Warning: This is a very long post. I usually try to keep my posts short and sweet, but the beginning of our love story is not short, but still very sweet.
When I was in high school, I got my very first job working for a retail store called Irresistibles (almost eight years ago). And one of the first people I met was Moy - a petite and bubbly blonde with lots of personality exuding from such a small person. Her energy drew you to her, so I knew we would become friends.
Moy happens to be M's aunt (also M's mom's twin sister). I happily worked with her, and we ended up becoming very close. I could talk to her about anything and everything, and her the same with me. She was someone I knew I could always count on. She would share stories about her three nephews, but she never offered to introduce them, so I stayed mum.
Even after the Greenwich location of the store closed and our lives went in different directions, we still maintained our friendship. When I moved home from college, she and I started spending afternoons having brunch or lunch dates and seeing movies. All the while, I was very much enjoying dating and the single life.
One Sunday, we had brunch and were going to see the first installment of the final Harry Potter. Earlier in the week, she had called to say that her nephew (M) was going to be parking his car at her house when he went into Manhattan for the night. She claimed she wasn't setting us up and simply wanted us to meet. She described him as smart (took all of his classes in Spanish while studying abroad) and an athlete (captain of the track team in high school and ran track for his university). So I had zero expectations for him and agreed to meet him as a courtesy to her.
Meanwhile, matchmaker Moy had called M to say the same to him. She wasn't setting us up, just wanted us to meet. She described me as cute (he thought I was fat) and published (he thought I was a nerd). So he had extremely low expectations for me. Neither of us expected any attraction, let alone any interest in spending time together.
After the movies, we met M and his roommate at the train station. Blown away by how handsome, well-spoken, and gentlemanly he was, I went from outgoing and bubbly Amanda to a very nervous and shy version of me. We spent maybe an hour helping Moy move things from her garage to her basement, and I tried to hide my nervousness by making small talk with his roommate and catching glimpses of this handsome guy.
I had to head home for a family dinner, so Moy had the boys follow us in M's car to where she was going to take them for an afternoon snack. Through the car window, we shook hands (so strange) and said goodbye. Moy eagerly asked what I thought, and I wrote my cellphone number on the back of my business card. She took it, and I knew that she would pass it along to M.
The next night, I got a text from a number I did not know. It was M! Cue an instant smile on my face and giddy butterflies fluttering in my stomach. He asked to take me out, so countless texts and planning later, we had a weekend set for our first date (or our first three dates). Stay tuned for more on our little love story...
...and then M saved me from a fully-grown Bengal tiger, while fighting off a silverback gorilla with only his bare hands! The end. Just keeeeeding. Happy Friday!
