CHAPTER ONE

We met in high school our sophomore year in 2016. We had Spanish class together, and Gage invited me to his family's annual bonfire in September. Growing up, I was often out of town on the weekends traveling for sports and this so happened to be a time when I didn't so I was really excited to go!

My mom, Angie, drove me to Gage's parent's house to drop me off at the bonfire. On the way there, we were skeptical if Apple Maps was working correctly because we were in a part of town that we both had never been before. So, to make sure that we weren't driving to the wrong place, I called Gage, and immediately upon answering the phone he said, "Heeeeyyyy gorgeous," which then made my mom quickly look at me in curiosity as to who this boy was, trying to hold back her smile. Laughing off the interaction, my mom dropped me off at this crazy big bonfire, where I met all of his aunts and uncles, his parents, siblings, and so many amazing family friends.

Along with family, there were so many other people there and continuing to show up. Unfortunately, Gage's mom Breanne did not know that Gage posted that the bonfire was an open invite. She of course did not approve of the tons of underage kids who showed up on their property, setting up tents intending to stay the night. As anyone would, she was furious and told everyone to leave and Gage told me to not worry, HA, and that once some people leave, she won't care if there are just a couple of people there. So a couple of us stayed behind while everyone started to clear out.

The night continued on and it was so fun. We ended up staying up until 4AM with his family, sitting around the bonfire, talking about every topic under the sun, from conspiracy theories to stories from their past that made everyone laugh. Once the fire was almost out, and everyone had either left or found their spot to sleep, we went inside to watch a movie. Gage originally had told me that his parents wouldn't mind if my girlfriend and I crashed on the couch, so we watched the movie and all fell asleep.

Gage and I fell asleep on the same couch and then all of a sudden, we were all quickly woken up to a loud noise from Breanne's hand to Gage's head and she said, "Get upstairs now". I acted asleep, probably doing a poor job, and Gage left the room and went upstairs for the rest of the night.

Then my girlfriend and I were too scared to fall back asleep in the house because Gage had never asked his mom if we could stay, so we decided to go sleep in a friend's car until it was early enough to go back home.

After about another two weeks had gone by and Gage and I had still been talking, he asked me to our sophomore homecoming - to which I obviously said yes. The dance was in late September of 2016, and just days later on October 6, we started dating.

AND THE REST IS HISTORY.

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