No one likes jumping into a movie that’s already halfway over… So if you haven’t read PART ONE, click here to do that first!

Part Two: The Story of Us.

In February of 2011, I was so tired of keeping my feelings inside that I beat around the bush for about twenty minutes as I tried to tell him I liked him. He got the point, but he didn’t say anything back. But at least it was out there, and it was in his court now. We had an awkward car ride to our school’s homecoming game that night, and I thought for sure he only liked me as a friend. Why didn’t he say anything?! I was relieved that he now knew my heart, but also wanted to get in the fetal position and cry. He’ll tell you now that this was not his proudest moment. 😉

April 15, 2011. Prom Night. (Side note, I am a weird date person and remember them super well, so go ahead and check your calendar – it was a Friday). Even though Austin had asked me to Prom, my naive-self still thought he didn’t like me back. Anyways, he picked me up that night, and we weren’t two minutes out of my driveway and he spills it. “Aly, I like you a lot. And I have for the past year.”

MY. HEART. JUMPED. OUT. OF. MY. CHEST. I can’t even tell you what I said or how the rest of that car ride went. I was in shock. After all this time, I finally received some much needed clarity. I remember sitting at dinner that night, mouthing to my friends who were sitting at a table across the room, “HE SAID HE LIKES ME!!!!!” and watching them silently freak out because of the excitement of this long-awaited news. You probably think we started dating that night. We didn’t. Keep reading.

My forever boy and his family had plans to move to the desert of Arizona in May 2011. He graduated high school and they left a few days after. He was coming back to the Midwest in the fall for college, but he would still be a dreaded three hours away from Kansas City.

That was a hard summer for both of us for many reasons. He left the only place he’d ever known, and I was starting my senior year of high school with some big decisions ahead. Plus, we had never been this far apart for this long.

In November 2011, after a three-week break from talking to each other, I picked him up from the airport where I had plans to break ties completely, and he had plans to make me his girlfriend.

He went first.

I was a little upset that it had taken him this long, but it’s also all my heart wanted. I didn’t give him an answer until eight hours later, when he was already halfway back to college. My answer was yes. (SHOCKER). But I wanted to make him sweat it just a little!

Our two-year long distance relationship after that was painful and hard and difficult. I knew he would eventually be moving permanently to Arizona, and so I faced a lot of hard decisions ahead of me. I decided that we had been through too much together to just throw it all away because of 1,200 miles. I decided that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t go. I had to know one way or the other. Would he become another “other boy” or would he become my “forever boy”?

Craving more? Read part three here!

(Photos by Ashtyn Nicole Photography, edited by me!)