1999 - The Never-Ending Date (Part 2)

(originally posted 07/22/2009)

January 23 - I know. It's taking a long time. It sure went by fast when it was all happening, but the telling the story is taking forever. I apologize for being long-winded, but it's my story, so I get to do whatever I want.

I don't believe I slept most of the night because I was still hoping that Natalie would agree to go to the ward activity at the caves the next morning. I really wanted to see Elliot again and I knew he'd be there.

I love my sister. She woke up and we prepared for the activity and met at the church. We naturally steered ourselves over to say "good morning" to Mike and Elliot, so we happened to be close by when the leader of the pack said that everyone needed to find a ride with someone.

Elliot asked us to go with him, Mike and Bishop Dibble in his father's vehicle. I was very excited, even though Elliot sat in the front seat. Our conversation just continued from the night before and car-sick Mike entertained us with the most ridiculous, yet hilarious riddles.

I didn't know it until this point in my life, but I'm a little claustrophobic. It was the cave that did it. At some points, you have to shimmy down a tiny hole or through an extremely narrow passage and I'm afraid I'll get stuck and die. At the end of the cave, or near it, there was a water hole. By the time we got there, several people had stripped down fairly appropriately (no shirts, they kept the pants) and were swimming in it. Elliot really wanted to swim and I wanted to go with him, but I couldn't picture myself taking off my shirt and swimming in my sports bra. So I was the keeper of Elliot's shoes and clothes and just hoped that he wouldn't break his head on the jagged rocks at the bottom. I was a little irritated when another girl spoke up quickly and said she'd jump in with him, right after I declined.

Someone gave a quick devotional where we had to turn off our flashlights and sit for a few minutes. It was absolutely dark and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, but I knew that Elliot was near me. I could have reached out and started making out with him and he'd never know it was me.


We were filthy by the time we got out of the cave, but thankfully we were reminded to bring a second set of clothing to change into for the ride home.

Elliot let Mike sit in the front on the way home so that he wouldn't be so car-sick, which meant that I got to sit by Elliot. Before we got into the car, I'd witnessed a conversation between Elliot and his father that made me think that Elliot was an only child. He sounded a little spoiled and demanding and I even called him on it. Turns out he is a middle child. He rode most of the way home with his arm across the back of the seat behind me which just made me giddy. I was nervous to fall asleep even though I was exhausted. Had I fallen asleep, I'm sure I would have cuddled into him, my mouth would have been open, and strings of drool would have been dripping onto his leg. I stayed awake.

On the way home, Elliot and Mike invited us to join them and some other people at Wingers to eat BBQ wings. I believe they picked us up again and took us to the restaurant. I had never had wings before and wasn't super excited about it (seemed like too much work), but I really liked the company.

(This picture is not actually of the night I'm writing about, but happened in late 1998. They are all trying the hot sauce "Mad Dog Inferno" which could have possibly sterilized the whole lot of them.)

Those guys made a mess. Seriously, it was like watching people who'd not eaten for weeks. They devoured the wings and had BBQ sauce all over their faces. At one point Natalie and I were giggling at them and they knew why. Mike piped up and said (with wing portions hanging out of his face), "Don't wipe until you're all done!" This has become a commonly used quote since then.

We were invited from the restaurant to a party at someone's house (in the ward). The party was sort of lame and one guy followed me around for a little bit. But we ended up in the dining room playing a game called "Chaos." I don't know if Natalie made it up, but it was hilarious and so fun! Elliot kept yelling out the same answer "1923" each time the game asked for a year and it just made us laugh so hard. It's a loud game, but so fun and the party ended up not quite so lame. I knew for sure I liked Elliot quite a bit, even if he did act like an only child. I couldn't wait to see him again.

If you're looking at my planner (where I have all of this recorded), I wrote down "Lots of laughing! NEW BEST FRIENDS."