LilChelles: The Story of Med

Ed and I met my freshman year of college through a mutual friend. At the time, I had a boyfriend, so I just thought of him as that redhead fraternity guy who lived on the 4th floor. He had invited my friends and me to one of his fraternity parties, so we went, had a beer, and left. I'd say hi to him if I saw him around, but never thought anything of him since I was all sorts of in love with another guy.

Fast forward to the beginning of sophomore year. Over the summer, the other boy broke my heart (he's a racecar driver and chose his car over me), and I was having a very difficult time getting over him. The first month of the semester, I was a freakin' mess.

One night, I was wandering around aimlessly by the apartments. I was looking for any kind of distraction so I didn't have to think anymore. I saw Ed sitting on the steps in front of one of the apartments, and he called me over so he could say hello. He saw that I was upset, and sat me in front of him so he could give me a massage and let me vent. It was nice getting that kind of male attention, something I was seriously craving. He invited me inside for a beer. Just as I was thinking that things were looking good, a friend of mine walked in, went up to Ed, and gave him a kiss. Fuck. Of course he's taken. I finished my beer and went to leave, so he walked me outside. We exchanged numbers - he said I could call him if I ever needed to talk.

A few days later, I got a voicemail from Ed inviting me to another party. It was getting late, so I didn't really feel like going. I got another voicemail much later asking me to call him back. He didn't sound too good. When I called him, he said that the girl he was seeing was now seeing another guy, and he was feeling pretty down. He had helped me out early that week, so to repay him, I volunteered to go see him and keep him company. Was I thinking of a possible hookup? Maybe in the back of my mind.

His room was clear across campus. He told me what happened, and we watched a movie. I felt very comfortable around him right away. It was getting late, so he said I should just stay over instead of walking back. Hmm, okay. I remember him taking his shirt off to go to sleep and thinking how much I liked his arms and back. Yum.

We fell asleep in his bed, but never did anything. The next morning, he finally kissed me. It was gentle yet he gave me a lip hickey. It hurt like hell! But after kissing for a bit, I freaked out. I wasn't over my ex, and I was still feeling guilty for being with someone else. He was understanding and said he'll call me later.

From that point on, we started "seeing" each other. It was nothing official, but we made a deal that if we wanted to see someone else, we needed to tell the other person. We spent a lot of time with each other for a couple of months. Thanksgiving break was coming up, and the night before, I spent the night. It was that night when he told me he loved me. The next day, we went home, and I had no idea what was going on. We finally discussed our "status" when we got back to school, and we were finally official: November 20, 2001.

The rest of sophomore year was wonderful. The summer? Not so much. Being home reminded me of the awful summer before, and I would have anxiety attacks all the time, especially after coming home after spending the weekend with Ed (he lived about an hour away). Once we returned to school for my junior year, his 5th year, I felt much better. We had our one year anniversary, and I couldn't have been happier.

Until winter break.

We were both taking a winter class, and I had the apartment to myself. One night, he came over, and confessed the worst: he had cheated on me. It had happened 4 months earlier with an ex of his, but doing so made him realize how much he wanted to be with me. It was one of the worst nights of my life; a lot of crying on both our parts, screaming, begging. It took a lot of time and patience, but we eventually worked our way through a huge bump in our relationship. I trust him completely, and we came out stronger than ever.

We both graduated in May 2004. He had spent 6 years at college, but made it out with a degree. We had to go home and keep doing the long-distance thing. He was living with cousins in a very crowded house where he didn't have a bedroom, so it was tough for awhile. We tried to make the most of our time together. He moved into an apartment with a friend in April 2005, so we had some kind of privacy when we wanted it. I was still living at home, still jobless.

Finally, despite not having a full-time job and Ed not making all that much at his, we moved into our own apartment in April 2007. We've lived together for a year now and have signed a lease for another year. We're still flat broke, but it's worth being able to see him everyday.

Our first New Year's Eve together