How We Met
by Brent
Jenn and I first met in August 2000 while working at Breadeaux Pizza. I was the new guy and was rather shy like most people are when they start a new job. During my first couple of days I wasn't very social and I kept to myself. That all changed though when I worked with Jenn for the first time. She walked right up, introduced herself, and we proceeded to talk about what high school we went too, college, and where we lived.
After that initial conversation, Jenn became my first good friend at work. I'd look at the schedule to see when we worked with each other and I hated when we didn't. For over a year we worked at Breadeaux and occasionally we would run into each other on the SMS campus (on the days Jenn actually went to class). During this time, I was in another relationship, so Jenn and I would remain friends for the time being.
After our freshman year at SMS, Jenn had made plans to go to Texas and finish her education there at TCU. We exchanged email addresses and I even went on her last pizza delivery at work with her. Before leaving, she left a green pinwheel and a goodbye note in my car. That was the last time I would see her for a while. For the next 6 months, we continued to communicate through email and I would recieve a call every once in a while when she was on the road. As she moved on with a new boyfriend and I moved forward in my relationship, the emails started to slow and soon became nonexistent.
While the emails stopped, Jenn made sure to stop by Breadeaux when she was in town and we would chat briefly. However, those visits started to become less frequent and I continued to work and go to school while Jenn continued her education. It wasn't until May 2004 that I saw her again. She came to visit and talked about how she was almost done with school and would be back that summer. We arranged to get together sometime for coffee and we exchanged cell numbers.
We met for coffee at Barnes and Noble at 2pm one Sunday afternoon. We talked about school, Breadeaux and, to my dismay, Jenn's new boyfriend. Seeing as how my relationship had ended, I was somewhat disappointed to hear this news, but she seemed happy. After returning to Springfield, Jenn began to stop into Breadeaux more frequently and we continued to have our little chats. It was during one of these chats that she revealed that her latest relationship was over.
One evening after talking to Jenn on the phone and then leaving Breadeaux, I recieved a call from her. "Hey, what are you doing Thursday, you want to have coffee?" I hesitated, but said yes. We agreed that I'd call after I got off work. Thursday came, I went to work, but when I got off, I didn't call Jenn. I started to get worried. If things didn't work out between us, what would become of our friendship? I freaked and made a terrible mistake.
A few months went by and I hadn't heard from Jenn. She no longer came into Breadeaux and I got a new job, it was doubtful I would see her again. Then one Sunday night in March, while on the internet I turned on my AOL Instant Messenger. Jenn was online. I said hello, no response, I tried again, no response. Finally after about 5 minutes Jenn replied and we began to talk. We talked about what was going on with each of us, our jobs, etc.
As I started to type goodbye, Jenn typed, "Well, I guess I'll talk to you again in another 3 months." That woke me up, why was I wasting this time? I made this mistake before, I wasn't about to do it again. I asked if she wanted to hang out and we made plans to do something when she got back from a trip to build homes for Habitat for Humanity, all I needed to do was call her that Saturday night. I worked the rest of the week, Saturday rolled around, and I called her. We made plans to go out that next Thursday.
That "date" turned into lunch the next week, then a movie that Friday and so on. These smaller dates eventually led to our 15 hour date. We met at the nature trail around 1:00 pm to run and just talk to each other. Afterwards we got some smoothies and headed to my house to work on a video she needed for the United Ministries Center at SMSU. We worked for a while, but decided we need to get something to eat, so we went to Imo's pizza, where we stayed for a couple hours, talking and enjoying each others company. Afterwards we headed to a movie, then to Village Inn for pie. But the night didn't stop there, we headed back to her house where we played battleship. She destroyed me. After I got tried of losing, we just sat and talked...until 4 in the morning.
Although that "date" was great, it wasn't until our horrible "date", that I finally realized I needed to tell her how I felt. Jenn had an idea to go to Chuckie Cheese to play ski ball and I thought it was great. So, after purhcasing about twenty dollars worth of tokens we begin to play...only to find that the ski ball machines were broken. It was disappointing, but we made the best of it. After Chuckie Cheese we headed to her place to watch When Harry Met Sally.
It was after that movie that I knew I needed to tell her. So, on her couch I told her how I felt, how I had let her slip through my fingers before, and I had to try this time. I was maybe alittle over the top, but she felt the same and we talked about it for a while. It was pretty late, so I told her I needed to leave. As I started to walk out, Jenn asked for a hug. I hugged her and we kissed.
