Our Love Story: The boy across the street!

In 2011, my family and I moved on a dead end street into a new neighborhood in Yonkers, ny. I was 18, a senior in high school. A shy, quiet girl who kept to herself. I didn't like to socialize much especially in the neighborhood. Living in a neighborhood where everyone knew everyone you can only imagine how hard it was to go unnoticed. let's face it, I was the pretty new girl on the block. There were at least two guys from the neighborhood that try to talk to me but I always knew what I wanted in a guy. The typical stares and approaches just wasn't enough to get my attention. Although, I didn't have much experience with guys but I knew I wanted something different. After kissing a few frogs I guess I was just waiting around for my Prince charming. One day, I remember walking down the street and out of nowhere I hear “shake it but don't break it”. The most corniest thing I ever heard. As I turned around I glanced over and saw Carlos, the boy across the street with this charming smile while he was shooting hoops. On the homemade court the kids on the block made. I just smiled and continued to walk into my house. All night all I could think to myself is how corny that line was but it caught my attention and made me smile. He had it all to make me smile. That was the first time I really noticed Carlos and ever since that moment I started to pay more attention to him. now, I had a reason to look out my window and go outside more. I just had to meet this guy that caught my attention. When his family would have parties, I thought here was my opportunity to see more of the boy across the street. Come on guys, I was on curious to find out who he was. My opportunity has finally come, there stood Carlos off to the side during one of his families parties. As I watched from the window, he seemed quiet and to himself which I admired as it reminded me of myself. Also, I knew that I didn't want a street boy. You know? The rough around the edges type. The bad boys that hung outside all day with their homies. It turned out that he wasn't that type. As time went on and we passed each other a few times on the block. One summer day, I was outside sitting on the front steps with my cousin Shawna. As we chatted away here walks over Carlos to say hello. The boy across the street that I’ve watched from the window didn't seem so quiet after all. He was pretty talkative as we sat on the stairs talking and joking on each other. He was charming and sweet that certainly was the win win situation for me. He definitely gave me a Rico suave type of vibe which will become his nickname given to him by Shawna. He was this Puerto Rican, long haired, smooth guy. I immediately was attracted to him but more importantly he was kind hearted. Shorter than I liked but overall his personality stood out so I overlooked his height, literally. As we were cracking jokes about each other, he made a joke about my height so I called him Rapunzel. You'll probably thinking why Rapunzel? Well that was the only comeback I had at the time plus his hair was down his back. Unfortunately, that joke went left very quickly. I went into my house to get something. I was only gone for maybe five minutes or less. Within those five minutes I found out from my cousin that we cut off his ponytail. I knew right away that it had something to do with the Rapunzel joke. The worst part is that he cut off his hair right in front of his mother. What a way to start things off. I haven't even gotten a chance to meet the lady. She then screamed out in anger “ I hope she's worth it”. She wanted him to cut his hair for a long time and he did it for some girl. Later on, I learned that he did it because he thought I didn't like his long hair. I was shocked not only because it was a simple reason for such a dramatic change but that he actually thought about my feelings. Although I didn't care about whether his hair was long or not. It was just simply a joke gone wrong. However I just couldn't help to feel like is he would do that then what else would he do for me. Even more shocking we weren't dating at this point. For once in my life my opinion mattered to someone. The moment I knew that he was something worth having in my life. I was a little worried because I haven't seen Carlos around like I normally would and I felt bad. I thought maybe he was mad at me for my silly joke. After a week or two of Carlos going ghost on me. I finally saw him sitting on his porch alone with a hat on. He then asked me for my number in the cutest way possible. Instead of handing me a cell phone, he handed me a pen and a piece of paper. I wrote my number on it. Later on that day, he called me and we talked for hours about what happened and other things. We plan a night to meet up in my backyard, it was the only way to be alone. The attention was on us at all times since the incident. On July 11th 2012, He popped the magical question “ will you be my girlfriend?” He asked. I said “yes” with no hesitation. The rest of the love story is history. Here We Stand today six years, seven months later still in love and together just like the very first day. Oh Yeah! Now as of August 25th 2018, he popped the even bigger question and I'm proud to say that we are engaged. To be continued…