
Spring break has come and gone. I had a family emergency to take care of and wasn't able to enjoy my last academic spring break before I graduate in December. To make up for a lost opportunity, my fiancé and I will be going to the biggest Star Wars convention in Anaheim, California next month. As you can tell my fiancé and I are huge star wards geeks. The reason why we met was because of our mutual love for this epic Sci-fi franchise. Today's free-write will tell the tale of our first encounter and why so many thing had to align for us to meet that day.
April 20th, 2013. My girlfriend had invited me to see R. Kelly's rap-opera, "Trapped in the Closet" which was showing at Phoenix's hipster mecca, The Film Bar. I've been dying to see this kooky 2 hr+ long drama about R. Kelly, infidelity, "the package", STD's, a cheating minister's wife, little people lovers, and so much more. Gladly, I accepted her invitation and also invited my emotionally unavailable Ex-boyfriend in an attempt to win him back. Seriously, I don't know what I was thinking at the time.

Anyway, my girlfriend, my best friend, my flaky ex, and I met up at the Filmbar that evening. We laughed and cried through R. Kelly's attempt to be more than an mediocre R&B singer. Later that evening, my ex and I separated from our party to run to the gas station to get him some cigarettes. We pulled up the Circle-K on 7th Street and Roosevelt and for whatever reason my Ex did not want to go inside to buy his smokes. Instead, like a true gentleman, he sent me in to get them for him. As I was walking to the door of the Circle-K, two guys walked up at the same time I did. One of the guys, looked like Egon from the old 80's Ghostbuster's cartoon with this weird curly rolled pompadour sitting neatly on top of his cleanly shaved head. The other guy was wearing an incredible hulk trucker hat, khaki dickie shorts, and a Green Star Wars T-shirt.

My eyes flew immediately to the familiar logo and I blurted out "I love your shirt". He replied with a smile, "Thank you". That would have been the extent of our conversation, if his friend didn't make the next move and say, "You haven't seen anything yet. Show her your belt...and your wallet." The guy lifted up his belt to reveal a Star Wars belt buckle and took out his wallet to show me his Star Wars wallet. Astonished by the geeky paraphernalia, I let out the most embarrassing girlie squeal that has ever escaped my mouth. Who knew I would find a fellow Star Wars geek at the Circle K? The next five minutes were a blur. I recall that I told him I was a huge fan of the franchise, but he didn't seem to believe me, because he said, "Yah. That's what they all say." So I had to prove my geek cred that my love for SW went well beyond the movies. I told him I collect SW toys, play all the video games, and read the books. Then I schooled him on his SW knowledge by talking about the books that I have read. He was stunned that a girl like me knew so much about Star Wars. Boom! In your face! Girls like Star Wars too!
We chatted for the next few minutes about our love of SW and his involvement with a local charity SW group that dress up and go to children's hospitals and charity drives. We walked out the door together and I could see my ride was anxious to leave. While we might have hit it off immediately, I was surprised he didn't ask for my name or number. If I didn't make the next move he would have let me, the love of his life, walk away never to see him again. When I make a connection with someone I make sure that I get their information, because you never knew on that off chance what could happen. I seize the opportunity and asked him for his facebook information. Hey, what's the worse that could happen? He could have said no, but to my delight he said yes! I learned his name was Evan and he didn't live to far from the Circle K. We exchanged information and even numbers. He invited me to a party he was going to later that evening, but I wasn't able to go because I was still hanging out with my douche ex. So, we added each other on our profiles and kept in contact.
Four months later, I was returning from an internship in Alaska, and I get this message from Evan that he was moving to Portland and he wanted to hang out with me before he left. I hadn't spoken to him very much since we first met, but we did meet once at the Phoenix Comic Convention in May. However, I was extremely shy when I saw him and wasn't as talkative or sociable. So, when he messaged me in August, I figured I should at least see him once before he left. We made plans to hang out that evening at a local bar in Phoenix. I brought a few of my friends along because I didn't want to be there by myself if it was once again awkward between us.

Like the first time we met at Circle K it was apparent we had chemistry that rivaled Han Solo and Princess Leia. We talked all night long. When my friends went dancing, we stayed outside and talked about life, our likes and dislikes, music, geeky stuff, and past relationships. We both agreed we weren't into playing games nor dating for dating sake. He told me right then and there that he really liked me; I confirmed I felt the same. My friends were dead tired at 4am when Evan and I parted ways. It wasn't long before he texted me that day to ask: "When can I see you again?" We spent the next few days getting to know each other, but we both knew that this was it for both of us. Three days after our initial meeting, Evan asked me to be his girlfriend. Why wait? I mean we already knew. He always says to me, "You had me at Star Wars" and he's right I did. I'm not a firm believer in fate, but so many things had to coincide for us to meet that day.
Evan proposed to me a year later in the most fantastic way imaginable, but before he did we had to go through the final test to prove our love for each other...but that's another story all together.