Our love story is, like many, cliche, overly romantic, and with out a doubt sappy to the n^ degree.
Nell Rae's side of the story:
As I remember I was wearing my uncle's hand-me-down army cargo pants, a white tank top, and my hair was cut super short; two inches at most. I got on the bus that morning dreading the site of all those stupid little kids that beller at you from the front of the bus and push themselves towards the aisle so, you have to sit with that stinky kid or by your self, alone. I preferred the alone part of it, at that time, and found a seat with a couple of guys that looked as though they were not thinking of anything; or paying attention to me. I sat down and the next thing I know there is a tap on my shoulder. "Hey...hay! You want to touch my butt?" This was this kid's first and last chance to impress me. If only he knew what he was getting himself into. I'm sure that he thought he was being smart. I, in my witty and blunt charm, retaliated with an all to famous line. "Bend over." Very directly I established a friendship that, to this day, is one of my favorite friendships.
Okay now, to Eli. He was this smart kid's friend. Although, at that point I'm not sure Eli wanted to be involved in a fist-to-cuff. From that day forward Eli and I spent a lot of time together. Best friends. We continued like this for two whole years until I got the hint. He liked me! Looking back on it he knew what he wanted right away, I knew what I was getting myself into, and we were in love.
Eli's side of the story:
The first time I saw Nell Rae was actually at a school Christmas concert in third grade. She was on the back row in the risers and I happened to notice her singing. At the time it was not a terribly significant event. I wondered what kind of person she might be, but other than that she was just another face in the crowd. I did not see Nell Rae again until middle school. One morning she got on the school bus that I rode with my friend Ryan. It was fairly crowded on the bus so she had to sit in the same seat as us. Apparently Ryan decided this was an unacceptable situation and decided to try and scare her away. His plan ended up backfiring in an extremely hilarious way and from that day on the three of us were friends. I quickly became enamored with Nell Rae and I decided to ask her out. Sadly, I did not get the chance until two years later when we were in high school. After a few rough patches, here we are today, engaged.