Michael and I met at a mutual friend's house. Neither of us knew the other would be there, and we hadn't met prior to this. He was already there, and when I walked in we had one of those weird moments where we just looked at each other awkwardly until the mutual friend hugged me and welcomed me in. Michael isn't one to flirt or make the first move, so it took me practically pulling information out of him to begin getting to know him. I learned later that he was shy and had no idea how to talk to me. Once the other people that were there went to sleep, Michael and I stayed up and talked. He was much more comfortable talking to me since it was just us. After that night, we talked pretty regularly and he would come to Macon to see me quite frequently. We decided to wait about a month after meeting before we officially started "dating." We both felt like it was better for both of us if we got to know each other a little better before moving forward with a relationship. It was important for the both of us; Michael had just gotten out of a long, toxic relationship and I was still on my way to learning about life outside of high school. We met when I was 18 and Michael was 22.