A few weeks passed and we still texted off and on. On August 27th, I moved into R-MC. Cameron had moved in a few weeks prior for football camp. The football team just happened to be in the cafeteria when my family went to have lunch. I turned to my mom and pointed Cameron out. He was wearing a red cutoff shirt and black shorts. She tried to convince me to go say hello, but that was way out of my comfort zone and could very easily wait until another day. We went throughout the rest of our day separately — just texting. I said goodbye to my family and settled into my college dorm. The next day, we had to participate in tons of icebreakers. However, these icebreakers were different. They weren’t with the ten people in our group, but our whole class. (Talk about nerve wracking!)

For two hours, Cameron and I were in the same room and sometimes only inches from one another, but never spoke. We can both tell you exactly what the other was wearing, but we were both too nervous to start our in-person friendship.

The following day, we were both busy with our respective things, but I finally took the initiative and told him I was coming by his dorm to introduce myself. (Yes, I made the first move…again) My roommate and I walked over to Starr Hall and introduced ourselves. Him and his friends were playing video games, so we didn’t stay long. We took our first picture together that night. Cameron stood on the left in order to show off his “good side”.

As I walked away from Cameron’s room to go and meet more new friends, all I wanted was to spend more time with him. I was so excited about the potential for our friendship, but still wasn’t interested in a relationship.

Fast forward to the next day, and we finally hung out after months of texting. Cameron and his mentor, Nate, walked over to my dorm room to chat while my roommate and I ate lunch. Eventually, they had to leave for practice, but we made plans to hang out that night.

That night we went to the lobby of my dorm and laughed together until the wee hours of the morning. It was 2:30 in the morning, and Nate and Cameron wanted to go on a walk around campus. I quickly responded, “Are we allowed to do that?” They looked at each other and laughed. Nate turned to me and said, “How old are you? Come on.” As silly as it sounds, that night I felt truly rebellious. I was walking around campus at 2:30am the night before classes. I even made Nate and Cameron stand with me for a picture so I could prove that I did it!

Sunday, August 30th, was the night we became best friends (in real life). We loved spending time together and managed to do so every day. It often included late night Sheetz runs, driving around Richmond, or watching football. We loved being together. To this day, he’s still my best friend.

Check back next week for Part 3 of Our Story.

Missed Part 1? Read it HERE!