Finding Love in a Dark, Dingy Pool Hall

The day I am beginning to write this, it is our 3- year anniversary. It is crazy how time seems to fly, yet go by so slowly at the same time. Around this time, I always look back to the day we met and the first months of our relationship and falling in love. At first glance, you wouldn’t think Michael and I would work well together, and I think that is what makes us work so well.

I can’t remember that exact date we met, but I do clearly remember the events of that night and the nights that followed. It was definitely one of the days where I had a lot going on, which doesn’t happen very often. I had just gotten out of a serious, long-distance relationship, and then another short-failed relationship a few weeks prior. I swore I wasn’t going to date again, and that I wasn’t going to get back into a relationship. I felt like my whole life, I had always been in a multi- year relationship, and I didn’t know if that was something I wanted anymore. Clearly, I wasn’t doing something right, so I might as well stop while I was ahead. Three years later, and we all see how that turned out.

Earlier in the night the day we met; I had a family party for my brother-in-law. It was his birthday, and we were all over at their house celebrating with dinner and cake. Nothing too crazy, and nothing like a big major celebration; just family there to celebrate another year around the sun. At some point in the night, I got a text from Dakota. Now, Dakota and I were not close. He was a good friend of someone I had met in college and had become very close with. Like I said, I barely knew him; only being in a group setting with him a few times. But he asked me to come out and play some pool with him at a pool hall near him. I love playing pool, and haven’t been able to play in years. So, I jumped at the chance to go out and play, even with a person I barely knew.

After I said goodbye to my family, I had one stop to make before I could head to the pool hall; a tattoo and piercing studio. I had become good friends with the piercer there, and he was willing to pierce my septum, which is something I had always wanted to get done. So here I was, freshly pierced, heading to a pool hall in a city I had never gone to, to visit a friend I had barely spoken to alone. I had no idea what was in store, but I was ready to have some fun and hopefully make a new friend in the process.

The drive to the pool hall was a little long, and by long, I mean longer than the 10-minute drives I was so used to. I arrived, anxious to see how the night would go. As soon as I stepped into the room, my anxiety faded away. Inside was empty, with all tables empty besides the one occupied by my friend. He welcomed me with open arms, offering me a drink while I got settled in. I didn’t and still don’t drink very often, but was happy to have a few sips of a hard cider, mainly to ease my nerves of meeting a new friend and not having played pool in a few years since I moved.

A few hours go by, and we are having a great time. I am no master at pool, but I am having an amazing time just hanging out and trying to get better and remember hidden memories that had been locked away for a long time. In the midst of this, I start to notice Dakota become increasingly more distracted; playing around on his phone in between all of his turns. I jokingly turn and say, “Who can be more important than me?” He then tells me he’s been talking to an old coworker that he affectionately nicknamed “Pretty Boy”. I said, “Well, why don’t you just invite him to join us?” It took a little persuading, but we managed to convince this mystery ‘Pretty Boy’ to come to the pool hall and play with us. By this time, it was almost midnight, but I was having fun and was glad that I had the chance to make another friend.

When I moved down to Florida in 2016, I didn’t have any friends. Even a few years after my move, I had only a few friends, and none of which I really talked to and hung out with. So, I was glad for this opportunity to meet another person that is obviously a cool guy if Dakota was friends with him. Remember, at the time I wasn’t looking to be in a relationship; I was just happy to have the ability to make more friends which I so desperately wanted. I was comfortable going out and doing things by myself, but it does get lonely after a while. While we waited for this mystery guy to come, Dakota tried to remember his name to find him on Facebook to show me what he looked like. After many guesses, he finally found him; Michael. The first picture I saw of Michael, he was wearing a blue long sleeve shirt underneath a sweater vest. I thought he looked a little goofy, but I learned that he worked as a security officer, and that was his uniform. He was slender but muscular, with short brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. I did think he was attractive, but I knew nothing about this ‘Michael’, so I couldn’t say for sure that I was interested in dating him.

Sitting at the bar in the downtime, Dakota decided to send a picture of the 2 of us to him, hoping it would make him more eager to come and hang out. I remember taking this picture, and to me it was nothing memorable. It was terrible lighting, and taken on an old android phone, which wasn’t known for their stellar cameras. Nevertheless, Michael decided to come and play with us anyway. When his Lyft arrived, I ran outside to help him find the place, but I then realized I truly didn’t know what he looked like. You always look so different in pictures that you post online versus real life, and I hadn’t gotten a good enough look at the photo to pick him out in a crowd. Dakota came up behind me and pointed him out, happy to see him again. He was cute, wearing a green shirt and khakis, with a great big smile on his face.

Heading back inside, we went and picked back up on our game, this time with one more player. Boy, did he suck. He was a lefty, and terribly uncoordinated when it came to playing games. But we all still had a great time and began to chat about our lives and just general “getting to know you” things. I’ll be honest, the night we first met I wasn’t immediately hit with, “wow, I am going to love this person for the rest of my life”, because I didn’t really know him at that time. We had been talking and learning more about each other, but at the time neither of us were looking for a relationship.

