Beauty and the Beast

Now that we had finally kissed :) A couple nights after our first kiss, while sitting at the table eating dinner at his house, Colton said to me, out of the blue, "Erica, I don't want you to kiss other guys because I want you all to myself" and from then on we were officially a couple. We saw each other every day that we could, even if it meant just studying next to each other all night.

Weeks after dating, at his house in the middle of watching a movie, Colton started to get all fidgety and finally turned to me and said, "I love you". Colton had this way of catching me off guard and keeping me on my toes, in a good way. Let me tell you, I was definitely caught off guard here. I didn't even have to think about it before I responded with "I love you too". I had never felt the way I did for Colton about any other guy I had dated in the past. He was different and our relationship was different. I knew I was in love with him days before he told me but honestly had not expected him to tell me for weeks, maybe even months.We continued to date and get to know each other for the next few months. The more I got to know Colton, I got a greater understanding of just how unique and special he is. I was going to try my hardest to make sure this "cute neighbor boy" stuck around for a long time. 

On Saturday May 1st, 2010, Colton picked me up to go to San Tan Flat, which is an indoor and outdoor BBQ place with live music, fire pits you can roast marshmallows at, and just a lot of fun. When we were driving out there, I would be in the middle of talking about one topic and Colton would just completely not hear me or start a new topic. I figured he just had a lot on his mind but it was strange for him to be acting this way. When we got there it was loud and I told him I wasn't a huge fan of the noise and he went inside to find a table inside. I had asked the man working there how long of a wait it was to get a table inside and he said at least an hour and a half. I was bummed. Colton came back over and said "I got us a table inside" and I was a little confused because of what the worker man just told me but I wasn't going to complain because I got to sit inside now. We got a booth and ordered our food. Colton continued to act as weird at San Tan Flat as he had in the car. I was in the middle of a sentence when he just got up, went and talked to our waitress and then walked outside. My uncle, cousins, and even my oldest brother happened to be at the restaurant eating outside and walked by me. We talked and I told them I would come see them outside with Colton after dinner. (My family being there was purely by coincidence because Colton didn't tell anyone where we were going, not even me).  Colton came back in and sat down and I started to laugh and said "Is everything alright? I was in the middle of a sentence and you just left me here" He started laughing too and said "Sorry, just got a lot on my mind. I went to check if the band is outside. We should go outside." He got up and started leading me outside. At this point I was just along with whatever Colton wanted to do hoping maybe he would go back to his normal self. 

When we got outside he wanted to get our picture drawn by one of those guys who draws you as a cartoon. There was a line of people waiting but Colton just took us directly to the bench to be drawn. I felt like a little kid back in elementary school cutting in line and felt guilty that those other people were still waiting. The man asked us which Disney couple I wanted us to be drawn as and I picked Beauty and the Beast. As the man was drawing, I kept asking Colton if he was sure it was okay that we went in front of all those other people because they all were staring at us. He kept telling me it was fine and he had asked the man earlier if he could go in front of them. My brother happened to walk by as our picture was being drawn and laughed (later we found out he couldn't tell what it was at that point so he had no idea what was going on). There seemed to be a crowd of people gathering around us and I felt a little self conscious. I kind of felt like an animal at the zoo being watched. Finally, the man got done drawing us and handed Colton the picture. He then turned it towards me and asked "How do you like it?" At first I was a little confused because it looked nothing like Beauty and the Beast. It looked like this....

I looked over at Colton who was down on one knee and he asked me to marry him. I said "Yes of course!" and we kissed. Everyone around cheered and clapped for us. Once back inside at our table I was too excited to eat and wanted to go show both our families. We went and showed off the bling to my cousins, uncle and brother outside and left. That night was THE BEST night of my entire life. I was going to get married to my best friend :)

The girl who now had a diamond ring, Erica