Hey everyone: Sorry for all the typos and such in the last one - like I said it was 4 AM when I wrote it and I really did it more for me then to publish so I didn't do much proof reading but here's an update written at a much earlier hour Enjoy!

The day had gone well and the second night of the play went astonishingly well! I was ecstatic and couldn't believe my life - but it was all sort of dampened by the lack of response I was getting to my text to Edward from earlier in the day.

I went to bed that night just searching my brain for a reason - was it me? Was it him? Maybe he didn't want to start something (even a friendship) before leaving? Did he regret contacting me? I tried working my thoughts out on paper to calm myself but actually resorted to just praying he would get back to me - just so I could even feel some closure on the topic….

Sometime post 4 AM I drifted off to a deep, dreamless sleep and didn't wake up until well after 11 am. When I did, my phone, which lay next to my pillow, was blinking its little light signaling I had a message! I couldn't breathe - I snatched the phone and quickly navigated to my messages where I found a text from him!

It said:

Hey I was wondering if you would like to hangout today and see a movie or something? I'm going to visit my grandma but whenever I get back I'll let you know

I was in shock and totally dying of excitement - what a way to start a day! I quickly responded with:

That sounds fun! I just have to head into the city for the last night of my play around 5 but otherwise just let me know :)

To which he quickly responded:

Alright sounds good :)

I got out of bed then wanting to practically leap for joy - he had texted me back! - but I contained myself and settled for just going downstairs to eat a piece of toast and have a cup of tea.

I got dressed about 4 times trying to find the perfect laidback effortless but classy cute outfit and finally settled on jeans with my converse with a grey cami (thanks dream date for the help haha) but put an oversized purple and white plaid button down over it instead of my pink sweater.

I literally spent the next few hours sitting all dressed and ready at my kitchen table just waiting while talking with my mom. It got to be 2:00 and my hope was starting to dissipate so I sent this text to him:

Hey I know you're visiting your grandma but I just wanted to let you know I think a movie might be out for today because I won't have any time to get ready for my show tonight but I'd still like to do something or maybe we could hang out tomorrow when I don't have any time constraints? It's up to you I just wanted to give you the heads up :)

He didn't respond right away so I went out to lunch with my mom and while there I received this response:

When are you leaving to go back to school?

Sort of a non-answer but I did understand because I had said I was going back Sunday - but I was actually going back quite early Monday morning so I told him:

Well actually I'm not going back till Monday morning so I'm free all day/night

To which he replied with:

Alright well tomorrow is good if you wanna do something and if you wanted you could come over to my house later today if you want too.

I was sort of stunned by this response but instead of spending millennia thinking over it and have my mom wait even longer for me to rejoin our prior conversation I replied:

I would but I think I'm running out of time for today :/ but let's definitely do something tomorrow! What time would be best for you?

Sweet, simple to the point and it established the plan so I wasn't left wondering again :) He replied quite promptly with:

Well that's cool then um I'm not exactly sure I wanna say 2 or 3 for tomorrow

The "um" made me feel bad because if he was half as excited as I had been he was majorly let down about my practical cancellation so I responded with:

Yeah that sounds good :) I'm sorry about today I just have to get ready for the show tonight and we leave early to beat the traffic so it kind of cuts a big chunk into the day

I waited with baited breath to see if he was mad or not but his response seemed mellow:

Yea I got it - it's all good. Good luck with the show

I was so glad that he wasn't upset so I said:

Thanks! And I'll talk/see you tomorrow :)

To which, to my liking, he replied:

Alright sounds good :)

And that was it…. We were all set though we had plan for what we were doing. After lunch my mom and I discussed the situation and she warned me not to get my hopes to high because he was leaving - something I had to keep reminding myself as I tried with all my might to keep my head grounded and prevent it from floating off to cloud nine…..

We went grocery shopping and then I changed into my outfit for the show. The drive in went well and we went for dinner. Everything was going perfect and the show was a sold out hit for our third and final night! I couldn't believe my luck for the weekend.

When I got home that night I went straight to bed and fell asleep faster than I ever had in my life just trying to make the next day come faster!

