When Marcus met Laura...

Marcus and I met last year in the summer of 2011. I was on my gap year after finishing my A Levels and Marcus had just graduated from university. I decided that I wanted to do something fun with my summer and applied to Camp America to work as a lifeguard. I was placed at a Jewish Summer Camp in New York and couldn't wait for my summer of sun (being ghostly pale I was determined to come home tanned!). All of the international staff arrived a week before the children did and so we bonded closely before the American counsellors turned up. Marcus was the only American member of staff who hadn't been a camper himself and so therefore knowing no-one (like many of the internationals who weren't returners) he ended up becoming an honorary International and earned his place on the end of camp Internationals T-shirt!

I didn't really speak to him properly until our first day off (all of the specialist staff tended to have Saturdays off and we could leave after dinner on Friday evenings). Our camp was a relatively short train ride away from NYC and so for our first real day off we decided to book hotel rooms, get drunk and party at Webster Hall. I can honestly say that I can't remember a word of what I said to Marcus that night haha. We were sat on beds in the hotel room facing each other and he had his friend Johnny (who lived in the city so had met up with us) with him. I thought he was cute and funny and I remember laughing a lot but who knows at what. It was a completely crazy night which involved vodka in McDonald's cups, being on the rooftop, dancing my arse off and then collapsing into bed in the early hours with people littered all over the room (we're cheapskates and hotel rooms in NYC are so expensive! Try about 12 people to a room ;)). Anyways, within all the mayhem I didn't really see Marcus again that night...

  

 

We finally had our first proper (sober) conversation when by chance I passed Marcus driving out of camp to go and pick up some of the lads from the train station. We still didn't really know each other what so ever but remembering our drunken chats the night before, I asked him if he fancied some company (he did) and off we went. We talked all the way and just generally got on well, enough that when the boys arrived off their train and 2 became 5 I was kind of disappointed. Still, it was enough time to start getting to know each other and paved the way for the weeks of flirting (I decided that I needed to learn the basics of lacrosse) that came afterwards.

About half way through the summer, we had another night out but this time in the local town. One of the other lifeguards lived in the town and so some people were crashing in his house and the others had booked hotel rooms. Both Marcus and I were staying at our friend's house and to put a long story short after a lot of alcohol, a lot of flirting and a failed attempt at stealing a golf buggy, he drunkenly invited me to come home with him the next weekend and kissed me. The next day I had absolutely no idea whether he had meant the offer or not so I didn't mention it whilst secretly hoping that he did. I really loved the idea of going on a car trip with him and getting away from camp for a bit and so when he text me asking if I was still up for it I was one very happy bunny!

We set off Friday night for his home town in the hottest weather made worse by Marcus' broken AC (yay for new car and working air con) and I arrived to meet his parents a hot and sweaty mess, still dressed all in white (we had to wear white for flagpole and dinner on Fridays). Even so, I was stupidly happy because Marcus had been amazing company during the journey and the more time that I spent with him, the more I really liked him. His family were lovely, made me feel so welcome and I left their house thinking that I really hadn't been able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked to.

The last few weeks at camp were blissful. Gorgeous sunshine, spending my days by the pool and lake, BBQs twice a week and finally getting that tan! I never wanted camp to end but I also knew that I had time to travel afterwards and so I started getting excited about that. I decided to travel to Florida with three other girls for a bit of a cheeky beach holiday, whilst getting to see a friend we had met at camp who lived out there. I'd then travel on up to Buffalo to stay with Marcus before I had to come home to England.

The last day of camp was awful. I'd had the most amazing summer of my life and made so many good friends, the thought of not being around them everyday was heartbreaking. Thankfully, I knew I was going to see Marcus again or god knows what I might have done! I'll always be so thankful that I had the opportunity to work out there for that summer and I think it made me grow up a hell of a lot. Being so independent, having to fly by myself, book tickets, be responsible for the children at camp... all of these things increased my confidence in myself and my abilities. As for Marcus, well he makes me into the person that I want to be and I'm never happier than when he's around. I can truly be myself around him and it's so lovely knowing that he's always there for me, supporting me and helping me out even from 3000 miles away. Thank god we somehow met each other!

So there you go, how we met. More interesting than the usual 'we met in a bar/school/work' if I do say so myself ;)

LYMH.