be a little obvious so we had to stretch it a bit further. We thought Roulette...Russian Roulette...The Hot Russian! That's it! People will think we're really talking about a Russian person! Perfect! From that day forward, he was known to us as The Hot Russian.

Okay, so that next week, I saw him walking around on campus with some sort of Fraternity looking shirt and a hat on (I know what you're thinking, "Jen, it really does sound like you're a stalker" well it's not true, I'm just really attentive to detail). I immediately text Sara to let her know that I saw him and how great he looked.

About a week later, I saw him walking around in the HPER building where almost all of my classes were. We passed each other in the hall, made eye contact, and The Hot Russian said, "Hey." I could barely say hi back, which is REALLY weird because up until that point, I had NEVER acted like that in front of guys. I was actually more comfortable around guys than girls, so I couldn't figure out why all of a sudden I been acting all giddy with this one. A few days later, I saw him in one of the counselors office in the HPER and was with my other friend (and roommate), Carlie, but as we walked by so I could show him to her, his back was facing us...darn.

One week later, April 13, 2006, I was in the Field House working out. I usually worked out with Carlie, but for some reason I was there by myself. I looked over in the distance and I saw him! The Hot Russian! He was working out with a bunch of guys (later I found out it was the Rugby team). I continued my workout. While I was resting between sets, I happened to glance in that direction again, but this time, he was looking at me. After we made eye contact, I smiled, then he smiled and then he waved to me. At first I thought he was waving to someone behind me, but there was no one behind me. I gave him a confused look and a wave back and then he started walking towards me...what do I do? I had my earphones in, so I quickly removed them as he approached me and the first thing he said to me was, "Your name is Melissa, right?" It follwed with:

Jen: No, it's not, my name is Jen

Ben: Well, that was awkward. My name is Ben

Jen: (nodding her head in agreement)

Ben: So, are you ready for another awkward moment?

Jen: Sure

Ben: Do you want to go out tonight?

Jen: Yeah, sure

Ben: Well me and some of my friends are going to go on a night hike, so it won't be until after dark (oh crap, that sounded really creepy)

Jen: (wow, that sounds really creepy)

Ben: (just keep going, don't let her know that you know that it sounded creepy) Okay, well I don't have my phone on me, so you'll have to take the walk of shame with me across the gym to go get it. Are you okay with that?

Jen: Of course

So, we walked across the gym talking about the coincidence that he just changed his major to what I would be graduating in the very next month. That's why he was suddenly hanging around in the HPER! He took my phone number and told me that he would call me in about an hour after he got home and we could make the final arrangements. I agreed and was on my way.

Right when I stepped outside, I called Sara. She just happened to be doing hair so Brandon (aka: The Hot Hockey Guy) answered her phone.

Jen: Brandon, I need to talk to Sara

Brandon: She's doing hair, can she call you back?

Jen: No, this is an emergency

Brandon: Sara, she needs to talk to you now

Sara: (sounding concerned) what's going on?

Jen: Ask me what I'm doing tonight

Sara: What are you doing tonight?

Jen: Going on a date with The Hot Russian!

Sara: WHAT? How did this happen?

I gave her a brief rundown, and told her that I'd call her later with all the details. So I hurried home to start getting ready.

About an hour later, he called to tell me that we wouldn't be going until about 9:00pm since one of his friends was still at work. He told me to start getting ready and he'd call me in a little while. It was about 6:00pm when this happened and by about 8:00pm, I still hadn't heard from him. I started to think that it was all a big joke to him and maybe I wasn't going out with him.

Then finally, at about 8:30 he called and said he's be there in about an hour to pick me up. I finished getting ready and he came to pick me up. Carlie and Andy were there to "screen him" before I was allowed to go out with him and then we were on our way!

It turns out the night hike was for scoping out a good location for a bonfire they were planning on having the next night, so there were 2 other couples with us. On the hike, Ben found out that I love to laugh, so he decided to tell me every joke he knew to get me to laugh. I was laughing very hard the entire time, but it wasn't because the jokes were funny. It was because I knew every one he told and he was getting a little discouraged trying to come up with more. Nope, every punchline was mine. It was awesome! When we found a good spot, we all sat down and some people told some stories (mostly about Ben, so I could get to know him).

Then, down the mountain to get Slurpees! After we got slurpees, we went to someone's apartment and watched a movie.

Sorry, this story is getting REALLY long, so I'm going to stop for now because tecnically the rest of the story takes place after midnight, so that's tomorrow anyway. Stayed tuned for part 2!