It's cliche, but we were best friends. We met at Kent State in Rosie's Diner at the end of the spring 2014 semester. Brendan was getting dinner with a mutual friend and I (Katie) went over to say hi. We were introduced and immediately hit it off. It wasn't love at first sight, but there was definitely a connection. We all decided to go to my place that night to hang out. There were a lot of laughs and stories that kept us all up late into the night. Fast forward a few months and we were inseparable. I was getting ready to move and I even stayed at Brendan's apartment while I was waiting for mine to be ready. I slept on the couch. I was trying to leave a particularly bad relationship and Brendan would stay up and talk to me until I fell asleep before going to his own room. A few more months past and I finally left that relationship. Brendan was by my side through the whole thing even when everyone else got tired of watching me suffer. Brendan's girlfriend left for a semester leaving us to become even closer. I still wasn't comfortable being alone so he stayed at my place a lot, on the couch. He eventually got out of his own bad relationship and admitted he loved me. and what did I do? I left town for a week and didn't talk to him. When I came back I told him I was conflicted and wanted to take things slow. He was my best friend! I didn't want to mess anything up! So we started dating. That 'taking it slow' didn't even last a year before we decided to get engaged. But hey, time flies when you're having fun. And with the amount he makes me smile, laugh, think, I've never been more sure of someone in my life.