*this is part 3 of a series. you can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

The day after the Stanford game I had some friends over for game night. I remember texting Kyle about it, but he wasn’t able to make it. We kept texting the rest of the evening though and we decided we should hang out that week. Kyle was on fall break for the week, but unfortunately I was not.  I was going to Westminster College at the time and had class the whole week.  When I was in class that Monday I decided I would text Mike…..and Kyle.  After class Kyle texted me and we began to talk about hanging out that evening.  I know I ended up texting Mike a few times that day, but I honestly don’t remember much of what we said because I remember being quite interested in the conversation with Kyle. As we were discussing some ideas for the evening he wrote about 5 texts full of ideas of things we could do.  At first I had assumed that we were also going to hang out with Mike, but as we continued texting I began to wonder if it was going to end up just Kyle and I.  Part of me began to almost hope it was just us because I was really beginning to want to know more about this kid.  I remember asking Kyle what he was doing and when he told me he owned his own clothing store (Q Style Apparel) and was working on some items for the company, I found it extremely impressive.

Kyle told me he would come over to my house and we could figure out what the plan was.  He came over to my house and we talked about all his ideas.  He decided we should try and do as many as we could.  One of those ideas was “Chopped”.  It is a show on the Food Network where they are given certain ingredients and they have to make a meal out of it.  I had never heard of it, so we ended up watching an episode.  At this point I was really confused as to whether or not he was interested in me or was helping me with Mike.  Then Mike called him and thats when I realized he was definitely trying to help set me up with Mike.

Kyle began talking to Mike about playing “Chopped”.  Mike didn’t want to drive out to Murray (he also lived in Bountiful near Kyle) and so finally Kyle decided we would do the challenge at Mike’s house.  I decided to call my friend Camille who lived close to them as well so we could get more people involved.  She said she would meet us there and so off I went to get my keys.  At that moment Kyle told me he was driving.  I told him that it really was okay for me to drive out there.  I felt bad having him drive to my house, back to Bountiful, then back to my house, and then back to Bountiful just because he drove me! He insisted and so I got in the car.  Honestly I was super impressed by his gesture.  Here Mike wouldn’t even drive out to Murray (which I didn’t blame him for at all), but Kyle was willing to drive back and forth multiple times just to be a gentleman and drive me to the activity.  He was earning major brownie points, that at the time, I didn’t even realize were going to be relevant.

When we got to Mike’s, Camille was already there.  The two of them had decided they would be partners, which ended up leaving Kyle and I to work together.  I was a little bummed out, especially because I had thought Kyle was going to help set me up with Mike.  On the other hand, I was actually pretty excited to be Kyle’s partner.  The car ride up had been an absolute blast.  He was so easy to talk to and made everything feel so natural.  *On a side note Kyle later told me that Mike asked him later that night how the car ride up with me had been.  Kyle had said I sure talked a lot, which I kinda had, but when you ask me about my crazy schooling experience and how I ended up at Westminster, it was going to take awhile to explain.  On the ride home though, Kyle ended up talking the whole time and he no longer found it weird that I talked so much on the car ride up!*

Kyle and I went to work using our materials to try and create something better than Camille and Mike. It was hard because the items we were given included crackers, lime, and peanut butter.  We could use other items, but we had to use those.  We ended up making a cracker and dip snack.  We used the peanut butter and spread it across the cracker and then sprinkled a little lime on top.  Oddly enough it wasn’t too bad.  Would I eat it again? Probably not.  Did it win the chopped date? YES! (And we’ve been winning couple dates ever since!)

I remember thinking that night about how much fun I had and not because Mike was there.  I hadn’t thought of dating Kyle, but the idea was starting to settle in my mind.