When I Was Oblivious to Charly's Signals that She Wanted Me to Hold Her Hand.

I'm just an oblivious sort of guy. I know there were many times where Charly wanted me to hold her hand but I didn't. She probably gave me some sort of signal as well. I know all the signals now because she has told them to me. Before though, I had no clue.

I remember one night when we were at Charly's house and we were watching Robin Hood. During the movie I really wanted to kiss her. I don't think we were even dating at the time yet but I sure wanted to kiss her. I didn't though.

I remember another time when Charly and I were at the temple and I was showing her something on my iPod. She was holding the iPod so I used that as an excuse to put my hand under the hand she was using to hold the iPod. It was a small moment to everyone else but it was huge for me.

You see, I take any sort of physical statement very seriously. I feel that holding hands is something you should only do if you really like somebody. I know everyone will have different views on this but the fact is that most girls take physical attention as a sign of love and guys don't usually see it the same. There are exceptions to this but many times this is true. I think that men need to be careful. They might lead a girl on without even meaning to just because they don't see things the same way.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm actually a very physical person once I feel like I'm committed to a relationship but before that I'm very careful. I don't know if this is the best way to be while dating but it's the way I chose to be.

I know this was very frustrating for Charly but I didn't know this at the time... well, mostly. Charly has always been very patient with me and I love that about her. I know it drives her crazy sometimes. I guess when it comes to love crazy can be a good thing.

Our First Date, The Spark, and Green Eggs and Ham

The short version of the back story:

As you might have read in our last post. When Charly and I went on our first date she didn't think that she would like me.

I had a huge crush on Charly and so I did what any normal person would do when they have a crush on someone. I Facebook stalked her... The only problem was I had no clue how to Facebook stalk anyone. I was just off my mission and really hadn't used Facebook before. I'm sure you will get Charly's end of that story but needless to say, I thought I was being super sneaky.

To ask Charly out I asked Jeremy (her cousin and my best friend) to get her phone number for me. I figured that would be better than asking for it on Facebook. I was living up in Ogden and didn't get a chance to see her very often.

Jeremy and I planned the date together. It was going to be a double date but Jeremy new that I liked Charly and so we were going to do something that we new she would like. We both new that she liked to write and so we wanted to do something with a story to it. We decided on a puppet show.

I'm not sure why but we decided to do Green Eggs and Ham. Yup.

For the puppets in the show we got popsicle sticks and glued pictures on them. When we were looking at buying the popsicle sticks at Wal-Mart they were super expensive.

"We should just buy some popsicles and eat them. It would be cheaper than buying the sticks," I said jokingly.

"That's a good idea," Jeremy said.

So we went and bought some popsicles. We had to eat quite a few popsicles in order to get enough sticks.

The pictures  that we put on them were just random images from Google and so the were all really different from each other, but they all went to the story.

The Date:

We picked Charly up and then went to get Jeremy's date. Charly looked super cute when we picked her up and I was already feeling nervous. I'm good at hiding my feelings though and I don't think anyone noticed.

Once everyone was loaded up we went to Jeremy's house for the show. Charly seemed quiet and, sad to say, not very interested in me at first. You can usually tell if a girl likes you if she laughs at your jokes. She wasn't really laughing at my jokes. I wasn't going to give up yet though.

Jeremy and I had set up some chairs and draped a blanket over them for the show. We sat the girls down and then went behind the blanket. I was the voice of the grumpy guy that didn't want to eat green eggs and ham and Jeremy was the voice of the other guy.

"Will you eat it on a train?" Jeremy asked.

"I will not eat it in a train." I replied in the grumpiest voice I could manage.

"Will you eat it in a car?" Jeremy asked.

I looked up to see a picture of an Ferrari, "I would in that car!" I answered. Completely ignoring my script. It worked though, everyone laughed, even Charly.

Sometime during the date Jeremy's little sister Brynndi got home and when she saw me she ran up to me and gave me a hug. I picked her up and hugged her back. I didn't know this at the time, but I found out later that that is when Charly decided I wasn't so bad.

Note to self: I soo owe Brynndi.

The rest of the date was super fun. Charly and I seemed to be getting more comfortable with each other and we were both laughing a lot.

We took pictures and made more puppets by dying socks and then putting buttons and yarn on them. Soon we had to take Jeremy's date home though so we all loaded up in the car again.

This part of the date is the part that I still think is crazy. When we got in the car Charly sat next to me in the back and I felt it for the first time. I felt that spark that everyone always talks about. It's going to sound silly to you because the only thing that was touching was OUR SHOULDERS. No big deal right? Wrong. I felt more electricity in that simple touch then I had ever felt with anyone else. Later Charly and I would talk about that moment and she would surprise me by saying that SHE FELT THE SAME. We were just touching shoulders...

Charly stayed longer after Jeremy's date had left. We watched some show at Jeremy's but all I remember was that I was sitting next to her and I didn't want her to leave.

Our First Date: When I accidentally forgot about Ben being a creepy Facebook stalker and fell in love with him instead.

After the night that Benjamin and I met (http://lovegogglesbc.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-first-spark-between-benjamin-and-me.html), I might have fallen in love with him. I might have, except for the fact that he turned into a creeper.

I'm not kidding.

He looked through all my pictures on Facebook. ALL of them.
All the way back to the ones from seventh grade.
And I knew about it, because he commented on half of them.
He liked everything I posted on Facebook. Everything. 
And then he would he would comment on it.
And try to start conversations about his mission and his family in the comments.
Ben was all over my Facebook.
He even friended my mom.
I was just like, Who are you? I don't even know you. 