I woke up at about 11:20 and had breakfast with my family. While eating I received a text from him saying:

Hey I'm thinking I'm going to come at 2. I'm not sure what we can do though because I don't have a car.

I was a) uncertain about where he was coming to because we had never discussed pickup and such b) nervous that he just wanted to hang out at my house c)elated to hear from him

I began to take charge of the situation with the following response:

Come - like to my house? I don't have a car either but maybe I can borrow my mom's…

I awaited his response while getting ready to shower when it came I was happy because he was unhindered by our circumstances:

Well we'll figure out something I'm sure and I'll come to your house then

I simply said:

Great!

To which the following exchange occurred after:

E: :)

B: :)

I took a shower, got dressed - I wore my converse and jeans but this time paired them with a blue and white striped knit sweater that was loose and sort of hung nicely without looking baggy - did my hair and sparsely applied some makeup. I was just brushing my teeth when he text me:

I'm going to head over now

My heart stopped - this was really happening! I was so nervous I could die but I just said:

Ok great see you soon!

I quickly finished up and it was only about 10 minutes later that my doorbell was ringing.

I greeted him at the door and we hugged, I welcomed him so we could figure out what to do and we quickly decided to see a movie and then go get a bite to eat. We headed out and so it began.

On the drive over to the theater we discussed my play and my school, what made him want to enlist and some normal getting to know you topics like favorite music, we also decided what movie we should see. When we arrived we got online for our tickets, we had decided to go see Due Date on the ride over, and we talked about the his life in the Marines and various general topics before moving on to weightier things like how guys in the service tend to get married so young and how he disagrees with it, thinking that's why they all end so badly. I said I felt the same way and it was a cool moment because it was the first time I'd talked about that type of thing with a guy and not just Alice or Angela….

We got to ticket counter and he said he's pay for my ticket! I said thanks and that he didn't have to but he insisted.

Once we had our tickets we realized we had an hour and a half until the movie started so we hung around the theater talking about cell phones and favorite movies and interests and sports when I realized my phone was still in the car. So we walked back out to the car and retrieved it, on the way he asked if I minded if he smoked and I told him I didn't and he apologized anyway making me smile while telling him he didn't have to apologize. Somehow we ended up talking about kids, probably because there were what seemed like hundreds of them running around the movie theater, and I told him how I'd worked at an arts and crafts camp the past few summers and how it was a night mare and he said he used to help his ex at a day care she worked out and had a similar experience. We laughed about it and it was a running topic of conversation while we were outside it eventually turned into a conversation about how there's so much sexual innuendo in kids shows and movies and how crazy that is…We were walking back toward the theatre when he told me that he didn't have people to talk about these types of things with and that he thought about them and it was nice to have someone of the "opposite sex" to talk about them with. I was sort of dumbfounded because it seemed so natural for me to just talk about these random sort of things so I sort of just made a joke saying "Well I'm here!" with a smile. He smiled too and we were at the door to the theatre he was still smoking so I told him I didn't mind staying outside if he wanted and he smiled thanks and apologetically said if I got cold I could wear his sweater! I, unfortunately, was stupid and said "No, no - I'm fine thanks" if only I had been using my brain I could've worn his jacket but oh well you win some, you lose some I guess…

The conversation moved towards past relationships and he asked what I looked for in a relationship and I was sort of taken aback so I said, "Well I don't know I haven't been in that many" meaning I had basically no experience and I was going to continue but he cut in saying that he looked for "someone he was really good friends with first, someone he'd known his whole life, because he thought it was important to really know whoever you're with." Shock and joy raced through my veins as I adamantly agreed with him and put in that "I look for someone I can talk to, someone to have fun with" to which he agreed. There was no way I needed my coat I was warm enough already.

We started talking about food and batted around a few ideas for after the movie, finally deciding on going to the cheesecake factory. We headed inside and he asked me if I wanted any popcorn or anything I said I'd get a soda, which I paid for but then he asked if I wanted popcorn and I said I'd share one, so he got that and we headed to find seats.

