I was trying to type up "Our Story" as a neat and tidy post, but I realized that me and Jacob actually have two completely different perspectives on our love story, especially how it came to be. So, I thought it would be sweet for each of us to post our thoughts and point of views for everyone to get a full glimpse of how our relationship began.

I met Jacob through a mutual friend, Alex Bray, that we both had. One night I saw Alex was playing Minecraft with some friends and I swiped up on his story and asked if I could join. Some time later, I was added to his Discord server and got to meet everyone on there. There were a lot of people on the server, but Jacob was one of the first people that I met in the group. I joined the server some time in 2019 before the pandemic, so when the pandemic hit we were all playing together for hours each day. I quickly became close friends and attached to everyone in this group. I have nothing but love for everyone in that Discord server, they have become some of my closest friends and some of my fondest memories are of all of us playing together.

At the time I met Jacob, I was actually in a relationship with someone else, so our friendship was nothing more than that, a friendship. I would talk to Jacob and the other guys frequently about my relationship highs and lows, to which I was always grateful they would listen to. Believe it or not, there were actually times where I thought I hated Jacob, hahaha. He would pick on me quite frequently which would really annoy me. (I later found out this was his way of showing affection... boys.)

Despite the times where I thought I could rip his head off, Jacob remained a really good friend to me. We would always play games together, often late into the night, simply because it was really easy to talk to him and we had a mutual interest in the same kinds of games. (Well, maybe the latter half is true... I always wanted to play cute animal games while the other guys would rather play games like CSGO. Jacob was the only one who would give into my plea's of playing Maplestory and Toon Town. We played for hours, I had a blast.) Jacob and I also just had a lot in common when it came to life outside of the gaming world.

I remember the very first time I met Jacob in person was actually such a funny thing. It was some time after COVID had started to let up (2021 I believe?). I had always imagined what Jacob looked like since we were mostly online friends up until we all got together to celebrate Alex's birthday. For some reason or another I just assumed Jacob would be extremely tall (still not sure why this was the assumption, lol) so when I saw him for the first time the very first thing I said to him was, "You're a lot shorter than I thought you would be."

Jacob and I had a very playful friendship and I had a lot of respect for him, so I swear it wasn't as mean hearted as it probably sounds lol. (p.s. Jacob I am still sorry I love you lol <3)

Alex, Jacob, Francisco and I started to hang out a lot more regularly- not only online, but in person. One distinct memory I have of Jacob is when he offered to come pick me up on a day when we were all going to hang out together. At the time, I had been struggling with severe anxiety to the point where I could hardly leave my house. I would get car sick frequently whether I was the driver, or someone whom I trusted was taking me places.

(I remember I only lasted about 7-8 minutes with my mom as the driver the last time I had tried to leave the house. We had to pull over and come back home since I got sick.)

So clearly, I was apprehensive about even going to the hang out, let alone having someone I had only met one time before drive me around.

I remember telling Jacob about my car anxiety and how I was nervous to drive myself, which is when he offered to come and get me. I was very apprehensive of him picking me up for several reasons, but the main one was that I was terrified of getting sick in someones car who I had only met once. Could you imagine how awkward/horrible? (A personal nightmare, I guess.) Strangely enough Jacob convinced me to let him pick me up since it was "on his way" (years later I realized I was actually totally out of his way by at least 20+ minutes... he's slick.)

I remember I even warned Jacob that I might throw up in his car to which he told me that even if I did, he wouldn't care and we could just pull over until I felt good enough to start driving again. This was the most comforted I had felt by an individual not in my family about my anxiety in... forever. I was surprised at how empathetic and compassionate he was, especially since we had only hung out in person one time before this.

So, he comes and picks me up. At this point I am fully expecting to feel awful and possibly have to turn around/ not go hang out with everyone at all. I got sick in everyones car up to this point; my moms, my current boyfriends, etc, so I assumed this would be the same.

But, I got in his car, we pulled out of my neighborhood, and I felt completely fine. This was the first time I hadn't felt car sick in over a year and I couldn't believe it was with someone I had only met in person one time before. I remember literally telling Jacob that I was shocked I didn't feel sick at all. I was just so overjoyed that I was in a car feeling normal and could go hang out with my friends. This lead to multiple in person hangouts with our little friend group, which I absolutely adored.

Eventually, the relationship I was in at the time came to an end (I will spare those details, haha). I remember I felt very distraught about the breakup so I asked to hang out with friends the next day to cheer me up, and Jacob was the only one available. Not even a full 24 hours after I broke up with my ex did Jacob kiss me (uh oh) and tell me he had feelings for me. (even bigger uh oh)

I WAS SHOCKED to say the least. (I know a large percent of people are probably rolling their eyes that it was obvious but I guess I just was too occupied with the stresses of my previous relationship to have been thinking about him in this way.) I think I had a complete deer in the headlights look because right after he told me he knew I needed plenty of time but essentially he wanted his "name in the running" as it were. Time was absolutely what I needed so we decided to remain friends until I figured out what I wanted.

I made him wait so I could figure out how I felt about things. Time went on, and eventually I said I would be his girlfriend. The rest is history. Jacob made it so easy to fall in love with him. I felt so comforted by him in so many aspects of my life and he has always been a solid rock for me. He has given me strength and taught me to be okay with the struggles I may have on a day to day basis. He is understanding, caring, thoughtful, strong, and a true gentleman.

J&L

Jacob Miller and Lora Payne

Reception