Ben says he was being subtle.

Then came the time that he asked for my number. Ben didn't ask for it on Facebook, despite the fact that we were apparently best friends on there. Nope, he told my cousin (our mutual best friend) Jeremy to get it for him.

Jeremy called me up. He said, and I quote, "Hey, Ben wants to know if he can have your number, but he can't tell you why yet." He can't tell you why yet? What, is this some sort of mystery story? Like I don't already know why he wants my number.

Turns out, his "secret" reason for wanting my number was so he could text me on my birthday.

The week after Christmas break, I was back at work, vacuuming classrooms after school, when Jeremy called me. Our conversation went something like this:

"What're you doing on Friday?" Jeremy asked.

"Mmm ... Maybe babysitting. I don't have anything planned yet. Why?" I said.

"Just wondering." Jeremy said.

I waited, but Jeremy didn't elaborate. "What do you mean, just wondering?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering."

I didn't buy it. People don't just call other people up and ask what they're doing on a certain day simply because their curious. Especially when those people are me and Jeremy.

Before I could question him further, however, Jeremy hung up the phone. I was pretty sure I knew why he'd called. My suspicions were confirmed when, five minutes later, Ben called me.

He asked me to go with him on a date Friday night. I said yes, because I was trying to date a hundred guys and, creeper though he was, he did seem nice. I hung up thinking, We could probably end up pretty good friends.

Ben was late picking me up. When he came to the door, I was struck again with just how cute he was. I didn't let it get to me, however. There are plenty of attractive men in this world, but that doesn't mean you have to fall in love with them all.

For the date, we made sock puppets together. We had yarn and buttons, along with a package of new socks. At first, it was a little bit awkward. I didn't know what to say and Ben was (what I now know to be uncharacteristically) quiet. The awkwardness helped remind me that I did not want anything at all to happen between Ben and I.

Then Brynndi got home from school. Brynndi is Jeremy's little sister. She absolutely adores Benjamin, and Ben adores her right back. Brynndi walked through the door, saw Ben, and ran towards him. Ben held arms out for her and picked her up, swinging her. Both of them were laughing.

I watched and my heart melted to my toes. I had never seen anything more adorable in my life.

Soon after that, Ben and I started laughing together. We found food coloring and started dying our sock puppets. We spilled it all over the counter and couldn't get it to come off. For some reason, that was absolutely hilarious to us. Ben and I were laughing so hard together.

The boys had put together a little puppet show of Green Eggs and Ham for the girls. They performed it for us after we'd finished our sock puppets. It was very cute and they had us laughing our heads off.

We played a game, still laughing together, until Jeremy's date had to go home. We all loaded into the car. Because they had just picked up Brynndi, her car seat was still in the back. I climbed in, sitting in the middle seat. Ben slid in next to me, close enough that our arms touched.

I don't even know how to describe what happened. It felt like ... like when we kiss.

I know, I know, our arms touched. How romantic. Except, that it really was. It was like magic.

It was only ten o'clock and I didn't have a curfew, so I went back to Jeremy's house with the boys. We watched Psych until midnight, when they finally took me home.

I went home feeling on top of the world.

The First Spark Between Benjamin and Me

Jeremy's birthday is on November 19th. He held his eighteenth birthday party the next day, a Saturday. Aaaaaand, because he's Jeremy, he didn't tell me about his party until after I had already committed to babysit. 

But Jeremy's my best friend. In the whole world. I couldn't not go to his 18th birthday party. 

So, I told him I would be there late. And I was. I was there very late. 

It seemed that the forces were against me that night ... 
The couple I was babysitting for stayed out late. They didn't get home until after ten. 
When they did finally get home, we had to shovel my car out of the snow. Literally. 
I had to get gas. And almost crashed my car into a tree on the way. 
I hadn't wrapped Jeremy's present yet. So, I had to stop at home to do that. 
And I ended up battling a snow storm in the dark to get actually get to the party. I was terrified.

Before I left my house to drive to the party, I glanced in the bathroom mirror. My hair was in a falling-out, frazzled ponytail after my long, busy day. I had very little (as in, only mascara) make up on. I was wearing jeans and a green t-shirt I'd owned since seventh grade. It was one of my typical babysitting outfits. I thought, before rushing out the door, It's fine, my friends have all seen me worse than this. 

I got to the party, but the blizzard had scared away most of Jeremy's guests (meaning his friends, the ones who were also my friends) away. All that remained was his family and three people I had never met before. One was a girl, Jeremy's latest crush. One was Alex Hill, a junior in Jeremy's seminary class. And one was Benjamin Anderson. 

How in the world does Jeremy have a friend that attractive and I don't know him? I thought, when I first saw him. I didn't say anything, though; the combination of my shy nature and Ben's good looks was too much for words. 

The group was already playing a game when I got there. I quietly sat and watched, content simply that I had made it to the party. The game they were playing required three people to stand in the front of the room at a time. Ben was up when it happened. 

I looked up at Ben just as he glanced over at me. 
Our eyes caught. 
And, I felt it.
The spark. The one that everyone talks about. 
I felt it. 
And blushed, of course. 
And quickly dropped my gaze. 

We didn't talk that night, not really. But that night, I went home with a head full of Benjamin, dreaming. 

Dreaming of a love story with Benjamin Anderson.