If you ask Ray…
I was still a student at Rutgers University, and while I was going to school, I helped my parents run their restaurant in Colts Neck; Frutta Bowls. I HATED it! It was an Acai bowl-fruit smoothie store, and I didn’t even eat fruit! I couldn’t wait to graduate, join the business world, and never look back on my time at Ol’ Frutta Bowls again. But, funny enough, when I look back on my time at Frutta Bowls now, I remember it as a magic place that changed my life forever. There was one silver lining for going to work every day: I got to see Jill.
At first, Jill and I were genuinely friends. Of course, I thought she was cute, but in all seriousness, we were just really good friends who worked together at my parents’ restaurant. We cracked up at each other’s weird jokes, messed with customers all day long, and would talk about everything and anything for the entire shift. After a while, Jill started coming to hang out with me after school when she didn’t have work. She’d sit right at the bar and talk to me for at least an hour, Monday through Friday. I literally don’t think that there was ever a day that she didn’t come to hangout with me, which was weird because we both were in relationships. I just thought she really liked fruit bowls, and of course I never let her pay for anything.
Long story short… Those relationships we were in ended…. On the same week! (The universe wanted this for some reason) All of a sudden, the innocent flirting we’d been doing as friends, turned into serious crushes. But we all know Jill, and of course she played hard to get. It took me asking her on a date almost every day of that summer before she finally let me take her to get ice cream. And to this day, she will still say that it was not a date. I put on a fresh outfit and looked nice, and she wore sweatpants… Still embarrassed about that one.
But since that ice cream date, 7 and a half years later, we have been the others half. I couldn’t imagine a life without her, and the greatest honor of my life is that someone so genuinely amazing, wants to marry me. I knew from the first time I spoke to Jill that she was unlike anyone else I’d ever met. I don’t know how I got to be so lucky, but you all know how lucky I really am to have Jill as my bride. In a crazy, crazy world, she reminds me (and I’m sure everyone else reading this and who knows her) that the most beautiful, kind, caring, funny smart, incredible human being, is just waiting for you to ask them to go get ice cream 1,000 times until they say yes.
P.S. To Mom and Dad,
I know I was a pain in the ass, but thank you so much for buying that stupid Frutta Bowls.
If you ask Jill…
During my senior year of high school, I was working as the bakery girl at Livotis. One day in cooking class at Colts Neck High School, I was talking to a friend about quitting my job when I heard someone say, Come work for my family. I turned around, and it was Rays little sister, Gianna. She gave me her mom’s email to interview for a position. I sent the most ridiculously formal email to work at a fruit bowl place. The shop was still getting some last-minute work done, so Kristine asked to meet me at the Subway next door. She instantly hired me and even made me a manager. As time went on, I worked shifts there throughout my senior year and basically went there every day after school to hang out. Summer came along, and Ray and I were still in relationships until one day, around the exact same time, we were no longer in those relationships. Our friendship grew closer and closer as we worked every shift together “coincidentally”. One day, my car was getting fixed, and my mom picked me up. As we got in the car together, she looked at me and said, That guy Ray is definitely into you. I laughed and said, Um, yeah, no mom, hes four years older than me. As time went on, I started staying double shifts just to hang out and talk to him, even though I wasn’t getting paid for the extra time. One day, he looked at me and said, Want to get ice cream? Ill pick you up later. I agreed but didn’t think of it as a date. Boy, was I wrong! When he pulled up to my house, I got into his car wearing a Pine Lake sweatshirt, leggings, no makeup, and a wet head. He had his hair gelled up, wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt! I will never forget how stupid I felt getting into that car. As time progressed our Frutta hangouts turned into restaurants and eventually Ray and I somehow ended up at a tattoo parlor after work one day (don’t worry, they weren’t matching!). Ray asked me to go see a scary movie that just came out called “The Nun.” I told him no, but ended up going to the movies with one of my best friends, Julia, that same night. I sent Ray a Snapchat from the movies, and my friend said, “Jill, tell him right now you’ll go next week.” So, I did, and we ended up going together, where we had our first kiss that night. When I met him at his house to drive together, I parked my car down the street because I didn’t want my bosses (Kristine and Ray Sr.) to see my car; I was secretly embarrassed about going on dates with their son! Ray did ask me to be his girlfriend, and again, I said not yet. The rest is history. The best part of it all is he HATES scary movies and ice cream!!! I truly fell in love with him. No matter how many times I turned him down, he kept trying, and I’m so happy I caved because I met the love of my life. I can’t wait to marry him!
