The year is 1999. My sister, Nicole, had been staying with me in Cleveland during her summer break from college.
When she told her boss at Arabica coffee shop that she would have to quit to go back to school, he asked if she knew anyone who could replace her. Since I was about to start grad school and needed a part-time job, she suggested I take her place. Nicole had told me stories about her coworkers, so I had an impression of each of them before I even worked there. Zakk walked in at the beginning of my second shift, so I introduced myself and told him that I had heard he was the quiet one who didn't talk. I quickly followed that up with something like, "Well, that's not gonna fly with me. You're gonna have to talk." Yep, typical bossypants Kristin. I don't know if he realized what he was in for. As far as I was concerned, there was no way we weren't going to be friends. Lucky for me, he obliged and we spent a lot of time laughing and goofing around while we were supposed to be working.
After a few months, we started hanging out after work. We would often head back to my apartment after getting off work. Zakk would immediately pick up my acoustic guitar when he walked in and start "noodling", as he calls it. I always enjoyed hearing him play and my guitar had never seen so much action.
Although we were spending time together outside of work, we really were “just friends” for the better part of a year. Not that anyone believed us, but maybe that’s because they saw what we weren’t ready to admit yet…which is that we were falling in love with each other.
So how did we go from “just friends” to a boy and a girl openly in love? Well, not gracefully, that’s for sure. It was after one of those late nights at my apartment after work when I walked Zakk to the door to say goodnight. I remember thinking that he seemed a little uncomfortable, and that’s when it happened…the kiss and run. Although he had worked up the nerve to kiss me, he apparently didn’t have enough left over to stick around and find out what I thought of it! And let me tell you, this was no romantic, lingering kiss. It was so abrupt and he was gone so quickly that I wasn’t even sure what had just happened! I was laughing as I closed the door and sank slowly to the floor in giddy bewilderment.
It was a couple of days before we talked again and I was starting to get nervous about what that kiss may have done to our friendship. Then Zakk called to invite me to dinner. He still lived with his parents, but his family was going on vacation so it would be just us.
He cooked orange chicken for dinner and tried to make chocolate-dipped strawberries for dessert. Although the chocolate didn’t harden or stick to the strawberries very well, I was really impressed at all the effort he put into the evening. After dinner, we sat close on the couch, watched “There’s Something About Mary”, and laughed until we cried. Then we kissed again. And this time it was sweet and romantic, and nobody ran away.
That was our first date...and the rest, as they say, is history.