Once seated we had really no problem keeping conversation going as we chatted about the various commercials and trailers that ran and once the movie started we had plenty of moments where we looked at each other or made a comment toward one another about the stupid antics happening on the screen, it wasn't actually very good though parts of it were funny, but there were a few moments that made my nerves stand on edge - things that were supposed to be humorous that just weren't and that neither of us laughed at - and it was moments like that that made us look at each other too.

The movie ended and we were back to real life. We hadn't held hands and he hadn't put his arm around me but it just felt nice to be with him like this, one on one and the fact that people who looked at us probably thought we were together made me smile. As we were walking out a little boy almost ran into me and I had to jump out of his path, which meant I had to step directly in front of Edward, and we didn't touch but it was close enough where I could feel his presence and I couldn't help but think I could get used to that. We laughed about my near take down by the toddler and made our way to the car.

On the ride over we talked about the type of music we like and about books we enjoyed, though he wasn't much of a reader; we talked about our siblings and about high school - he had been the quiet loner and I had been the shy girl - completely different schools and we both silently wondered what would've happen if I had gone to the public school where he went rather than the all girls Catholic school I actually attended.

We parked fairly quickly and got seated even quicker. We talked a bit about the restaurant and what we were going to order and then moved onto weightier topics like when he was leaving and the holiday - it was going to be his first Christmas away from home. We talked about my allergies and quietly commented on how we'd both had near death experiences at young ages which I think was a bonding moment for us because it's weird to think about but I'd never had someone to share that with and I told him that - I mean how many people my age went through something like that at such a young age and it was cool because he UNDERSTOOD and he got the whole don't like to talk about it too much thing because the past was the past and why should we harp on it which I was so grateful to have someone who got it and practiced it and we smiled as that conversation faded. As the dinner continued we learned each other's favorite bands, colors, foods, first jobs, craziest experiences and the like. We ended the meal with a glass of hot apple cider and discussion about how glad we were that we were able to hang out and get to see each other and reconnect. He paid the check (once again I offered but he said he had it and I thanked him profusely…) and we walked back to the car.

As we walked I brought up how usually I would use facebook and a cell phone to stay in touch with a friend and I turned it into a question by ending the statement with "but I'm thinking those won't work with you" He sort of just laughed and said yeah so I followed up with "so is there any way I could stay in touch with you?" He told me he'd write down my address and that he would write me to which I told him that I'd love to write him and we had one of our smile filled silences.

As we made the drive back to town for me to drop him off we talked a bit more about high school and again mentioned how glad we were. I complained how I didn't want to go back to school because it had been such a fun weekend and followed up with the fact I was glad it would only be about 16 days, since I got out on Dec. 15 to which he said, "That's the day before my birthday". And so I told him my birthday, "July 10" and he talked about how he'd be home in time for it since he'll be back in July and in time for July 4th and he'd definitely be around for at least 6 days following that and I told him it was the big 21 so it was def. a party he didn't want to miss and we basically made arrangements for him to come to my birthday party, which in perspective seems so insignificant but I was elated.

We pulled up to the house I was dropping him off at, a friends who he was visiting, and I parked the car, We leaned in and hugged saying we'd had a great time and were so glad we'd been able to do it and the hug lingered as he said he'd see me when he got back and I quietly said "be safe" which was a total downer but it had to be said…. He nodded, I think recognizing my uncertainty in saying it, and we said we'd talk to each other later and that was it. He closed the door and went into the house and I drove away - only to call Alice as I drove followed up with Angela; we were all in agreement that though it had stayed platonic with no hand holding, arm around me gestures or kissing it was definitely a date - and it had that charged sense to it and in retrospect I think those silences were also just filled with tension as he wanted to be a gentleman and he was leaving but I think there were definitely thoughts brewing under the surface (on both our parts) that just hadn't been acted on.

And now I am consumed by the memories of the day and every time I let the memory of his presence wash over me I feel like I'm carried away to some foreign planet….

I have 7 months till I can even see him again let alone find out if this is headed anywhere (unless he makes some sort of confession in a letter which I highly doubt) but we will get to know each other as great friends though our letters (which I found out via a Google search will take a month to reach him and his me). And so I am left waiting to find out what, if anything, will happen? Only time will tell….