If I’m honest, the LOST watching date wasn’t totally out of the blue. I’d dropped enough hints over AIM to know that David, if nothing else, knew I wanted to give LOST a chance. We’d actually watched the pilot episode on campus together earlier that week. David had even brought his headphone splitters (the height of technology in 2008) so we could watch on his laptop. On abc.com, because Netflix did not exist. Cue the collective gasp.
So it wasn’t totally unexpected, but still, it felt like a big deal. Driving all the way to Blacksburg, to watch LOST (on a laptop) in Davids apartment. My hall mates made a very big deal out of this. They texted me incessantly the entire time I was there! And I tried really hard to not open my flip phone lest David see the texts!
Most of the night is now a blur. We watched like 5 or 6 hours worth of LOST. His roommates walked in and out of the living room while we watched. At some point, David got up and made himself some dinner. (A sandwich of course) I think I said I wasn’t hungry…and then was starving as soon as I left. The real kicker is this interaction we had: two of the characters in LOST speak Korean. So naturally I asked David if he spoke Korean and if he could understand them. He said yes without looking at me. Then I asked what they were saying because there were no subtitles. And then…silence. Nothing. No response! It was awkward. (David insists this didn’t actually happen and that I’m fabricating. But seriously guys, I was worried I’d been offensive. The moment is burned into my brain for eternity!)
Other than that slight hiccup, it was a good night. I remember going on about the evening to my bestie Elizabeth once I got back to her dorm. She pulled out a cot for me to sleep on and we talked back and forth about if David liked me until we fell asleep.
So this was about a week before we were done with school for the semester. After that, there was a lot of watching LOST on campus, occasionally in my dorm room on my futon…while my hall mates made a big deal out of it. I genuinely was starting to like the show, and now that I was being normal, David was genuinely starting to like me. There was also a lot of chatting on AIM. One conversation stands out in particular.
(a screenshot of my laptop. yes, that’s a high school musical quote as my background. guys, i was so cool. also note me making a peace sign in my AIM profile pic)
(AIM usernames redacted so we can save you from second hand embarrassment)
David: so my roommates keep asking when my girl is coming over again…
Me (freaking out): does that mean I’m your girl…
David (typing for an eternity): NO
Me (feeling like I’m dying, embarrassed, nauseous):
David (5 minutes later): just kidding.
Friends, that for real happened. I did not, in fact, die of embarrassment. Although it was a close call. And even so, we studied together in the basement of the library all of finals week. And by studied I mean I pretended to study because I was a freshman and finals were easy. And David actually studied. I browsed facebook, stared at him while he was distracted over the top of my laptop, and chatted on AIM with my friends about how I was “studying” in the library with David.
(this is what studying in the library looked like…chatting on webcam with David. and the picture on the right? that’s what I looked like when I asked David if we were boyfriend/girlfriend)
On David’s last night in Radford before winter break, we dropped the guise of studying. We talked a lot about actual things that weren’t school or LOST and David put his arm around me. In the library. Which still feels quite funny. Eventually he told me that he liked me, and that he wanted to keep talking over winter break, and that he wanted to continue to pursue me. He walked me back to my door and I was on cloud nine! He liked me!
It was only when I relayed all of this information to my hall mates when I discovered things were still unclear. “SO is he your boyfriend?!?!?!?!?!” Oh no. I did not know the answer to that question. What did “pursue” mean anyways? (here’s what pursue meant: it’s christianese aka what christians say when they want to get to know someone as more than friends. but i was only 3 months into being around christians. i had no idea.)
I did the only thing that was logical. I decided to confront him on AIM. While skyping with my friend Hannah. Obviously.
Me: so…does this mean I’m your girlfriend?
David (a little cursor blinking on the screen dot dot doting for eternity): yes.
I was over the moon! He WAS my boyfriend after all! And it wasn’t until 3 or 4 years later that David confessed that it didn’t mean yes. He hadn’t wanted to be my boyfriend yet. But he said yes anyways.
It’s really a wonder we survived all this.
Continued here: the one where we kind of say I love you.
(a few weeks later, on NYE, our first picture together)
