His Version:

The story begins with a toilet… Stephanie and her friends thought it would be funny to prank me by putting a toilet and a few other inappropriate items in my yard. As the pranks continued I started to see how incredible Stephanie was. I had never met someone with such an amazing personality and sense of humor so I knew I had to ask her out on date. I picked something simple and relaxing for our first date, a movie. However, it ended up turning out to be the opposite of relaxing as the entire movie theatre was sold old out and practically everyone from our high school was there. I was extremely nervous and didn’t want to embarrass her in front of all of her friends. Luckily, the date went well without anything embarrassing happening…until I dropped her off and went in for a kiss. I was so nervous I just got a peck and ran off to my truck. Even though I was sweating from being so nervous the whole night, I was so pumped when I got home just thinking about how unbelievable it was that I went on a date with Stephanie Bult.

As the years went on I continued to learn so much about Stephanie and see what an amazing person she is. Her sense of humor, the passion she puts into everything she does, and her willingness to help anyone in need are some of the qualities that I love most about her. She is truly the perfect person and I can’t wait to make her my wife.

Her Version:

It was spring 2011, near the end of my sophomore year of high school when Derek first caught my eye in the halls between classes. As weird as it sounds, I still remember what he was wearing that day; a white Chelsea hoodie (it wasn’t until later that I found out what Chelsea was and how much of our time would be consumed by watching them play). He also had on the big headphones like the ones that cover your entire ear and wrap across your head. These had recently been banned in our school so not only did I think he was super cute but I also thought he was rebel. (Later finding out that Derek is not nearly the rebel that I thought he was.)

We had mutual friends at the time so I knew eventually our paths would cross so I just played it cool. Our friend group had a game that we then called “Blaze”. The game consisted of a series of pranks that we would play on each other. I knew that if I wanted to get Derek’s attention I would have to come up with something good. So my friends and I broke into Derek’s truck (it was unlocked) and placed some chocolate on the seats and painted his entire windshield black. Derek kindly returned the favor and a couple weeks later trashed my yard with old furniture, the trees were covered in toilet paper, and a used toilet sat on our front porch. My parents weren’t too fond of Derek when they first heard it was him who had trashed the yard, but I didn’t let that stop me. I knew that anyone who could take a joke and then return the favor was someone worth getting to know.

Days had passed and I thought for sure that Derek would try to spark up some individual conversation but he never did and we stuck to the group hang outs for a while until I finally mustered up the courage to send him a text. The conversation continued for weeks and eventually Derek asked me to go on our first date. It was a date to the midnight premier of Harry Potter. Before the movie started we played twenty questions, where we really got to know each other better. We asked all of the important questions like what’s your favorite color? And what’s your favorite candy bar? I remember being so nervous throughout the movie and just thinking about how I could get Derek to hold my hand… I think after a few nudges he finally got the hint and I was so ecstatic when he finally reached over to grab my hand! The movie came to an end and Derek took me home, walked me to my front door where we sat and talked about how much we enjoyed the movie (even though I didn’t remember any of it). The night ended with Derek saying goodbye and him leaning in for the quickest peck you could imagine before he practically ran back to his truck and drove off. (He now admits that this is because he was so nervous).

Weeks passed by and we continued to talk and go on dates and my crush on Derek grew and grew. Finally he asked me to be his girlfriend on a warm summer night in July, I was ecstatic! I obviously said yes and before I knew it the crush I had for him turned into a like, the like turned into an amateur teenage love, and that young teenage love is what has brought us to where we are today. I couldn’t imagine doing life without Derek, he truly is the perfect person for me and I cannot wait to be Mr. & Mrs. Derek Samson!

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