The Jon and Carrie Love Story, part 18

Friday night, third date. Err whatever. I had lost track.

I am pretty sure sometime during this week we had a "lunch date" at El Taco Loco. A date where as I was getting into his car I noticed several large black plastic bags of things in the backseat.

"What is that?"

"Oh don't worry about that. It's just dry trash."

I giggle thinking about it; the phrase has become one of those lifelong jokes between us. I mean really, who distinguishes their trash as being dry? I suppose he was trying to tell me it was safe and unsmelly. Probably just papers and such. But it was sure funny at the time.

So anyway, the point is that I had stopped keeping track of "dates" because we were basically together every waking moment.

Friday night we headed to the Oriental Garden on the corner of Yakima Ave and First Street (locals know that the restaurant changed hands about a million times and is now an oriental buffet). We ate these wonderful butterfly crusty thingies with cream cheese inside.

Later, after much giggling and public displays of affection, we headed to Blockbuster and rented The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, which turned out to be pretty dumb. But we didn't care. We were busy... talking. YEAH that's it! Talking.

Jon was one who didn't like to leave, but this night he seemed particularly in a stalling mood. Eventually as I was trying to push him out the door, he couldn't find his phone. So he used my phone to call his.

I pulled up a pillow and found it. I picked it up and saw where my name should have been, but instead something else had been entered in.

I love you.

Besides my mom, dad, sister, brothers... and even then not very often... not many people in my life up to that point had heard me utter the phrase. I was very serious about it, and never did I say it unless I really meant it.

At that moment, it caught me completely off guard. No date had ever said it to me before. But there it was, staring me in the face.

Jon explained that he had wanted to say it for a little while (how long had we been dating?), and he really wanted to tell me. I hesitated, and I think he noticed. We talked, we probably kissed a little more, and then as he was leaving I told him what I really felt.

I love you, too. >>Continue to part 19