The Long Road (Pt. 3) The Trip That Started a Journey

So it was early 2006 and I had made my resolution as it were to pray about guys and relationship possibilities. After my prom friendship started winding down, I started doing better about not getting crazy over any guy just talking to me. I was a little more hung up on one guy than I should've been, but it never became anything cause I never told the guy I liked him. It's a good thing too cause I probably didn't!
Back tracking just a little. In November of 2005, I had been at the mall in Fort Wayne Indiana with my aunt, black friday shopping. Fort Wayne is 4 hours from my home, but my family knows alot of people from that area. The thought had crossed my mind that I could see someone I knew. Not long after thinking that...I heard someone say my name. I turned to see who it was. I don't know how I was able to recall the face so easily when it had been...at least 3 years since I'd last seen this person. It just happened to be, the third child, and second oldest son of the family that my church supported in Sicily! Matthew Gaunt. He hadn't been in Sicily a month before when I'd been there, because he and his brother had moved back to the states to get jobs and attend college. He gave me a hug and we talked real quickly then moved on.
That was just a first of a few time that he would pop back into my life.
When I left Sicily in October of 2005, I knew I wanted to go back. I got a job to save money just so I could. I sent out support letters and people were so kind! The time rolled around for a team to form again to go serve in Sicily along side the Gaunts. And I was going!!!! I managed to get all the money and then some! I was so thrilled. I emailed back and forth with the Gaunts daughter Natalie (she's the one that was the same age as me). We were excited to get to see each other again. Then I got an email from her saying her brother Matthew would be on the team. I didn't think to much of it, but I thought it was neat he was getting to come along and see his family again.
October rolled around and my dad took me to the Indy airport where we met up with several others on the team. And Matthew was there along with others from his church. One of them was a girl named Rachel, who I became good friends with. But I remember feeling so strange, because I thought that she was Matthew's girlfriend at first, and for no reason at all, I thought "oh man. he's already got a girlfriend".
The plane ride...make that rides...to Sicily are VERY long. On those long rides, I found out that Matthew, more often called Matt, was a pretty funny guy. After just a day or two in Sicily, Natalie and I were talking when she all the sudden got serious. She said she needed to ask me something and didn't want me to get mad. She said "Do you like my brother Nicole?" I paniced a little thinking "Oh no! I've been here a day and I'm being asked this?! I didn't think I was flirting or anything and if I was I didn't mean to!" so I simply answered: "Well I like him but I don't like him like him. I mean I don't really know him." She just shook her head and said "well he's a really nice guy Nicole". I started laughing! I got it! She thought we'd be good together maybe? She told me over a couple occasions on the trip that he wasn't interested in anyone at home but through a couple comments and things he'd made to his family, it seemed maybe he was interested in me.
Well, spending 11 days working, sweating and laughing with people lets you know them pretty well. And I was really started to like Matt. And it felt different. I wasn't desperate for someone to like me. I wasn't trying hard to let him see I thought I liked him. He made me laugh. I actually felt like...I could see a possible future with someone like him. None of this had happened with any other guy. With him things just felt...good.
When It was nearing the end of our 11 day trip, I KNEW I liked Matt and that I didn't want to lose contact with him! But I did not want to be the one to ask for email or anything like that. I didn't want to seem like one of those take charge, forward girls. I just had a feeling that wasn't his type! And I wasn't like that anyway. I had grown pretty sure that he liked me too. A girl does notice when a guy always finds a way to sit by her, is always helping her out, carrying things for her, making sure she has water or lemonade, etc. But what if I was wrong?! What if he was just being nice?! I didn't want to miss an opportunity to at least continue a friendship with him after getting home! I didn't know what would end up happening.
But what does happen, is something for another post:)