Back in middle school I could be described as pure and innocent kid who didn’t know anything about dating, or even why people would start dating. I was around married people and couples but they never went on dates or did anything as a couple when I was around. Even in elementary school where my friend got his first girlfriend to only have a big break-up a week later, both shouting curse words I didn’t know the meaning of. Eighth grade was different though; I began to get some weird feelings for this new friend I met named Tearrany but everyone called her Tia. She was about an inch taller than me which isn’t saying much as I was about five feet back then, black, weird love for Korean pop music, always trying to help and the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.

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Being a shy kid and suddenly getting struck with these strong feelings that I didn’t understand, I thought I just liked hanging out with her a lot, this led to me never making a move. Skip ahead to the end of the year and everyone at school is talking about the Eighth grade dance and who is going with who. It was at lunch with a long dinner table with Me, my friends Connor, Angela, Tana, Brenda, and Tia on the end while I was near the middle. For some weird reason, Connor and I started talking about dares and how I would do any dare that someone gave me. Brenda heard this and dared me to ask Tia out to the Eighth grade dance. I said sure and asked her out right at the lunch table for everyone to hear, she said yes without realizing what happened until later.

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The exchange was not romantic at all, it went like “Hey! Hey Tia.” I yelled across the table, “Yes?” She answered. “Want to go the dance together?” “Sure?”.

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Later that day while watching videos alone in my room with Facebook open to reply to messages in our “Weirdos Inc” group chat, Tia makes a new chat with only me and her in it and confesses that she liked me for months, that she’s going to a different school soon, wanted to tell me before leaving and that if I didn’t like her back then it’s fine but keep being friends. Now it’s the night of the dance. We’re all dressed up in fancy outfits, me in a black suit and tie with Tia wearing a beautiful black dress with a lot of flow. We meet up awkwardly as Eighth graders do and start chatting about things in general. We got separated a lot because of some drama that I don’t know about but that didn’t stop me from “dancing” until I was sweaty and ready to pass out, about thirty minutes into the dance. At one point I believe I was in the middle of a dance circle singing Taylor Swift, getting really passionate more and more as the song went on, screaming at the top of my lungs.

 

 Eventually, Tana and Angela come back so I tell them my plan to ask the DJ for a slow song, the dance was Paris themed so it seemed like a good place to get romantic. I also asked them if they knew any good slow songs to play because I couldn’t think of any. We ran through some options until Tana said “Bruno Mars” and we went with “Just The Way You Are”. After multiple song changes, me losing my sanity and trying to find Tia, the song comes on and out runs Tana and Angela with Tia in tow while I’m waiting near the center of the floor. We start to slow dance on the amazing rug mat they had us dance on, since it was both of our first slow dances we had no idea what to do. We kept tripping over each other and stepping on each other’s feet. Yet, I kept it romantic by joking around and saying compliments to match the song lyrics, probably the best flirting I have ever done in my life. I see other couples staring at us and giving the thumbs up so I give them one back and embrace Tia as the song begins to end. I step back and ask her if she would like to out with me, she said yes and immediately ran over to Tana and Angela as I stood in the middle of the dance floor drained of all energy.

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That’s how Tia and I got together, while writing this we have been together for four years, six months and 5 days. To this day Tia reminds me of all the hints and plans she used to try to show me that she liked me and all of them went over my oblivious head.