Lifesaver Boy

During my first year of college, I had so many boys in my life (many as just friends, thank you very much!) that none of my friends could keep all of the poor boys' names straight. Thus, my friends began to make nicknames for the boys attached to how I knew them, their most distinctive feature, or the crazy story that made them worth mentioning in the first place! That brings me to this post's title. I give you: Lifesaver Boy.

I first met Lifesaver Boy (we'll call him Mark) at EFY, a church youth camp, the summer I turned 16. This was a week-long camp and Mark was my counselor. It is a well-known fact that everybody gets a crush on their EFY counselor during at least one summer. I happened to have the biggest crush on Mark. So, overtaken by my infatuation, I went home and eagerly added him as a friend on MySpace. We swapped MySpace messages and I dreamed of dating, romance, and eventually a white dress. Devastatingly, however, he got a girlfriend and I moved on.

Fast-forward a couple years. At this point in the story, I'm 18 and nearing the end of my first semester at BYU. I have a steady boyfriend. It's Thanksgiving and I'm visiting my friend Kylie and her family in Idaho, trying to relax and not freak out about my first week of finals ever. I get a MySpace message, which is weird since I haven't used MySpace in ages, choosing instead to favor Facebook. I soon discover that it's a message from Mark, telling me that he's graduated from college out East, worked down in Texas for awhile, and is now in Provo. Reading between the lines, it's easy to discover that he's in Provo basically to get married.

Being the still-naive girl that I was, and in a relationship with a different boy, I didn't even consider the possibility that his search for a wife would extend to me. I told him to add me as a friend on Facebook and we picked back up what I assumed was a friendship.

Then one night I had a fight with my boyfriend. I don't do well with such things, so I was awake and online at some forsaken hour. I imagine I posted something depressing as my Facebook status because Mark tried to cheer me up via Facebook chat. The end of the conversation, after I had started feeling better, went something like this:

Me: Thanks for cheering me up, Mark. You're a real lifesaver.
Mark: Ooo, really?! What flavor?
Me: Um...cherry?
Mark: Oh, Orange is my favorite. But cherry is good too!
Me: Huh, ya know, I haven't had Lifesavers in forever.
Mark: Me either! We should get together sometime and have Lifesavers!
Me: ...Sure, Mark. Sure.

Now, normally when a guy says something incredibly stupid, he will realize his mistake soon afterward and never mention it again in the hopes that it will be forgotten, or he may attempt to apologize. Either Mark didn't realize that he had just spouted one of the worst pickup lines I had ever heard, or he was hoping that I hadn't realized it. Either way, within a few days, we had another conversation on Facebook, beginning with this line:

Mark: Hey, how do I contact you for Lifesaver times? Do you have a phone?

Still giving him the benefit of the doubt as I'd been taught most of my life and believing his intentions to be those of friendship, I gave him my number.

Fast-forward a few months. At this point, my boyfriend and I have broken up. I am nearing the end of my first full year at BYU and again stressing about finals when I fall unfortunately ill. I'm in my dorm room in the evening when the following text message conversation takes place (keep in mind that Mark has graduated from college and doesn't work on-campus):

Mark: Hard day studying?
Me: Actually, I'm really sick, so I haven't done much studying at all, really.
Mark: Oh. Are you on-campus?
Me: No. I'm sick. I'm in my room.
Mark: Oh. Want me to come keep you company?
Me: No thanks. I'm just going to go to bed.

A few days later Mark popped up on Facebook chat yet again:

Mark: Are you feeling better?
Me: Yes, much! I'm sorry about last Wednesday. I was really sick. What was up?
Mark: Well, I was just wandering around campus with a big bag of Lifesavers and didn't want to eat them by myself.

After two weeks of pestering me to go on a date with him, Mark finally got to me at about midnight on a Saturday night:

Mark: Is your party over?
Me: Would I be on Facebook if I was still at a party?
Mark: Good point. Wanna hang out?
Me: ...Fine.
Mark: Great! Now...what's there to do in Provo at this time of night?
Me: Well...there's the dollar theater...
Mark: Great! I'll come pick you up!

--To Be Continued--