We met through a friend of a friend in the dining hall freshman year. I went to say hi to a girlfriend who was having lunch with Adam. He looked up from his plate and stared at me, mouth agape. He could barely get out an introductory 'hi'! He found his words again as I walked away and asked our mutual friend for my social media handle. Flash forward to second semester where we ended up in the same engineering class. Our first conversations were around one of us 'needing help' with homework... for context, we both held high As in the class. Then he started waiting for me after class. I just thought he was being nice because we were going back to the same dorm building. Little did I know, Adam Williby had started playing the long game... From then, our friendship grew. We were still just friends despite everyone telling me he was in love with me. It wasn't until the second semester of sophomore year that our stars finally aligned. Our first official date was at Blue Heron in Pendleton, SC. It was the first time we were together, just the two of us. I remember being incredibly nervous not having my best friend, Maddie, there and thinking we would have nothing to talk about. I could not have been more wrong. It is safe to say that Adam's patience and perseverance in his pursuit of us paid off. Since that date over two years ago, the 'I like you' turned into 'I really like you', which blossomed into 'I love you' and has become 'I never want to live without you.'