Love Story Part 2: Those Three Little Words

I was determined. I had made up my mind. That night I was going to say it no matter what. We had been dating now for almost 8 months. I had known for the last two months that I loved this boy. I was pretty sure that he loved me too, after all he was still sticking around. We were planning to go on a date that evening so I knew we would at least see each other face to face. Dating long distance was hard but we saw each other at least once a week.

I don't recall where he picked me up. I'm sure it was at my parents house. I don't even remember what we did that evening. But I do remember where we ended up. We went for a drive, as we did often, and we pulled off of the road on Mirror Lake highway. It was February so we stayed in the car to avoid the frigid cold and snow. We started talking but I felt like he was avoiding something. But then I knew he wasn't avoiding something, he was just very hesitant. He was trying to tell me something but the words just weren't coming like he wanted them to. Then he stopped talking completely. I figured out what was going on. He was on the same page as me. I started to feel impatient. He started talking again and fumbling over words about "when you do something for the first time." I almost blurted it out but then let him go first. As I was looking into those deep blue eyes he finally nervously said "I love you." Heat rose through me and with a huge smile across my face I said "I love you too!" The tension he was holding lifted and we kissed. I knew that he meant it and I could feel that he knew I was telling the truth as well. Such a simple and short phrase but so meaningful.

What took us so long? Why did we wait forever to say it? Who knows, but it almost meant more because of the time we waited. The location was nothing super special, but it becomes a very special place once again in part three of our love story. Stay tuned :)

Pictures from when we were dating :)