Our Story- How We Started Dating (by Haley)

The semester before I met Greg I was living in Bountiful Court Apartments in Provo, Utah. I had four roommates and ALL of them were engaged. I hated going home to an apartment of people in love and kissing. I was 24 and felt like I had done all that I could to get married. I went on dates, I had had boyfriends, I was social, and felt like I was doing all the right things. I began to wonder of I should move somewhere else. The whole staying on Provo thing didn't seem to be working out for me. So, at the end of Winter semester 2009 I made a quick trip to Rexburg. It seemed like a great idea for me to check out the single scene in a new place. While visiting there the feeling was strong that I should just stay in Provo. So I came back and checked out Alta Apartments. When I saw a guy carry a girl's groceries to her apartment, I knew it was the place for me.

I was right.

I was blessed with wonderful roommates and an awesome ward. It was seriously the perfect fit for me. I made friends quickly and felt comfortable there. I remember the first time I saw Greg. I was walking up the stairs to visit one of my friends and I saw him. He said hi to me and I thought, “That guy is really cute. Why haven't I ever seen him before?” Later I remember visiting one of Greg's roommates. We were playing some wii game and Greg happened to be in the room with us. Greg kept making silly comments. I thought he was really funny. I kept thinking that he was like a hidden treasure in our ward because he was so cool but no one really knew about him.

On June 30, 2009 I went on a roommate date. I went with this guy in the ward that I wasn't particularly interested in. On the date we built a rice crispy castle, which actually turned out to be really cool. It was so big and we didn't want it all to go to waste so we decided to take it around to people in the ward. First we went to girls' apartments. Then over to the boys. I made sure we knocked on Greg's door, even though I knew he probably wouldn't be home.

When we knocked on his door, he was laying on the couch. I couldn't believe he has there! I asked him if he was alright. He said that he had broken his toe pretty badly playing volleyball. He looked like he was in pain. After talking for a few minutes, we gave him some rice crispies and then we were off. I kept thinking “I hope this date ends soon because Greg is at his apartment and I want to go talk to him some more.” I was so happy that the date did end early. I went directly over to Greg's. We laughed and talked and talked until it was late. That night started our wonderful friendship.

A couple of days later (July 2), my roommates invited some people over to watch Independence Day at our apartment. I really hoped Greg would come. The movie was almost over when Greg finally showed up. It was okay though because he brought everyone Brickoven pizza and cookies. We flirted a lot that night and I was so pleased he showed up.

The next day our apartment had a pancake party and hiked Stewart Falls. I was so excited to spend more time with Greg. I kept flirting with him on the hike but I was beginning to think that he liked my roommate Cynthia. So I kind of backed off a little bit.

That Sunday we had Ward Prayer. A guy in our ward was giving a spiritual thought on service. He asked the audience to share experiences where people had served them. Greg raised his hand and said, “I hurt my toe really bad the other day and Haley came and consoled me.” After that I knew he must of at least appreciated my friendship.

By the end of July we were pretty good friends. I loved being around Greg. I felt like I could totally be myself. I thought he was such a nice guy and a gentleman. When he would come over or ask me out I didn't really think he had any interest in me. Mostly I thought this because he never touched me. We never hugged or anything at the end of a date. I assumed he enjoyed my company and friendship. I assumed we both had the understanding that we were just really good buddies.

Things continued the same for a while. In August Greg took me out to lunch and even to Thanksgiving Point to see the waterfalls and gardens. We ate a Zupa's. I remember on August 7 I ran a 5K Midnight Moon Run with my roommates. The race started at midnight, obviously. After the race we were all really hyper. We decided to get some grub at Denny's. I knew that Greg got off of work late that night, so I called him and invited him to meet up with us. He totally did! He even paid for everyone's food. That's the kind of guy Greg was. My roommates LOVED him. By the way, we didn't get home until 3am!!!

Well, as things turned out Greg was asked to go to St. George to help open up a Brickoven restaurant. He was going to be in St. George for 4 weeks. I tried really hard to convince him not to go because I knew I would miss my buddy. Greg felt like he needed to go, so he left. It surprised us how well we kept in touch with each other. We called and texted each other while he was gone. Many times we stayed up past midnight chatting on the phone. We had some great talks and really got to know each other even better.

