How we became 'US'

I was inspired by Grace sharing the story of how her and Simon met , so of course decided to do the same. I've gotten a few questions in the past asking how we met, so here it is!
There's no big romantic way to describe my first memories of Drew, luckily, since I was only in 5th grade when I first noticed him. 
I had moved to small town Iowa from Sweden in 4th grade, and being the only new girl in forever to have moved there AND having moved from Sweden, he definitely remembered noticing me right away. But it wasn't until the following fall when we were in the same class that I noticed him.
My thoughts on him "he was loud, obnoxious and had red hair" not something I was used to at all. The kids in Sweden where much quieter and reserved. And blonde. So he stuck out like a sore thumb. And not in a good way, I found him quite annoying. 
In 7th grade we started moving in the same 'social circles' if you will. I still found him quite obnoxious. 
By 8th grade, I had my first boyfriend. Let's call him D. D happened to be Drew's best friend since toddlerhood. Drew also happened to have a girlfriend. E. E was one of my very best friends. 
So Drew and I had out first 'date' in 8th grade. A double date. With each others best friends. We went to see the movie See Spot Run three weekends in a row. Not because it was this amazing movie (it's definitely Not) but because the boys parents were pretty strict and it was the only movie they were allowed to go to.. 
Somehow neither of those relationships worked out and by freshman year of high school I was into the older boys ( a trend that continued pretty much all of high school) and boys in my class were forgotten.
Drew and I still hung out with the same groups of friends sometimes. And we became good friends. I no longer found him as obnoxious. 
We were in a lot of the same activities all through high school. Choir, select choir, track (which I joined for one of those older boys and quit after this older boy graduated) and drama so we spent a lot of time together through that.
Once at a basketball game against a neighboring town ( I think Junior year of high school) Drew came up to me during half time and asked me to walk with him to the concession stand and 'act like we are together' because his ex girlfriend from that town was there. I agreed naturally and flirted it up heavily in front of his ex to make her jealous. He told me he picked the hottest girl there (me) and it worked, and soon they started hanging back out for a while I think. While I was busy with my older boys and going and visiting them (yeah, plural) at their colleges while stuck in high school, just itching to get OUT. 
Junior year we went away to Chicago together for a select choir trip and I think by then I could tell he had a little crush on me. I didn't encourage it, but I didn't discourage it either. Mean Darlene. I was a little bit of a flirt and didn't mind the attention. 

^The only picture I have from the trip of us that's blog appropriate..^
By the beginning of Senior year, all of my older boys were gone and a lot of my friends had graduated. I was lonely and bored and was counting the days till I graduated and could leave and join my friends at colleges several hours away. I worked a lot and kept busy with school activities.
Drew decided with my older guys out of the picture, it was his chance to finally make a move. He asked me to hang out often. And brought me coffee frequently at work. We were cast in the spring play (that began practice in January) as the leads and were 'boyfriend girlfriend' in the play. I played the ditzy know it all and he my jealous boyfriend. Not too far from real life. 
He would show up at work and offer to drive me to play practice. I hated driving so I let him. 
One weekend at the end of January I went up to UNI to visit one of my bff's. And a boy I had been seeing on and off the last year or so. 
Drew had gotten tickets to an Iowa State basketball for Sunday night and had asked me to go, so after my weekend with that boy I headed back home and picked him up (at that point he was 'grounded' from the car his parents bought and had to wait till his 18th birthday- same month, to buy a car) and drove to Ames for the basketball game. 
After the game we stopped by another friends house out in the country to hang out with everyone. As I was getting ready to leave, another friend who lived close to Drew offered to give him a ride back into town. I thought 'great then I don't have to go all the way back in' because I lived out in the country also close to where we already were. He got super awkward and said something like "Well my parents thought Darlene was driving me home, so if that's okay with her she should probably be the one to give me a ride" okaaaay buddy. Good one.
I was naive and didn't think much of it. His parents were pretty strict so it sounded legit. 
When we pulled up he didn't get out of the car right away. Just said there. It was exactly his curfew, and knowing his parents I knew he should probably go in. I kept saying "you should probably go in" and he would say something like "after this song, this is a good one" Apparently he was working up the courage to kiss me. Finally he blurted out
"uhmm, so I was wondering if it was okay with you, I mean if you don't mind, I've been wanting to kiss you for a long time, so can I kiss you?"
This was the first (and last) time someone had asked my permission to kiss me. There was the most awkward long pause ever. For some reason I Totally wasn't expecting that from my 'buddy Drew' and didn't know what to do. Finally I leaned over, kissed him quickly and said good night. 
He to this day says it was a 'pity kiss.' Maybe it was. I'm not sure. 
I was definitely confused. I knew I didn't want a relationship here. We were graduating in less then 5 months then I was out of there. Plus there was that other boy. The one I had just spent the weekend with up at UNI, where I was to attend in the fall. 
I woke up the next day to a text message that said something like "So  I kind of, sort of, think I might like you."
Okay I think that's long enough for today!