“A Prequel to the Farmer’s Almanac” – Chapter 4

The Real Relationship Begins
Part One – by Moriah

I moved into my dorm a little early sophomore year. I might have not told the truth about helping out with Welcome Week (ACU’s Freshman Orientation) so I could move in early… oops. Anyway, all of my friends moved in early and I hung out with them at night and slept in while they were up doing Welcome Week stuff, it was the best of both worlds. One night my girlfriends and I went to dinner and then to ‘His Cup’ the local coffee house. I think I knew that some of our guy friends were going to be there but I tried not to get too excited about the possibility of seeing Blake. My friends and I got to ‘His Cup’ and just as we got out of the car I saw him. I knew it was Blake, but it didn’t look like the Blake I left at the end of freshman year. Over the summer Blake “lost” his earrings (he had two) and “lost” all of his bangs. He was also really tan from landscaping all summer. He was wearing a light peach colored polo that he still wears to work in the yard. I looked at him and my stomach jumped. I was so excited to see him, and he looked SO cute. We awkwardly hugged and walked inside.

Our group of friends sat down at a couple of tables and, of course, I ended up at Blake’s table. We all sat and talked for a while and about an hour into the evening my friend Ashley leans over to me and says, “You know that girl sitting across from you is Blake’s ex-girlfriend, right?” I didn’t know and I was a little heartbroken. I tried not to let it get me down. I don’t remember how he asked me out for our second “first date” but it was just a little over a week later. We went to Outback Steakhouse where Blake had lamb with mint sauce and I had the Outback Special, what I still order today. At dinner that night we saw Blake’s ex-girlfriend (whom I had become friends with) who was also on a date. After dinner we headed out to the “Mesas” as we so lovingly called them to sit, talk and look at the stars. Competitions to see who could see the most shooting stars later became something we (mostly Moriah, Blake isn’t that competitive) loved to do. We didn’t have our first kiss that night and it didn’t come for a few weeks, but that was okay with me. I just liked being with him and holding his hand.

The First Kiss
Part Two - by Blake

A Willy Nelson song inspired our first kiss – “Maria, Shut Up and Kiss Me.” However, by the time that first came around, it was more like “Moriah, Its About Time to Kiss Me.”

It was probably more than a month into our dating relationship. It’s not that there wasn’t plenty of opportunity. Abilene has a boat load of “parking spots.” Some of our favorites included a mesa south of town, an airfield just off I-20, and some of the farm to market routes around.

I (or we) weren’t too nervous. I think I just had a feeling that there was plenty of time for kissing. This wasn’t going to be a short-term friendship.

If memory hasn’t faded too much, I believe Moriah called while she was on the road on her pink Nokia phone. It was Saturday night and she was coming back to Abilene from Fort Worth early. Her call was rare. We hadn’t made the jump past me asking her out to her initiating the hangout time. She said she’d be outside my dorm in a few minutes. I grabbed a stick of gum and headed outside.

We drove to the 24-hour What-a-Burger, where Moriah certainly must have had French fries and her favorite ketchup tubs. I always got the potato and egg breakfast burrito. We came back to the Edwards dorm and spent quite a while sitting there, chatting.

I was trying to play it cool, but I knew this night wasn’t going to end without a kiss. Moriah had shown tangible evidence that she liked me too. SHE CALLED ME! I had sung that Willy Nelson song in my head, replacing Maria with Moriah. I thought this could make a relatively seamless transition from talking to locking lips. I leaned in, gave my line: Moriah, shut up and kiss me. She didn’t say ‘no,’ so I moved in.

The next time we kissed was at our wedding…at least in the video, which I watched yesterday to celebrate our third anniversary, my performance wouldn’t convince an audience that it was more than our second or third peck.