On September 6, Greg was back in Provo. The first time I saw him was at church. I was so excited to see him and he looked good. Best of all, he was really excited to see me too. After church got out, we met up and talked for a few hours. 

Towards the end of the month, my sister Ashley invited me and my brother Derek over to watch the Emma Smith movie. She told us we had to bring a date. I wasn't really into anyone at the time, so I thought, “Well, Greg is a great friend of mine. I'll invite him.” As it turned out Ashley and Derek LOVED him. Later Ashley told me, “Why don't you go for Greg? He is really cool.” The next day we went on a drive to see the fall leaves up the canyon. Something Greg loved to do every fall. I didn't feel any romantic feelings for him, I just really enjoyed his company.

In October Greg came over a bunch (8 times). I also went on a trip to San Diego with my roommate Cynthia, and we talked on the phone a couple of times while I was gone. Greg even volunteered in my class for the first time, which I always found so attractive. At the end of October we had Stake Conference. I sat by Greg. Afterwards he came over and we made brownies. On Halloween Greg came over while we were watching Little Shop of Horrors. He was dressed up as House. He had his hair all spiked and grey to look the part. I thought he looked really hot. I had a hard time watching the movie. I was beginning to develop those romantic feelings.

In the mean time my roommates were giving me a hard time. “Greg likes you!” they would say. Then I would say, “No he doesn't you guys. We're just good friends. He doesn't even touch me.” All my roommates had decided that we would be perfect together. Plus he gave them free food and was such a gentleman. They liked having him around. On top of that, Ashley and Derek kept saying things to me like, “Haley, Greg is so wonderful” “He reminds me of you” “I really like Greg”, etc.

So what does Ashley do? She invites us over to watch the CES Fireside at her house. She said, “You have to invite Greg. He's my favorite.” So I did. We had fun as always. The following day Greg came and volunteered in my class again. I wrote in my journal: “I think I like him.” Then Greg asked me out for the next day (November 3).

It shouldn't have been a big deal at all since we had been out enough times, but for some reason I was a little more nervous this time. My feelings for Greg had formed into more romantic ones. I tossed and turned all night. I knew that I needed to bring up our relationship. I knew that it was time to figure out our feelings for each other. I was nervous he didn't like me the way I liked him.

On November 3 I kept thinking about Greg all through school. That night I was working in the temple and kept stumbling over all of my words because I was thinking about him. When I got home, he picked me up (we often went on late dates due to his crazy schedule). In my mind I knew if he acted a certain way then our little DTR would go well. I felt so comfortable and at ease when he started joking with me. We flirted and laughed all the way to Jamba Juice. Then we went to the park, but it was too cold so we went on a little drive. The whole time I was thinking, “I need to bring it up, I need to bring it up.” No moment seemed ideal and I was too scared.

Finally he walked me to my apartment to drop me off. I invited him to come inside for a little bit. We both sat on different couches...that was how we were. We were buds. All of my roommates were in their rooms (so kind). Then I said, “I want to talk to you about something but it's hard for me. So why don't you start?” Greg thought that was pretty funny. He started talking about the weather. Finally he said, “I know what you want to talk about. You want to talk about me and you.” I felt so much relief that he said it and not me. He went on to say that he liked me and wanted to date me. He said that his job was too crazy and he was so busy that it probably wouldn't really work. Then I said, “Well, I think we should try. If we both like each other it only makes sense.” Then he said, “Okay.” Then I said, “Well, shouldn't we hug or something?”

It was pretty funny that there we were sitting on opposite couches, saying we wanted to date each other and we had never even touched each other before. I was excited to see how it would go. He got up and we hugged. It was wonderful. Then something happened that I wasn't expecting, he kissed me. It felt great. We sat on the couch holding hands. I cuddled up to him. In two minutes we had hugged, kissed, held hands, and cuddled. Two minutes earlier we had never even touched. Though somehow everything felt good and right to me. I wrote in my journal: “It felt so good. He kept saying how good he felt and thinks he really likes me. I feel so comfortable around him and I'm totally myself. Awesome.”

TO BE CONTINUED... CHECK OUT THE BLOG NEXT THURSDAY FOR MORE OF THE STORY!