Right before coming to college I had my heart broken by my high school boyfriend. He ghosted me after two long, stressful years. For those who don’t know what ghosting is or what it feels like; it’s basically when someone leads you on and then never talks to you again with no closure. I never thought I was going to find love or happiness with another guy again. My mindset was if I don’t let anyone in then I can’t get hurt again. I wanted to just mess around and enjoy the single life, and boy I sure did.
I met Nick the first few weeks of freshman year and we were friends throughout the first semester. I immediately knew he was the person for me and I used to tell all my girlfriends and even my mom, “I’m going to marry Nick Ralph,” but never tried to be anything more than friends with him. I would post something on my Snapchat story and he would always slide up calling me beautiful and tell me that he loves me. Whenever I saw him with another girl I would get jealous even though we weren’t together. I always thought when he said sweet things to me he was just joking around and never actually meant it. Towards the end of the first semester, we all went out to the Burton (a local bar), for the ugly Christmas sweater contest. I won $50 (but spent it all that night anyways). Nick saw me and asked if I wanted to go home with him to watch the Bee Movie. Kind of stupid, I know, but that was the start of it all. We got five minutes into the movie and passed out.
The next week we were together all the time, getting to know each other better, joking around and I was falling for him more and more. As the semester finished I worried about what would happen when we came back from school and if he felt the same way about me. My mom was picking me up to take me home for Christmas break, so I was waiting in the lobby of Loughlen Hall. Nick was on his way back from his last final and came to say goodbye to me. I thought he was going to give me a kiss or at least a hug, but he SLAPPED ME UP. I was at a loss for words. It was the most awkward goodbye I have ever experienced, and it made me think: “Oh my god he only thinks of me as one of his boys.” Soon those thoughts went away when we would talk all day every day and he would kind of hint that he had feelings for me. He would tell me how much he missed me and would say things like, “There’s only 426 more days until I can see your beautiful face again,” and, “I can’t wait to see you and hold you in my arms.” Little cute things were what made me more confident in his feelings for me. As soon as we got back to school we were almost inseparable. If you’ve ever been in a relationship you will understand how the honeymoon stage is and how you don’t ever want to be apart.
We’ve only been together for eight months, but it feels like we’ve been together for much longer. I found the person who makes me a better me and makes me incredibly happy every day, who never lets me forget how much I mean to him. If you’ve had your heartbroken and feel like you will never find the one for you, you will. The best things come when you’re least expecting it. So, keep doing you, enjoy your life and never settle for anything less than you deserve because one day someone will come around and treat you like you’re their whole world.