i only have eyes for you - part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


Four hours later, I left his apartment and went home to go to bed. (Get your minds out of the gutter. I'm not that kind of girl. We talked the entire time. Girl Scouts honor.)

Right before I left, he had invited me over for dinner and a movie that Tuesday evening.

Tuesday came and as I left my apartment, I breathed a little prayer.

"Lord, I don't know if this will amount to anything beyond friendship. Help me to first and foremost be a good friend and represent You well if he doesn't know You."

I knocked on the door. NG opened the door, greeting me with a smile. His house smelled of lasagna. We made small talk while the lasagna baked. I noticed it had been a while and I was getting hungry. He checked the lasagna and it was still completely frozen. That's right - turns out NG was good friends with Mrs. Stouffer and she was doing the cookin' that night. We decided that we were too hungry to wait and eat when the lasagna was ready, so we ate our salad and french bread.

Then, we watched Castaway. Talk about awkward first "date" movie - there's no talking for like the entire first hour. If I was any kind of talented, I would have done the cricket sound effect, that would have been hysterical.

By the time the movie was over, the lasagna was done.

Before I left that night, we had set another "date". This one was at my place - I was cooking - and we'd watch another movie - preferably one with more dialogue.

The night came and went. I think we built a fire in my fireplace. I had him build many a fire in my fireplace (literally, not figuratively - yet, anyway) because I always got a good view when he would bend over to place the logs in the fireplace.

The next month we spent a lot of time together. We took trips to Wal-Mart, went sledding, we even bought puzzles to work instead of watching tv. I know, it sounds so cheesy and retirement home-esque, but whatever. We spent hours talking about our families, our spiritual beliefs, our previous relationships, and many other rousing topics. I always looked forward to the end of the day when I would come home. Often, we would leave notes on each other's doors, telling the other one if we'd be late or something. He would always leave his on some kind of baseball post-it notes and I would leave mine on one of those medical pads with a picture of a dinosaur whose name was Sniffasaurus.

Inside, I questioned how he felt about me, but I never voiced that to him. I wanted him to be the one to make the first move. One night in late January, I felt more sure that things might be taking a turn toward a relationship. NG had come over rather late to hang out. We ended staying up until 3am drawing on each other's faces with eyeliner. **I swear I'm not making this up, and we weren't drunk or high - just good, clean fun**. As he was leaving, he grabbed my hand and told me how much fun he had that night and how "sorry" he was for keeping me up so late.

I really don't know what he said because at the moment he grabbed my hand, I was buttah.

The next day was a Friday and I had plans to travel to GA for a conference. I worked half of the day and went home to pack for my trip. Hanging on my door knob was a plastic bag. Inside the bag were two cd's and a note.

The cd's were of 80's music (cause that's how I roll) and the note said:

Hey Caroline,

I am really sorry about keeping you up so late last night. I really didn't mean to do that, but I have so much fun around you and its hard to leave. Well, I hope you have a good trip this weekend. Drive safe today because I know you will be about dead on the drive down. Just play my cd's and maybe that will help. Also, as I write this, I am eating those biscuits you gave me last night and they are really really good. It tastes like they were cooked in a wood-fired thing. Oh, and by the way, my side still hurts a little today, but that can be forgiven. I'll see you next week.

NG

We did see each other that next week, and with Valentine's Day looming, I wondered if he would do anything. There was one small hitch however. My family and I had plans to travel to Ireland to visit my sister who was serving as a missionary over there. We would be gone from the 8th to the 17th, meaning I wouldn't get to spend Valentine's Day him.

NG was on top of his game and invited me out to lunch the day before I was to leave for Ireland. We dined at a steakhouse and returned to his apartment - he had a surprise for me. I waited patiently on the couch in his living room while he worked furiously on a culinary masterpiece in the kitchen. He emerged with Valentine's Day themed slice n' bakes.

The conversation turned serious when he began talking about a "girlfriend" he had in Raleigh. She was a manager at the Gap and sounded really intriguing. Moments later, I found out the Gap girl was merely fictitious and made up to keep a stalker at bay.

Alright NG, you throw a curve ball at me, here's one for you.

"So, if you have a girlfriend in Raleigh, then where does that leave me?"

Boo-Ya.

NG proceeded to launch into a lovely monologue describing his feelings for me. He told me he had never met anyone like me and that he felt more than comfortable when he was with me. I told him I felt the same way about him. We both agreed that we should take the friendship to the next level.

A short while later, I was leaving his apartment when he grabbed me in his arms and....