The night they met…

       November 1^st, 2003.  They were both invited to a co-workers Halloween party.  Trevor was dressed as a construction worker (overalls and all!) and Nicky was dressed as a medieval woman (referred to as “The St. Pauli Girl” by other party goers).  Amidst the music, chatter and free flowing beverages, they found one another.  Conversation of free time and work commenced.  Nicky realized why Trevor looked so familiar; he was the bouncer at one of her favorite watering holes, Irish Eyes. 

They chatted on and on until the party wound down.  Neither wishing the evening to end, Trevor offered to take Nicky to Irish Eyes, where they could hang out after hours.  Excited by the thought of V.I.P. treatment, Nicky gladly accepted the invitation, and off they went.  At the bar, they hung with the crowd after closing, got a few beers and watched Jaws on the bar T.V.  The conversation flipped on again, discussion of life and work and relationships over the commercials resulted in Nicky stating she could never date anyone she worked with.  A statement she would later go back on.  As Nicky rested her head on his shoulder, she felt comfortable, at ease.  Trevor thought it a shame she wouldn’t date co-workers.  Nicky offered Trevor a ride home since she was heading west to her parents house anyway. 

The next Monday at school, Nicky found a package in her mailbox.  It was two Hershey bars with a note stating “It was really SWEET of you to give me a ride home.” along with his email address.  That’s where it began.

Their first date…

Veteran’s Day Weekend.  After a number of emails, Nicky and Trevor had developed a bit of a friendship.  Nicky decided that she liked Trevor and truly regretted saying she would not date co-workers.  She knew that he would not ask her out because of her prior statement, so if she wanted something to happen, she would have to take the first step.  She now had his phone number from an email, and stood, staring at the phone number in her living room.  “How do you ask someone out?  Where would we go?  What could we do?  This is Chicago! There is tons to do!”  She then remembered on her ride home, she’d passed the Field Museum, which was advertising their Einstein exhibit.  “He’s a teacher; he probably would like something like that.”  So she called, he accepted, and the date was set.  What she didn’t realize was that Trevor had tried to open the door to an invitation in an email that Friday.  Trevor had emailed her to call him that weekend if she wanted to hang out.  He remembered that she didn’t want to date co-workers, but took the chance anyway.  She never checked her email, so she never got it.  So the discussion of who asked who out, and unbeknownst to whom, is still a debate.

            Needless to say, Einstein is boring.  So an exhibit of his life and work is even more boring.  But neither minded the mind numbing exhibit, because it gave them a quiet venue to walk and talk.  They later dined on deep dish pizza at the Famous Gino’s East Pizzeria. Life stories and infamous childhood escapades were exchanged over sausage and cheese.  They both knew this was a relationship they both wanted to pursue.  The evening ended with a lingering embrace and a promise to go out again soon.  Later that month, they committed to see each other exclusively.

How he proposed…

The happy couple was in Niagara Falls for Ryan and Jean Sullivan’s wedding.  Two days before the wedding, Trevor and Nicky went to the Casino to hang out with the Sullivan family.  After some gambling and chatting, the family retired to their rooms, while Nicky and Trevor stayed behind to look around the Casino’s shops and restaurants.  After a bit of walking, they happened upon a Johnny Rockets.  Nicky is not one to turn down an opportunity for a late night ice cream treat, especially in a retro diner.  So after some begging, they sat down at the counter and ordered a malt and a shake. 

They chatted and picked out music on the countertop jukebox.  Nicky asked if Trevor would like a kitchen done in a diner style, then began to plan out the rooms to their future home.  Each time a song ended, Trevor would hush her to see if it was the song he had picked.  She asked which one it was; he said it was a surprise. Finally, “Happy Together” by The Turtles started to play.  Trevor asked, “Do you remember the significance of this song.” Nicky replied, “yeah, it was on the CD you made me when we first started dating.”  Trevor nodded and got out of his seat while saying, “I’ve been wondering…”  He stood behind his stool next to Nicky as she turned to see where he was going.  He pulled a small red box from his pocket and said, “…if you would marry me.”  A gasp of awe left her lips as the sparkling ring winked at her.  Large tears of joy streamed down her face as she smiled the reply of  “YES! YES! YES!”  She hugged and kissed him, as other diners look on with smiles of approval.  She pulled away to stare at the ring in the box again.  There was a small light installed in the box that shone down on the ring making it shine even more brightly.  Nicky looked at Trevor and asked hopefully “Can I put it on?”  Trevor laughed and said “Yes, that’s the point.”  By this time all the waitresses and line cooks had come out and were busy congratulating the couple and looking at the ring. 

They left walking on air to head back to their hotel.  Nicky showed every stranger that was passed on the street.  The coat check ladies, the concierge, the shuttle bus driver, tourists, people on the street, taxi drivers, each time exclaiming “LOOK! I’M ENGAGED!”  All the way back to the hotel, they called all of their family and friends.  Once back to the room, Nicky was too excited to sleep, so they walked across the street to another casino.  They played until 3am, when both were sufficiently broke and tired.  Intoxicated from the evening’s excitement, they strolled back to their rooms for a good night’s sleep.

The next day, Nicky realized that everyone who was in the wedding knew about Trevor’s plans to propose.  They had all been keeping the secret the entire time.  She had wondered how everyone she met had heard of her, or could say something like “Oh, YOU’RE Nicky. I’ve heard so much about you.”  Everyone was congratulating them and toasting their future.  Thankfully, Ryan and Jean didn’t seem to mind.