How My Best Friend Became My Fiancé | Chapter 1-5

Now that I have a cozy mug of coffee and my favorite love songs playing, it is time to share the tale of my love story.

I have talked about my relationship a bit in the past, but now that I am an engaged woman… What better way to celebrate?

If you are a hopeless romantic at heart, or simply curious about my relationship, this two part blog series is for you.

Chapter 1: How It Started

Oh, wow. He’s cute! I thought to myself. Did I really just think that? I sat there, staring at a Google+ profile picture of a smiling 13-year-old boy named Connor. His smile was wide and endearing. I had never seen such an intriguing smile.

I zoomed into the picture to get a better look of his face.

Okay, you are being weird. I scolded myself with a shake of my head. I had never been much of a boy crazy gal. What had come over me? Back off of his picture before someone sees you looking at him. I listened… Kind of.

In the following days, I set out to stalking learning more about this Connor boy. He wasn’t very active on the internet, but I discovered he had a brother who was. Come to find out, they played music gigs. But where?? I needed to know where this boy lived!

Then I found it. The location of the boy I had been weirdly addicted with was… Missouri? Where is that? I’m going to be honest, 12-year-old me had no clue there was a state called Missouri.

One night, after everybody was in bed, I drew up the strength to look up the distance from my home to the area of Missouri Connor lived in. Twelve hours?! Well, that will never work. And that was the end of my captivation, or so I thought.

Chapter 2: Sisters Will be Sisters

Connor was only allowed an hour on social media, so I had, depressingly, only been able to chat with him a few times. When I finally figured out what time of day he came online, early in the morning, I started setting my alarm.

Even though nothing could come out it, I still enjoyed talking with him.

My older sister picked up on my crush though. I begged her not to tell anyone, but sisters will be sisters.

One day, as my family and I were riding down the road, my sister decided it was the perfect time to inform my parents about my infatuation with Connor.

I saw the gleam in her eyes. “NO! Please don’t!” I shouted.

My sister was determined. “Hey, Mama. Daddy.” She dragged out their names for emphasis. My cover was blown. My parents didn’t seem to mind I had a crush, but that didn’t stop me from feeling embarrassed.

In that moment, I felt like my sister was against me, but when it came down to crazy teens trying to ship people in our group chat, she stood beside me.

My sister spoke up when teens were trying to ship Connor with another girl. “No, I have the perfect match. Let’s pair Connor with Autumn. They are closer to the same age.”

My sister achieved something big that day. Connor and I were officially shipped! Not only were we shipped, but we were also bestowed the nickname Aunnor (pronounced like honor).

Obviously, I was happy about being shipped with him. I knew it was fake and that he didn’t like me, but hey, I was relieved he wasn’t paired with another girl. That would have been sad!

Chapter 3: A Confession of a Lifetime

“No, no, no!” I had accidently slept through my alarm. I grabbed my phone as fast as I could. Maybe Connor was still online!

I opened the group chat and scrolled through the messages to catch up. I was greeted with my worst nightmare. Apparently, Connor’s parents decided Google+ was a bad idea. He was leaving!

He announced that he had public YouTube videos we could comment on if we wanted to keep in touch with him, but he couldn’t have any other social media platforms until he turned 16.

13 to 14… 14 to 15… 15 to 16… I counted up how many years that would be–proof that I have always been horrible at mental math. There was no way I could survive that long without active communication with him! I was never a big crier, but I was in tears that day.

On top of that, the other teens were already talking about who they would ship me with next. Connor didn’t seem thrilled about it either. He even seemed slightly offended.

Ping! My phone went off with a private message from one of my friends, we’ll call her Trisha–the same friend who was already trying to pair me with another boy. The moment I saw her message, my heartbeat grew faster. She had sent a screenshot… A screenshot of a private message between Connor and her…

My breath wobbled. He likes me too? Like, likes me? Still grappling with reality, Trisha asked me a life-changing question.

“Do you like him too?”
I blankly stared at the screen. I tried to steady my breath and, with shaky hands, type out a response. “Yeah, I do.”
“Can I tell him?”
I bit my lip and took another steadying breath. I didn’t have time to falter; Connor’s time online was almost up. “Sure.”

At the very end of his hour, I sent him a private message. “Just so you know, I have always liked you.” He had no clue I had read his whole conversation with Trisha, so I needed to make sure he heard a profession of my love directly from me.

Chapter 4: A Bold Request

The days to come, I was devasted. My sister was my hero though. She asked Mama and Daddy if I could email Connor. Only problem is, we didn’t know if he was allowed to email me.

Lying beside my sister, I watched her navigate to Connor’s YouTube channel and start typing a comment, asking if him and I could exchange emails. I’m pretty sure my throat tried to close as she pressed send.

I released an agonized squeal.

It felt like it took forever to hear back from him. Did his parents say yes or no? I was dying with impatience. It was well worth the wait though. At 8:22 a.m. on August 14th, I received an email with poor grammar that said, “Yaaay I hope this is the right email.”

It was official. I could keep chatting with the cute boy!

Chapter 5: What is a Contra Dance?

One Sunday morning, Connor asked me if I had heard of a Contra Dance. To be honest, I had no clue what it was. That’s where the power of Google came in. “I have heard of it. It looks pretty cool.”

I’m not sure if researching something 10 seconds ago counts as “hearing about it”, but younger me thought it was truthful enough.

“Ok, so, there’s one close to where we live that does one four times a year. If y’all happen to be in Missouri around the 29th of September, you’re invited. But please don’t feel like you need to come. That’s a long way to travel.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I popped up from my seat. “Mama!” I ran across the house as fast as my socked feet could take me, slipping and sliding, nearly crashing into my parents’ bedroom door. I waved my phone around like a lunatic. “Can we go?” I asked after explaining everything.

Surprisingly, my parents said yes! Connor and I were going to get to meet each other!! Being as shy as I was, I was more nervous than excited, but I was still thrilled at the prospect.

I had never learned the moves to an actual dance, but you better believe that I was working tirelessly to memorize every twist and turn of the Contra Dance. Connor said he would teach me the moves, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.

Unfortunately, I would never get the chance to look like a fool…

“Ummmmmmm, so I have some really bad news.” The heart that had been skipping beats for weeks at the thought of meeting my best friend now sank to the pit of my stomach.

“It seems as though the people who host the contra dance were not able to raise enough funds to keep them going, so……….. there’s no more contra dance. They just went out of business. I’m so sorry. ): ): ): ):”

To Be Continued…

If you want to be the first to know when part two of my love story (+ a surprise video 😯) is released, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter!

Until then,
Autumn Rebecca