Days Like These

So this one day, I was going to visit one of my very best friends. I was so excited. And then this boy, who was a smart ass, thought he was my best friend’s best friend. I wasn’t having any of it. I had heard of him before, seen him before, met him before (although he didn’t quite remember it). Sure, he seemed friendly enough. But I have mistaken friendliness for jackass multiple times before so my guard was way up. He was persistent. Every day he would text me. We hadn’t even officially met yet. I thought he was all talk. A sweet talker indeed. He said he wasn’t. But why should I believe him? Or any other guy for that matter on anything any of them say? And they have no reason believing anything I say either.

I went along with it though. With the blessings of a couple trusting friends, I let my guard down a tad bit. My hopes were still buried though. I wasn’t about to get them up just to have them let down. But we kept talking. He showed no sign of slipping or that he was pretending to be what he said he was. In fact, he would later prove to be everything he said he was.

And then on that glorious day, the day of the Apple Cup of course, we met at last. Well, we met again, but both in our right state of mind this time. I’ll tell you one thing: I was a nervous wreck. Had no idea what to expect. What if I didn’t like him in person? What if he didn’t like me in person? What if I wasn’t attracted to him or him to me? All these worrisome thoughts flowing through my head as I stood shivering in the stands behind the field goal where my friends and I usually stood, waiting for the game to begin.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was much taller than I had remembered. The only time I had ever seen him, I never knew if I was seeing him or his twin, so I just called whoever it was at the time “twin”. But all of those encounters were very brief. And nothing could prepare me for what was about to unfold.

He strolled down the bleachers very smoothly. In my mind, I was hoping he was just as nervous as I was because then I wouldn’t feel like such a dork. He said hi to some friends and made his way over to me.

That was the last first moment of falling.

 He gave me a big hug. And I say big not because of the gesture, but because he was just a lot bigger than I was.

All of my worries went out the window for the moment. He was handsome and charming and sweet. Everything at that point that he said he was. Although he wouldn’t admit that he was handsome, I knew he would be. And then after such a brief moment I was stripped away from him. Standing on the other side of the student section, as much as I was trying to pay attention to such an exhilarating game, my eyes couldn’t help but keep wandering back to that area. Already, after only merely five minutes with him, I was longing to be back with him again. If I only knew then how that feeling would never ever go away again when I’m not with him.

That game was amazing. My friends and I almost left during the third quarter. And a rough quarter it was, but we Cougs powered through and into overtime. So many exciting and edge-of-your-seat moments in it. Storming the field. And we came out victorious. Two victories that would happen that day for me. One: grabbing that Apple Cup win with my school. Two: getting that handsome boy to fall with me.

Later that day, since it was an early game, I said my byes to all of my family that came to watch the game. It was past their bedtimes anyways. After such a thrilling game, my friends and I kind of had to power ourselves back up and rally if we wanted to do anything exciting that night. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but I just stayed and followed along with the crowd of my friends, which turned out good for me in the end.

My hands were shaking as I was fixing my make-up and hair. I told my friends how nervous I was again to see him. But also so excited. Something about him got my blood pumping and my heart thumping.

We walked down through the parking lot to another friend’s apartment. Thank goodness for friends of friends because it happened to work out in my favor that night. I walked in the door, immediately scanned the room as quickly as I could without seeming obvious and saw him there again. Looking gorgeous as ever. Those big brown eyes, that beautiful smile. Wait wait Sydney you’re around people, focus. And all of that went through my mind in the matter of a second or two. I mentally pulled myself together and walked over to the empty couch with my best friend and sat down. (Act casual Sydney, play it cool, don’t seem too interested even if you are).

That mindset didn’t last long. I don’t know what it was about him, but he made me just open up and not worry about trying to play a certain attitude or persona. He just allowed me to be myself, without even trying to. We kind of looked a little awkwardly and shyly at each other at first, but once we started talking, you couldn’t pull us apart. And when he wasn’t talking to me, regardless of who I was talking to my eyes followed him. I couldn’t take them off. Again, I tried to make it subtle but I’m sure it wasn’t.

We talked. And talked. And talked some more. Flirted. Fell. Laughed. Fell. Joked. Fell. Smiled. And fell deeper and deeper. By the end of the night, the last first kiss.

And that was all it took. Day after day we talked more and more. Hung out more and more. Laughed more and more. Fell more and more. More of everything. And deeper and deeper I went. At this point there was no turning back, no second guessing. It was too late. He had me.

And now, each and every day he helps me become closer to the person that I strive to be. He brings all of the good things out in me. His goodness rubs off on me and makes me better. All of the influence he has on me is good. Everything about him is good. And it makes me want to be just as good. So many times in my blogs I write about the bad in the world and the bad people in the world, but I always say at the end that I know there are good people in the world who make this world worth living in. He is one of those people. He makes me happy. He gives me the courage to be who I want to be. He is someone that I can look up to. And because I’ve met his family, I know where he gets all of the good that is in him, and I know that it goes through so deeply and that it is real.

You may be sitting here reading this, if you still are reading this, thinking blah blah, this is just sappy and cliché, or whatever you would want to call it. And yes. That is exactly what it is. It is happy, it is sweet, it is true.

I just went through the KHQ Facebook page this morning and all I see are shootings and robberies and injuries and accidents and death and discouraging things. So maybe people get so used to seeing unpleasant things that when they read something that is real AND good, it just doesn’t seem like it could be real at all. But we need real, good, happy things in this world.

Today it is sunny and beautiful and I am happy and blessed to have the people in my life that I do. All of the people. All of my friends and family and relatives and friends of friends, acquaintances, and especially people like Bryce that make me so happy and do so many things to make me a better, happier person.

Today I am happy. There will be days that I am not as happy, but I know that the better days will come, so I just want to let myself know that I am blessed and grateful and to cherish days like these so that when I’m not having such a good day, I can look forward to days like these.