Stories of Jeff Excell - Spring Semester

I laid awake in bed at 3 o'clock the night Jeff Excell became my boyfriend. There was a lot to think about. Like were we going to hold hands at church? Would we drive to school together? What size ring did I wear?

My thoughts were interrupted by a text from my new boyfriend telling me goodnight, and I wondered how long it would take him to realize he'd made a terrible mistake agreeing to be my boyfriend. I was already dreaming about engagement rings after all.

I finally fell asleep and had a few days of digesting my new life with a boyfriend before spring semester started. Jeff and I looked over our schedules only to find I wasn't taking any of his advanced German classes and he had already taken my entry-level math classes. I accepted that having a boyfriend wasn't going to make my classes any more exciting and settled on only seeing Jeff after school.

As I woke up for the first day of school, I found that having a boyfriend also didn't help with my first-day-of-school jitters. On my way to class I got a text from Jeff, "Hey, your first class is in the ELC isn't it? I'm waiting in the lobby."

He was perfect. So perfect that when I saw him waiting outside my classroom to wish me a happy first day of school, it took all my power to refrain from yelling, "My ring size is 8 and I don't care how big the diamond is as long as it sparkles!" My jitters turned to giddiness as I hugged my new boyfriend and floated into class.

Class just so happened to be statistics. And it just so happens there's a lot of Microsoft Excel talk in statistics. Which isn't good for a girl who's giddy over an Excell. I was giggling at every mention of the computer program and looking around the room as I blushed. You'd think college would bring with it a little more maturity.

I left statistics with a newfound enthusiasm for spreadsheets and started towards my second class of the day as I spotted the source of my giddiness walking towards me.
"I thought all your classes were in the General Ed. building today." I said.
"I just wanted to come say 'hi.'" he answered.

It was at that moment I realized some guys really are gentlemen. And it was then that I blushed because one of those gentlemen had traipsed through several yards of snow just to see me. The blushing continued as I tried to appear collected.

Jeff then walked me to the accounting class I had with his brother. When the teacher called roll the first day he stopped after Bryan's name. "Is your brother Jeff?" he asked. Bryan confirmed to which the teacher said, "He's a good guy."

The compliment intended for Bryan left me smiling as I thought of that good guy I was dating all the way through my first accounting class. And I think that's probably the only smiling I ever did in accounting.

Meeting between every class quickly became a habit for us. We discussed the newspaper, gave each other pep talks for presentations and helped with last-minute study reminders. We also occasionally talked each other out of going to class to instead raid Jeff's parents' house for lunch and an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos.

Every once in a while at the end of our school days I could convince Jeff to sneak off to the third floor of the library where he'd read me German poetry. I thought that was the most romantic thing in the whole world.

As classes went on, I would sometimes have another boy try to talk to me. Which almost made me gag, because other boys didn't save fortune cookies for me, woo me with notes in church, shamelessly stalk me, or get unexpected compliments from teachers in a class they weren't even in. I knew I had a keeper. And I could hardly even bear to interact with a guy who wasn't Jeff Excell.