ShoreThing

     I met Marcel through Samantha (the Maid of Honor), who is his cousin, and also my very best friend. He flew from North Carolina to Texas to visit family for the summer. I hadn't met him yet, but Sam suggested we all go to the premiere of The Expendables together. When they got to my house to pick me up, Marcel got out of Sam's truck, walked up to me, shook my hand, and said "Hi, I'm Marcel" with a smile. I was blown away by how much of a gentleman he was.      At the theater, I found an empty row of seats before the show and schooched to the middle. I expected Sam to sit next to me so she'd be between Marcel and I, but she let him go past her so he sat next to me. Looking back, I think this was on purpose! I don't remember much about the movie, because I was trying to figure out who got the armrest. But once it was over, we went back to Sam's house.      We talked, and played pool until 4 o'clock the next morning and didn't even realize it! I decided to go home since it was so late, so Marcel walked me to the car outside and I got nervous so I threw my hand out for him to shake. He shook my hand, but laughed at me, and when I asked him why he said "Well I thought you were gonna hug me". I looked at Sam and did that best friend face that means "get me outta here!", but she smiled and said "Yeah, it did look like you were gonna hug him". So I did. I hugged him.     On my way home I was giggly and giddy to say the least. All I could think about was Marcel and when I'd see him again. I don't remember why exactly, but I looked up through the sunroof of the car, and saw my first shooting start that night. I can't tell tell you what I wished for, but Ican tell you it came true.     Marcel went back to North Carolina at the end of the summer but we had become best friends and talked constantly, even though we were so far apart. We both dated other people for a little bit, and even though we were happy for each other it still kind of hurt. Later on we both ended up single again at the same time, and call me crazy but I knew that was my chance.      I called him in the middle of the night, and told him to get on Skype so I could see his face. Once I saw him on the screen of my laptop, I just couldn't hold back anymore. I told him how I needed to see him again, how I never forgot that summer, how great it felt to be around him, and how I maybe even liked him a little bit. I never in a million years expected him to say "I've been feeling the same way."      The confessions were the easy part, the hard part was figuring out what to do next. Everything I had ever known was in Texas. All my family, my friends, my precious preschool class. But I wanted to be where he was. We thought of a dozen different solutions, but nothing seemed to work, and things started getting difficult.      The changing point in our relationship came when Marcel called me out of the blue one day and said he was going to move to Texas. You'd think I would've jumped for joy but I yelled at him. "Are you kidding me? You have a full ride scholarship!" Then it hit me: He was willing to give up so much just to be with me. So I decided to do the opposite and move to North Carolina, so that he could keep his scholarship. So that summer, Marcel came down to Houston and helped me pack everything I had into boxes and shipped it to our new apartment, and we flew to North Carolina to start our life together.