I Thought We Were Just A Summer Fling But He Ended Up Being “The One”

I went to a party at a guy’s house that I had known for a while but always blew off. I wanted to stay for an hour but I left eight hours later with a summer hookup. Two years later, we’re happily married. Here’s how I surprised myself with an amazing guy:

1. I had no expectations for that night. He told me the party started at 5 p.m. so I showed up at five o’clock on the dot and told myself that if I hated being there I would leave. I even had my BFF on standby to call with a fake emergency. Once I relaxed about it, I started to enjoy myself. I let myself be flirty and the time flew by.
2. Liquid courage was on my side. I hate beer, like hate it so much that I’d rather drink cough syrup. Needless to say, there was only beer at the party. I sipped enough of one to feel a buzz and gained some confidence as well. When he asked me if I wanted to go to his front porch to talk, I didn’t hesitate. He kissed me mid-conversation and all I could think was, “Why did it take me so long to give him a chance?”
3. He wanted to see me the next day. I got a text the next morning asking if he could come over to my place. I was already having the internal debate of whether or not to talk to him, so after seeing that message, I felt so relieved. When he got to my place, he was so hungover that I let him nap in my bed. We then grabbed burgers Five Guys and talked on my couch for hours and hours. Definitely the way to my heart through food and conversation.
4. I realized just how much I liked him. The key to going from fling to maybe dating was seeing him during the week and not just the weekends. We’d do dinner at one of our places or watch a movie and then stay the night. At first it was kind of awkward, but then we developed a routine of how to handle each other. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and realized we needed to decide if this was official or not.
5. Airport romance scenes aren’t just reserved for the movies. He went out of town for a week and the morning that he was coming back, I was leaving town for a week. His flight was delayed, which caused him to miss his connecting flight. He kept texting me, insisting on seeing me before I left and promising to meet me at the airport when I had to check in. Sure enough, I just left the ticket counter when I saw him running through the airport to give me the best kiss of my life and spend 15 minutes together. This propelled us from “just hanging out” to “boyfriend and girlfriend.”
6. Summer Turned Into Fall, Which Led to the Holidays. I was going home to my parents’ house for the holidays and he was going to be alone. I extended the invitation and after only three months of official dating, he met my parents. We’re both adults—meeting parents shouldn’t be as weird as when you’re younger. It wasn’t. My parents adored him!
7. We planned a vacation together. Back when we started our summer fling, we booked a trip to Maui for January. Yes, you read that correctly. Five days, four nights, in Maui, five and a half months away. Was that crazy? Um, yeah. Honestly, I just hoped we end things on a friendly note so I didn’t have to bail and could still go. Traveling together and staying on a resort taught us a lot about each other and I firmly believe it strengthened our budding relationship. We definitely din’t have to go 3,000 miles away, but where’s the fun in that?
8. The next step was natural. After a little more than a year of rotating whose place we’d stay at for the week, we decided to move in together. We moved into an apartment and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. We both had weird habits that we identified quickly, and it taught us that every day is a compromise of some sort. Oh, and we adopted a puppy. Things were going so well that he decided to propose on Christmas Day in front of his entire family!
9. I never thought this would lead to marriage. If you asked me when we first started our summer fling if I’d end up married to the guy, I would have said you’re insane. Two years later, we’re newlyweds with an incredible story to tell. He’s surprised me at every turn and I never would have thought that giving a summer fling a chance could lead to a long-term relationship.