First Dates and "I Love You"s

It wasn't long after the first kiss that Alex took me on our first official date. My dear friend Lauren had asked us both to go to Taco Tuesday with her out at a restaurant called Loco Patron. Now, I don't know about you, but anything that involves tacos is alright in my book. I was thrilled to be going out to dinner with Alex and we had some of the best company i could have wished for.

I remember driving out to Ahwatukee that night, and feeling so unbelievably comfortable. Alex told me that I could change all the presets in his car to my favorite radio stations. And i did. Plus Ke$ha's song "your love in my drug" was super popular at the time, and I may or may not have rolled down all the windows and let my hair fly wildly around me while I belted the song at the top of my lungs. I would have never been that at ease with anyone else so early in the relationship. But with Alex, things just felt safe. he made me feel whole, and alive, and excited, and sure, and taken care of.

We got to the restaurant, and I tried to be all timid and girly about my order... "oh, i'll just have one chicken taco, and a water with a lemon please..." But luckily, in this small amount of time alex and i had spent with each other, he had learned two very two important things... i love tacos. and i need Dr. Pepper. So he then orders "5 tacos, 2 chicken and 3 beef. Also i want one dr pepper, and a mountain dew... i'm super thirsty"

I gave him the strangest look and he said, "Just in case you decide you want more..."

so cute.

And heavens knows i scarfed down those few extra tacos he ordered, and drank that DP like nobody's business. And we laughed and talked and made some awesome memories. It was a simple first date, but it was easy and nice and that's all you can really hope for in a first date... amiright?

So the days go by, and we go on more dates. We meet each others families. We meet each others friends. and we are just having a grand ole time being together lots and lots. One night in particular was extra special. We had gone out for dinner, and then went bak to my parents house to watch a movie. i honestly don't remember what movie we watched... too bad, so sad. But if you know me at all, you will know that I freaking fall asleep in every single stinking movie i try to watch. It doens't matter how funny, or how intense the movie is, you can pretty much bet on the fact that i will be zonked out by the time the credits roll. So, I had fallen asleep during this movie with alex, and i remember kinda waking up at the end. I was laying in alex's lap, and he was playing with my hair, and he was talking to me. Now this is one of the cutest things i have ever experienced  so i continued to "sleep". But really i was just listening to everything he was saying to me. I remember him telling me how glad he was that Heavenly Father had lead us to each other, and that he couldn't believe how incredible i was. and then I heard him say something that I honestly wasn't expecting.

"i love you."

he said it. even if he thought i was unconscious  he still said it, and he loves me. and it was really hard to still pretend to be sleeping. At this point i figured i better 'wake up'. So i attempted my best fake yawn-stretch-oh-my-gosh-did-i-really-fall-asleep face and just smiled up at him. He played it cool, and didn't allude to the fact that he had just said the L word. and i had to tell him it was time to go home so that I didn't end up spilling the beans that i had totally heard his secret confession.

I wasn't quite ready to say it back. But it didn't take long.