How a Seed Became a Beanstalk: Chapter 2

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl, they fell in love, and lived happily ever after.
This is the story of when they fell in love:

That first date must've sparked something because almost from that day on, Jefferson and I were practically attached at the hip! Hardly a weekend went by where we didn't go out to dinner, or stay home and have a movie night.

There were two weeks in February where Jefferson went on a family vacation to Belize, but we were still in the "friend" stage up until Valentine's Day. On that day, another spark ignited, and we took the next step, we had the DTR moment: we became "official."

That was the day the falling in love started. I thought that Jefferson was still in Belize with his family. I got home from hanging with some old high school buddies and there was a bouquet of roses on my bed with a note that said:

Roses are red,

Oceans are blue,

I'd like to have a Valentine's date with you!

Valentine's day happened to land on a Sunday. After church, Jefferson came to pick me up and as we were leaving, he pulls out a blindfold and insists on my wearing it. My mom helped me tie it around my head, and before I knew it, I was being led to this monstrous truck out in the farthest reaches of my parents driveway. Honestly, it took us forever to get there and I had to hold Jefferson's hand (it's besides the point that I might have wanted to hold his hand, too!). How do I know it was a monstrous truck? Because Jefferson practically had to lift me into it because I couldn't find a foot-hold or a handle anywhere, even though my arm was completely outstretched! Quite a feat in a knee-length dress, don't you think?

We started driving to I-don't-know where. I could smell food someplace...possibly in the back of the car...The drive felt really long, too long just to be going to his house (which is conveniently less than a mile away).

We must be going somewhere, I thought. But it's a Sunday in Utah...where could we go? Maybe he's just driving in circles to confuse me...

The car came to a stop and Jefferson briefed me on what was going to be happening in the next few minutes, but still wouldn't let me take off the blindfold. Mine was a blurry world of pink dotted with black paisley. Jefferson came around and helped me dismount his beast of a vehicle and then, one arm around my waist, the other enduring my vice-like grip, he led me...somewhere!

"There's a flight of stairs coming up," Jefferson warned.

Oh great, I thought. If high heels and stairs weren't a bad enough combination, let's throw in a blindfold! He's really trying to test my gracefulness, isn't he?

For some strange reason, I took it into my head that the stairway was circular even though there was no evidence pointing in that direction, and started to walk accordingly, slowly truning in my ascent up the stairs. It led to a lot of blushing on my part when I ran into the wall, and a lot of hushed giggles on the part of Jefferson. I'm just glad it was dark, and that I could tell, even through a blindfold.

We breached the steps and then began the long sojourn through a hallway. Jefferson sat me down in a cushy chair situated in some room...somewhere.

"I have to go bring things up from the car, so no peeking!" he said.

"Okay," I said in a defeated tone. While he was gone, I started to explore my surroundings with my hands. I recognized a lamp, intricately carved with a tubular cloth covered shade. But to my other side, there was something sitting on the floor and I couldn't make it out for the life of me so yes...I peeked. Turns out it was a lamp, too, only the old-fashioned candle kind. It was carved from wood with Thailand carved in the wood. I heard footsteps coming but it was too late.

"Peeker," Jefferson said. I told him about how I had figured out what was around me just by feeling it and I may have fibbed a little to impress him, saying that I figured out Thailand was carved in the lamp with my blindfold on. That impressed him a little, I think, and made me feel better about my stupidity when confronted with a simple staircase, but worse overall because I had just lied!

I couldn't understand why I was being so jittery and nervous...I just had an overwhelming feeling that something important was going to happen and I didn't want to mess that up!