Caroline's POV:

The first time I met Ethan I had walked out of my room in my dorm and he was sitting at the kitchen table getting a stick and poke from one of my roommates. He then proceeded to knock over the ink all over the entire table, which is probably still stained to this day... sorry Hammons 208.

After that we both went to kaleo that summer but didn't really have much interaction over the summer. Over the next school year we had a little bit more interaction since both of our friend groups would run together every now and then. After that school year we both went back to kaleo again for a second summer at DGLs. We would say hi and talk to each other every now and then but besides that our relationship kind of stayed the same.

Going into junior year our friend groups started to become a lot closer and Ethan and his friends came over to my friends and I's apartment a lot more frequently...sometimes uninvited or because they needed to do laundry. But no matter the reason Ethan and I started to interact more and we became closer friends but at this point I had never actually been interested in Ethan. It wasn't until February of that year that I told my best friend Emma that I might be interested in Ethan, Emma was so excited and she wanted so badly to tell Sean but I didn't let her. After a couple weeks I then told myself that maybe I was just overthinking and that I didn't actually have any sort of feelings for him. So that didn't last for very long...or so I thought.

Ethan and I then went back to kaleo for a third time as DGLs. I was excited that I wouldn't be the only third timer but at this time I still didn't think I had feelings for him. It wasn't until his group asked mine out on a Dgroup date that I realized "wait, I think I might actually like him!" As the summer went on I started to interact with him more and more which only grew my feelings for him. But I told the girls in my group that if he liked me I didn't want to hear it from anyone else and that if it was true that he would tell me at the end of the summer. So I waited and waited for what seemed like forever. And then the 10th week rolled around he told me he felt the same way about me, I think I could have screamed with excitement!! He told me that when we got back to Springfield that he wanted to spend more time together to get to know each more one on one.

Oddly enough both of our families would be in Cancun on our own family vacations that next week. And we would later find out that our flights to go home were the same airline, the same time, but different destinations. Knowing this Ethan texted me and said "want to meet by the souvenirs"..the best pickup line I have ever heard. I met him by the souvenirs and talked for awhile catching up. After about an hour I looked down at my phone and realized my plane was about to board, but before I left Ethan asked if I would go on a date with him when we got back to Springfield; not many people can say they got asked on a first date in the cancun airport! Of course I said yes and the rest is history!

Ethan's POV:

On May 2nd, 2021, a friend invited me to her dorm to get a stick-and-poke tattoo that I had wanted for a while now. Upon getting set up with the tattoo, I not only flicked most of the ink all over the table but also ended up meeting Caroline. That night, I learned that she would be at Kaleo at the same time as I would be and that she would follow me to two more as leaders.

Over the course of our junior year of college, we would hang out as a group with our friends Sean and Emma and occasionally interact at her apartment. By the end of my junior year and going into our third Kaleo, I had realized that I had a feeling for Caroline. I didn't want to initiate a relationship before Kaleo because I figured we both knew that starting something over the summer would be difficult.

It wasn't until the middle of our third Kaleo that three of our friends would start to sow the seed of us ending up being together. They wanted our groups to hang out more often and us to have more meaningful conversations. We knew that liking each other wouldn't be great for how early it was in the summer so it was hard to manage occasionally. By the end of the summer, we sat down and talked about our feelings for one another. This is a cornerstone of how the rest of our conversations and our overall relationship will work. We both said that we were interested, and after, Kaleo should try going on a date or two.

Ironically we ended up both going to Mexico on a family vacation just in different resorts. We would text occasionally but nothing crazy. At the end of the week in Mexico we realized that we both had similar flight departure times and gates that were close to each other. So we decided that we should meet in the gift shop and hang out for a little bit. Our time together wasn't anything crazy but it was fun to spend time with Caroline alone for the first time. When the time was coming for her to head back to Kansas City I finished our conversation with a question."Would you want to go on a date with me when we get back in town?". And that's how her falling in love with me all started.

E&C