you had it coming

I met Rob on the Thursday before J.R. & Molly's wedding. He seemed nice, but we didn't really interact at all. This is after both the bride and groom had spent a few weeks teasing me about how they were going to hook us up. He was evidently the only single guy invited to or involved with the wedding, therefore, we were going to be thrown at one another's heads. Molly did give me an aside though, telling me she was joking. Not only did she love me too much to play matchmaker, she thought that Rob and I would laugh a lot and get along well, but that was it. All my fears allayed, I was interested to meet him, but didn't think too much about it.

The next day, he came to the BBQ I threw for the happy couple at my folks' place. He was a sneaky one, going in for a hug when I tried to shake his hand, looking at me when I spoke... that sort of thing. He fiddled with his camera while my friend Kellie and I discussed our planned double wedding (she has since added "Greek" to that, despite both of us being of German/English descent), so he'll forever know her as "double wedding Kellie." He took a quick opportunity to try out a line on me: "If you were a pirate, would your wear your parrot on this shoulder (putting a hand on the one closest to him), or on THIS shoulder (putting his arm around me)." I laughed, so I guess it worked!

Now, I'm not really comfortable in front of a camera, preferring to be behind it. The idea that someone was videotaping the rehearsal and all the preparations was a little unnerving, and my knee-jerk response was to flip off the camera. A lot. Sensing the opportunity to tease me, Rob aimed the camera at me. A lot. Evidently, he wasn't recording every time, but J.R. and Molly may have lots of B-roll of my middle finger. Oops! By the rehearsal dinner, I figured I needed to show him his attention wasn't unwelcome. The next time I saw him aim his camera at me (no one else was looking), I winked and licked my lips.

He sat next to me at dinner.

After dinner, a family friend caught me on my way to the bathroom and asked, mock sternly, what was going on? He'd seen our legs touching, ever so slightly, under the table. Horrified (and slightly ticked - I hate the feeling of being watched), I smiled at him and told him with a wink that I had no idea what he was talking about. When Rob asked me to go for a little walk, I told him that I'd be happy to, but that I was being watched, so we'd need to do it on the sly. It was just starting to get dark, so going up the hill behind the house was still pretty easy. We found a large rock, climbed up, and started talking. And talking. And talking. I'm sure you can all imagine that I might have been doing most of that... but he was asking questions! He asked about all kinds of things: what I liked to read, how I like to sleep, about big Blake, about little Blake, and more.

He kept agreeing with what I was saying, which I thought was awfully convenient (how could I confirm that we did, in fact, have that much in common?), and when I got to ask some questions, one of the first things I learned was that he is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada. Now THAT freaked me out. Big Blake was a dual citizen. I mostly didn't believe Rob, but it turns out he has a Canadian flag tattoo on his back that was pretty good confirmation. As Reese asked, "What's with YOU and Canadians?"

We spent over two hours up there, talking, laughing, moving closer and closer. Finally, Rob asked for permission to kiss me, which I told him I would like very much. I didn't get home that night until 1:00, leaving after everyone else had gone; I found out that J.R. was feeling a bit freaked by Rob's and my interest in one another (and protective of me!), and knew I was going to be feeling rather shy the next day. Still, I was surprised by and enjoying my sincere affection for someone I'd only just met... everything felt very natural and right, except that part about being watched.

Guess God is still in the "answering prayers" business. I'm sorry I ever doubted Him!