Part 2 - Him

A few weeks passed and I wanted to take Sarah out on a real date to get to know her. I was already sold on how she looked but I needed to see if we would be compatible. I received Sarah’s number from my friend (Sterling) who was a help in bringing us together.  Usually I would be the gentleman and either talk to the girl in person (which usually was the case) or call the girl to set up a date, but this case was different. For some reason I was quite intimidated by the task of calling and talking to her. I really don’t know why to this day and will forever regret my actions of what was about to happen; instead of calling and talking, like any gentleman would do, I texted her to ask her out. Apparently it was a big mistake and my wife reminds me of this every time we bring this up…But because she had a strong enough interest in me she was quick to forgive at that moment and texted back to the point of accepting my invitation to go on a date.

The day of the date came, this was also the day of the Red and Blue scrimmage for the upcoming football season at the U of A. I went with my brother and his wife (Matt and Afton) and met my friend, Sterling and his girlfriend at the time (Ariel). It was fun to see the team back in the swing of things, even though we did terrible that year.

After the scrimmage was over, I texted Sarah again to see where she was at. Knowing that she was working I tried to make plans to see her. That day was also an event on campus called “Meet the Union” which showcased a lot of different things including food vendors, one of which Sarah worked at. She told me to meet her on the fourth floor of the union where she would be in her La Petite uniform. I made my way up with my brother and his wife to try to find her. As we looked around it was hard to make our way through, because the crowds of people were so massive. Also, it was hard to find someone that I’d only seen once while in a swimming pool (so technically half a person…). In the end I decided to give up finding her and texted her that I was going to go eat somewhere and I would text her when I was done and we could meet somewhere (man I texted her too much the more I think about it).

I met back up with Sterling and his girlfriend and we went to a pizza place not too far from campus called Old Chicago. I would eat as I would anxiously wait for her responses updating me on when she was going to be off of work. She finally told me she was off, gave me the address of where she lived and we car pooled in Sterling’s car to her apartment to pick her up.

I again got nervous to see her and see if I would still want to pursue her or even if I wanted to pursue further dates with her. She said she would meet us outside so we waited for her to come down. She looked great in her plain grey v-neck shirt and jean shorts.

We decided to go to U-Swirl, which one of my friends owns, to get some delicious frozen yogurt. We all got our flavors that we wanted and with my wallet in hand and I went to go pay for both of us. Sarah also brought her wallet with her but I was not going to let her pay. As I was trying to figure out a plan to distract her from not paying Sterling interjected and offered to pay. Me being the cheap person I am and not wanting to pass up a chance for free yogurt, I accepted his offer (apparently that was mistake #2 on my part). During our times in the car and at U-swirl it was somewhat hard to have a conversation with Sarah because of nerves on both of our parts. I was probably more nervous than she was. 

We all didn't want the date to end so we wanted to go somewhere else, but didn't know where. Sarah suggested we go to the institute and hang out since she had keys to open the doors there; we all agreed and headed over. We got to the institute and I pulled out an exercise ball which I used for F.H.E.s in the single’s ward and we played human tennis which was a game I made up on my mission. The game started out pretty slow but as I tried to show off and make the game more exciting I started to slide and more during the game. One slide particularly hurt because I got rug burn on my foot (the gym floor was carpet). It hurt like no other but I couldn't say anything because I had to act tough; but it’s kind of hard to hide a gushing sore on your foot. Eventually we all got tired and decided to stop. I of course due to my overactive sweat glands was soaked from head to toe in sweat. I was quite embarrassed and prayed that I didn't smell horrible. Luckily she didn't say anything, meaning it wasn't too bad.

After our human tennis game Sterling and his girlfriend went and took a walk around the institute leaving us alone. Sarah and I went to the piano in the main gathering area of the institute. I asked her if she played the piano and she asked me what my favorite hymn was and she played it on spot beautifully. Sister Nymeyer, Sterling's Mom, had already leaked the secret that I knew how to sing, so Sarah urged me to sing along as she played. On my mission I was comfortable singing in front of congregations but this night I could barely sing in front of this one girl. Eventually I summoned up the courage and was able to sing but it wasn't my best performance. As Sarah played the piano she would sing along as well and we did this for the next 2.5 hours of the night while talking about everything under the sun in between songs. She sounded like an angel with perfect pitch and vibrato. ugh!  It was fantastic!

After my voice was hoarse from singing so much we went into the foyer of the institute to find Sterling and his girlfriend sleeping on the couches because we had been singing for so long. Whoops! Totally worth it! As we arrived at Sarah’s apartment, Sterling insisted that I walk her to her apartment before I could even get the thought out, which kind of made me look bad and made everything awkward… We both got out of the car and she walked in front of me not really saying anything. As we got to her door she opened it and the awkward silence came. “I got new couch covers” she said and I replied “that’s cool”. We hugged said our goodbyes and then she quickly walked into her apartment and shut the door.

If I had called her instead of texting her and paid for her yogurt this whole thing would have been called an official date (which I still do) but according to Sarah’s definition it is, to her, called “the awkward non-date”.