The Only Man I've Ever Loved: Part 2

Two Days

It literally took two days to move myself out of my apartment, withdraw from UTC, and enroll at my last choice college, a local state school 35 minutes away. Classes started on Wednesday and that night, my friend Joseph dragged me to the Baptist Student Union fellowship. It was their first and only year to do “family” groups where a senior guy and girl became “Dad and Mom” to a few freshmen “children.” The goal was for the seniors to help us adjust to college life.

Joseph and I arrived that night to meet our new brother, Matt, which unbeknownst to me would be my future soul mate. My first impression of him was that he was tall, very tall and quite handsome with his wispy blonde hair and blue eyes. I was nervous, but I managed to fumble through a greeting. I always thought I would marry someone with his characteristics, but this was not love at first sight.

To begin with, he was my “brother,” and boy, did he let me know that. Secondly, he had a serious girlfriend, “Georgia girl” as he called her. She was his “meant to be.” I, too, had just recently become attached, so any fleeting thought of me liking him in that way was immediately cast off. So began our 2 and 1/2 year brother/sister friendship.

As part of our “family” experience, we were encouraged to bond by socializing together. Matt decided that he would take Joseph and I to the local amusement park for their Halloween festivities, which included scary rides and haunted houses. I was a fan of neither, but went along anyway.

The guys wanted to start off with a loop-dee-loop, feet dangling, gut wrenching thrill ride. I refused and began to stomp away. As I fled, I felt two large arms encircling me and lifting me from the pavement. Matt thought he would carry me on the ride. How sweet and gentlemanly-like. Wrong! He and Joseph blocked my escape and forced me onto the ride. I screamed with terror as the ride twisted and looped at G-force speed. Matt thought I would enjoy the ride if he could just help me get over my fears. He was mistaken. I was mad and quite freaked from nearly blacking out on the ride, but I didn’t want to be a party-pooper. So, when they decided to try a haunted house, I said ok.

The first one took less then 5-terrifying-minutes to walk through, and I wasn’t about to go through another one. Then, smooth-talking Matt convinced me the next one wouldn’t be that scary. Anyway, I could hang onto the back of his jacket for support. We started in slowly, my fists clinched tightly to his gray-hooded sweatshirt, which by the way, he was wearing. It was dark and smoky. I could barely see the black-lighted aliens waiting to scare the living daylights out of me. The farther we went, the more tightly I clung to Matt, nearly ripping his jacket off. I screamed and hid as ghouls lurked in and out of every corner. Matt loved my every scream, my every shutter in fear. Apparently, I was what made haunted houses fun.

If you've missed the 1st part of the story, click here to read, and look for part 3 coming soon.