As the night was coming to a close, I realized how much fun I had and how much I would like to continue talking to Michael and get to be friends with them. I mean, win- win right? I made a better friend in Dakota, AND I get a whole new friend? What a steal! On the drive home, I made sure to ask Dakota to either send me his info, or give him mine, as he was giving him a ride home. He agreed, and shortly after I got home, I received a message from Michael. I don’t remember the conversation, but I do remember that we planned to meet up again the next night, just the two of us. We both needed friends, and what better way to do that then by going downtown and hitting up a shopping center for some food. Funny thing is, he didn’t even pay for my meal. The place we went to had a bunch of different food options, almost like in a mall. As he went off to get his food from another kiosk, the woman at the counter asked if I wanted to pay for mine here or up front. Not knowing a single thing about this place, I figured best bet would be to pay for it there to not get accused of stealing. When he came back, he was so shocked and maybe a little upset that I paid for my own food! I said it wasn’t necessary for him to pay and I didn’t mind as it wasn’t that expensive either way.

The food was… okay. Nothing to write home about to be honest. But it was one of his favorite places, so I was okay with pretending like it was better than it was. In the end, it wasn’t about the food, it was about spending time with Michael one-on-one and getting to know each other without external influences. Since he was still upset at me paying my own way, we decided to go see a movie, as a treat from him. We saw “Bohemian Rhapsody”, even though I already saw it I loved the movie and was glad to see it again. The movie goes off without a hitch, with us holding hands and cuddling throughout most of the film.

After the movie, I knew it was time to go home. I had parked close, and I was unsure of Michael’s car situation, as I only saw him walk up from a garage area when I arrived. Come to find out, he didn’t have a car, and was planning on taking an Uber or straight up walking home. Obviously, I disagreed and forced him to let me take him home. Not knowing my way around the city he lived in, I definitely took a wrong turn and probably added 10 minutes to our route. The funny thing is, neither of us minded. We loved talking to each other, and I had oddly started to be comfortable in his presence.

That was 3 years ago. Since that night, we have seen each other every single day. Minus the few times I went on vacation by myself, we have spent every moment we can together. To be honest, I don’t get sick of it. His presence makes me feel safe, and I love having another person in the house. He moved in with me a few months after we began officially dating and, although some might say it was too soon, it was what both of us wanted. I didn’t like living alone, and he wanted to get out of his parents’ house ever since he turned 18. Another win-win situation for us.

I have loved Michael since the first month or so of us meeting and knowing each other. He was always a genuine soul, always willing to help out and do whatever he can do to take any stress off of me. I know it sounds crazy to say I have loved him since a time I barely knew him, but that is the truth. I have never felt safer and more protected in my entire life. I have loved every single adventure we have been on, from getting OUR own apartment, to adopting a second cat and everything in between and everything to come.

Our first major date was on Valentine’s Day. How cliché, right? It wasn’t planned to be that way, we just knew we wanted to see each other every day we possibly could, and that means Valentine’s Day was bound to come up. Growing up in Chicago, I have been bred to love certain restaurants, and since moving to another state I had really been missing my comforts of home. I asked him if he wanted to go to Portillo’s, a popular Italian Beef and Burger joint. Needless to say, he had never been before, and was more than willing to go along and have a good time and good food. I kept raving about their Italian Beefs, because they are amazing. If you’ve been to Portillo’s, you would understand. So, what does this boy order? A Chicken Sandwich! Can you believe it? After I spent 30 minutes raving about their beefs, this boy turns around and gets a Chicken Sandwich!! Either way, he loved it, and didn’t want the date to end. So, we decided to make the 45–60-minute drive to Disney Springs. Being free admission, we loved to go and walk around and have a good time in the Disney atmosphere. We shopped, drank, and played a few games of bowling.

That day is one of the days I remember the most despite all of the fun we have had since then. The beach, downtown, the pier, Vacations, weddings, and anything else that couples do. Oh yeah, lots and lots of tattoos, one of our favorite things to do together. We even got his very first tattoo together, which makes everything so much more meaningful and special. All of the firsts we had in our relationship and I know there is more to come. What an exciting future we will have together.

Our relationship might not have been love at first sight, but it is a love that started as a spark and grown into a roaring bonfire, so deeply rooted inside it is unable to be snuffed out. I love Michael with ever fiber of my being, and am always hopeful of the future, so long as he is a part of it. I love my bubba to death, and wish that I could have met him sooner, just so I could love him a little longer. I dread the day we both grow old and frail, because I don’t know how I’m going to be able to live without my bub by my side. I tear up at night when I think about it, because I truly cannot imagine my life without him in it. It would be a dark, sad, and lonely place that I wouldn’t want to live in. He is my best love, and the only love I want for the rest of my life.