The Story of Ben & Sheila (As Told By Sheila)

You know how everyone gets in their nice, comfortable routines? Well, by the end of the fall semester of last year, I was very comfortable in my particular routine. I shall call it "Not-Really-Talking-To-Anyone-At-Church-Besides-My-Roommates-Because-I-Didn't-Give-A-Poop." It was great. No harm, no foul. Besides, the first and only time I decided it would be a good idea to date a guy I went to church with (earlier that semester) it didn't turn out so hot.

This is where Ben comes in: Occasionally, I had seen (and briefly talked to this boy who I thought "looked" British even though he didn't have an accent) who I thought was cute. I had no idea who he was. None. He was some random dude who would occasionally talk to my roommates. So I would kind of forget he existed. Sometimes I would try to talk to him. Our conversations would kind of go like this:
Me: Hey, you're cool, we should be friends.
Ben: (__________) <---blanks=blurriness that escaped my mind, but, I know it wasn't exactly positive feedback. Anyway, like I said, I'd always forget who he was unless I was at church. Apparently one time we even had a full out conversation at my apt when I came home one night. I don't remember this at all, but given that I apparently have a bad habit of blurting out life details to practical strangers, there's no refuting it.

So there you have the beginning of our story. Yup, that's right. This is the oh so romantic story of how things just didn't happen.....for months on end.

Then came that Sunday. When everything changed....BUM BUM BUM.
But really--after church my roommates were on either side of him, chatting. Well, chatting and stroking his beard (they both have a thing for facial hair). As I walked up, they were both commenting on how he should come over. Joining the conversation, I agreed with my roommates, and everything was set (I found out later that he agreed to come over because he wanted to meet me. Or so he says). In the mean time, my roommate Stephanie and I went to deliver a certain cheesecake. I may or may not have lost a bet. But that's another story for another time.
We get home and find out he'd stopped by while we were gone. Feeling bad, we run over to his apt. Because he was in the middle of making dinner, he said he'd come over once it was made.

AN HOUR LATER....

People, if you know anything about me, it's that I'm not known for my patience. So I decide to call him. Except I don't have his number, so I have steal it from Stephanie's phone like a creeper. But it worked! He came over.

After getting to know him for the first time (that I remember) I was super impressed by him. And I told him. Except he just thought I was flirting with him -_-

The next day I get a text from him (probably the only time my impatience has ever paid off--it made it so Ben never had to ask for my number). And let me just say something. As impressed as I was, I didn't actually think he was interested. It may or may not have to do with the fact that I'd been dropping (occasional) subtle hints the last couple of months for us to hang out that he never jumped on. Yahhh...

So that night was an FHE activity where we got to decorate cookies and make Valentines. I like making Valentines, so I started making one. As much as I was telling myself I was making one for funzies, in the back of my head I knew it would be for Ben....which made it slightly awkward that the only thing I could fit on the heart I made were the bubble letters that spelled out "Be Mine." So I then begin the walk of shame to deliver it. And then I went with him to go grocery shopping. lol.
Anyway, the next day, he calls me to ask me out. This is how my brain works: "Yah, I'm free anytime.....except for Friday, Saturday, and....Sunday. I'll be in California this weekend." Because Ben had his internship Wednesday night, that left Thursday. Except Thursday was Valentine's Day.
Ben was afraid that would be awkward. I was excited to finally not be a loser on Valentine's Day.

We ended up going to dinner at this Thai restaurant. At the end of dinner, Ben admitted to stalking me on Google+ and asked if my birthday was really June 15. Ladies and gentlemen, the moment we found out we had the same birthday.

From there, everything just kind of happened.