A Super Cheesy Story (Well, the Beginning of One)

This is a picture of ultimate dreariness.

Once upon a time--last November to be exact--in a rather ordinary land called Orem, my roommate Amanda and I were sitting drearily in the campus library, drearily studying for midterms and occasionally looking up to stare blankly at the dreary gray clouds in the sky.

Amanda glanced up at me. "Hey Kiersten," she whispered. "Do you want to make a new friend?"

"What?" I asked, utterly confused.

He may not be a serial killer, but he
definitely is a cereal killer. 

"This new guy just moved into the ward and posted on the ward Facebook page that he's going to get pizza and does anyone want to come with," she told me.

I laughed at her for being on Facebook instead of doing her homework, (something I, of course, have never done), and then got down to the serious business of determining if he was a serial killer.

After some quick Facebook stalking, we determined he was a decent guy, and Amanda and I were hungry and tired and sick of doing homework, so she commented on his post saying we were on our way. Fifteen minutes later we walked into the clubhouse at our apartment complex and this guy stood up.

I have some rad Facebook stalking
skills. Not that it's something I
do regularly...

"Hi, are you Jason?" I asked, and then introduced myself and Amanda when he said yes. The three of us headed down to the parking garage and climbed into his red Jeep. At this point in our lives I was trying super hard to find Amanda a guy to date (since I was going on a mission) so I'd told her she had to ride in the front and talk to him, which she did.

In the time it took us to drive to Little Caesar's we learned that Jason had moved to Orem because he was starting school in January, he wanted to be an elementary school teacher, (a fact that earned my immediate respect, but also I felt bad for his future wife since he'd make absolutely no money), and he served his mission to Hawaii and loved the people and the place but had a hard time with a few of his companions who thought they were on vacation.

I mean...it does kinda look like
a vacation.

We took the pizza back to his apartment and continued to talk to him for a couple of hours. It amazed me how much we had in common. We both liked Hawaiian pizza, we both loved ice cream, we both liked to run, we both were aspiring ukulele players, and so on. The only thing we didn't agree on was my decision to serve a mission, though at the time he pretended to be supportive of it.

Who wouldn't want
to be friends with this kid??

Well Amanda and I had to leave for class and Jason decided to go to FHE so we parted ways, and as we walked home I asked Amanda if she'd ever be interested in him. "I don't know, maybe," she said. "But mostly he just talked to you the whole time."

That was pretty much true, but I also knew that he was a pretty social, friendly person and we'd just left him to play games with the entire ward. Based on my previous experiences with social, friendly guys, I figured he'd find people he liked better and that night was the last we'd ever hear from Jason Olson.

Well I was wrong. By a lot.

We couldn't agree on whether
this was a deer or a fox. So
now it's a doxen.

Three days later I found myself back in his apartment--without Amanda this time--eating ice cream and talking to him for hours. For the next three weeks we hung out pretty consistently. We'd go running or watch movies with some other friends from the ward. When I went home for Thanksgiving he called me a couple times and we'd stay up late talking about nothing. Through all of this I stubbornly told myself we were only friends. But dang we sure got along well.

The day I got back from Thanksgiving I went over to his apartment to help him decorate his Christmas tree--because we both love Christmas and Christmas music and Christmas trees and all things Christmastime. The next day he asked me on a date for the following Friday and I agreed before I could think of a valid excuse.

We're standing on opposite
sides of this tree because I was
afraid he'd hold my hand or
something if I stood next to him.
You could say I have some
commitment issues.

It wasn't that I didn't want to go on a date with Jason. I really really did. The only problem was that I could tell he liked me a lot and I didn't know how much I liked him, or if I would seriously want to date him, and besides, all that was irrelevant because I was going on a mission.

That Wednesday he texted and asked me to come over for a few minutes so he could talk to me about our date, which was a lie. What he actually wanted to tell me was that he liked me and he wanted to make sure he wasn't bothering me all the time. So we talked for a little bit and he walked me home and gave me the best hug and also tried to sneakily maneuver us underneath Amanda's mistletoe but I'd never kissed anyone before so I panicked and told him no. Because I was going on a mission.

Two days later was our first (official) date and it was pretty much one of the best days of my whole life. That morning I mentioned I was going to the temple and he offered to come with me. I remember all the temple workers thought we were dating and neither of us bothered to correct them. Then when we got out we walked around the temple grounds and talked on a bench for a while since it was pretty warm. Well, warm for December anyway.

This is Jason's Oh-No-We're-
Taking-A-Picture smile. I
promise his real one actually
makes him look happy.

When he picked me up that night he excitedly handed me a Wal-Mart Santa hat. Trust me, Jason may look like an adult but on the inside he's about five years old, and I mean that in the best way possible.
We tripled with his friends Brandon and Jake, (both of which are getting married this summer to the girls they were with that night), and went to Temple Square to see the lights. Jason held my hand the whole time and we happened to run into Brianna for a few minutes and the lights were gorgeous and overall it was pretty much the best date of my life. Somehow we ended up separated from the rest of the group, though neither of us minded, and before I knew it he was asking me to be his girlfriend and I was like WAIT WHAT? Even though I guess I'd had a suspicion that would happen and I had just put it in the I-Don't-Want-To-Think-About-This-Or-Make-A-Decision-Right-Now compartment in the back of my brain.

I had a quick conversation with myself that went something like this.
Irrational Kiersten: No way! I actually found a guy that wants to date me!
Rational Kiersten: Okay but this is really bad timing.

This is the look of agonized indecision.

IK: Okay but he's really cute. And really fun. And really nice. And I like holding his hand.
RK: Yeah but you're going on a mission.
IK: But I really like him!
RK: So you've only known him for three weeks.
IK: People get married after three weeks.
RK: MISSION.

And luckily before I said something crazy, like "Yes Jason I would love to date you and also do you want to marry me" the rational side of me told him I'd have to think about it. But then two hours later he kissed me while we were watching Beauty and the Beast, (and let me tell you, it's a wonder he still wanted to date me after that fiasco), and I figured I couldn't go around kissing people I wasn't gonna date so I agreed to be his girlfriend. And after he walked me home later I didn't panic when he kissed me goodnight under Amanda's mistletoe, which meant I was basically on my way to being the perfect girlfriend.