Chapter 1

I discovered pretty quickly that this handsome drew guy was not my type. I thought he was cocky and not at all friendly to the girls in the group. It is just as well that I got this (weird ) impression because I was able to then focus on making other girl friends and really seeking the Lord. It is funny because when I look back I realize that the speaker was not good at all, the small group times were okay and the games... well I already told you how I feel about games. However, the Lord did a major work in my heart. I felt like the Lord took me to the next step... no more emotional camp decisions, I was leaving home and going to have to get real about my faith all on my own. I remember driving home with my "friend" and we both talked and talked about what the Lord had taught us. I then got home and talked my dad's ear off until the wee hours of the morning. Then I went upstairs and journaled, cried and prayed some more. It was crazy. I really do see that as a huge step in my life; where I let old things go (destructive patterns and such) and opened my mind and heart to what the Lord would show me in this next chapter of my life.
So I went off to college. I didn't really know any one. One of the great things about any fish camp is that your counselors are supposed to hang out with you and make sure you know you way around campus and stuff before the first day. Well, I had made a lot of neat friends my age from Impact and so almost immediately we all started to hang out. Drew had connected with several of the guys I had become friends with and thus our groups ended up colliding. I am pretty sure my leaders held some get-togethers but the main thing I remember was my first Midnight Yell. At A&M this is a tradition where the students gather in the stands to practice all the yells (cheers) before the big game the next day. You are supposed to go with a date and since we kiss at every touch down they "practice" that as well. Well, I went with a group and it was still "complicated" with my friend and I and so we were all just goofing around the whole time. We were surprised when a bunch of guys started talking to us and it was Drew and his roomies. We laughed with them the whole time and then decided to hang out together afterwards. I am pretty sure I made a few of my guy peers a little mad that I was gravitating to these older guys.
We left yell practice to head to some one's house to hang out and as we were walking through the President's yard the sprinklers came on. Well, grass already makes me really itchy and wet grass is only that much worse. So I was picking my way through when this Drew guy scooped me off my feet and ran me through all the sprinklers to the other side. I am pretty sure we can all hear this little freshman girl's heart beating hard at this point.
We all continued to hang out off and on and then I got a personal invitation from Drew to a party he was having at his house. This didn't seem weird b/c I had hung out with him and the others several times. Well, he came to pick me up (I think he actually sent his roomie to get me... but we were friends by this point) and when I got there I realized I was the only person from our Impact group... in fact I was the only freshman. Well, I knew I had to act cool. I didn't search Drew out but simply sat with the first people I saw and introduced myself and started playing a game with them (by now you know what a sacrifice this was... but I had to be chill). Pretty soon I felt that I fit in and every one treated me as part of the group. Eventually we all settled down to watch a movie and Drew finally came and sat by me and said hey. To this day I wish I knew what he had been thinking. Did he expect I would come and find him or hang out with him or did he think anything of it at all. Who knows. Drew doesn't remember.
This was the first of many more parties that followed. It became so common for me to be at the house on Wolfrun Road. Sometimes I would bring my girlfriends or other Impact buddies. Sometimes Drew would invite me or sometimes his roomies or his brother would invite me and Drew wouldn't even be there. We ate a lot of pizza, Chili's and saw a lot of movies.
Fast forward to the end of the fall semester. We've been hanging out like this off and on. I had a few crushes that semester but I was also really involved in a lot of freshman groups, church and honors classes... so it wasn't like I was pining after this one guy. Sometimes there was flirting, sometimes not... over all it was a mystery.
Right before Christmas Break A&M hosted a campus wide dance and I was on the committee that sort of helped out with it. I went with the people from my freshman club but I invited Drew to come along when he finished bible study. I didn't think he would. I got all dressed up and went and just as I was leaving I got a call from Drew saying he was finally there... it was all but over. It turns out some one had stolen his dress pants while he was in Bible Study and thus had delayed him from coming right away... I tried to play it cool. We ditched the dance and headed to his place for a movie. No one was there, at least no one awake and we watched some random western movie (smooth move on his part... ha). I remember it was one of the first times we had been alone, sat that close or felt that on fire! hahahaha. I was excited and annoyed by all the mystery at this point. After the movie he drove me back to campus and as I got out of the car (it was really cold) he said "wait" or something like that and jumped out of the car. I thought he was going to open the door for me (it was locked with out a key card though) but then he just stood there. ummmmm, YES? it's kinda cold out here!!! Finally he said something like, "I just wanted to tell you... that I like you".