One day, about half way through the summer Maurice told Nicole he was going to another camp but would be back. Before he left he gave her a picture of him.
She loved this picture and thought it captured him very well. As the summer went on, while Maurice was gone, Nicole found another boy she liked (but now cannot remember his name). This seemed fine since summer flings at age 12 were never a big deal. But, Maurice came back from the other camp and found Nicole was talking to the other boy. Maurice didn’t like this and he was very sad. The rest of the summer was very awkward for both Nicole and Maurice and they didn’t talk much. Nicole thought about him a lot though and regretted talking to the other boy.
After summer was over, Maurice went back to school in Brunswick and Nicole went back to school in Boonsboro (though the two only lived 5 minutes from each other, Nicole lived right over the county line so she had to go 30 minutes away to school). For almost 6 or 7 years the two didn’t see each other at all despite having a lot of mutual friends and Nicole working in Brunswick with the mutual friends. Nicole still had the picture Maurice had given her and always kept it in the top drawer of her dresser, reminding her of this boy she once knew. In 1999/2000 Nicole was hanging out with friends one night and decided to go to Denny’s. This just so happened to be the very same Denny’s Maurice was working at, but she didn’t know that beforehand. As she was casually chatting over dinner with friends, Maurice walked up and said, “Hello.” Nicole replied with the same greeting and did not immediately recognize Maurice. Throughout the remainder of the meal she wondered who he was and why his face seemed so familiar. This bugged her for a long time; until she came across the picture he had given her and remembered. Unfortunately this realization wasn’t soon enough and she missed the opportunity to find out more about this guy.
A few more years went by (almost another 6 years!) and Nicole, now a single mom of 2, living with a friend in Charleston, WV – 6 hours from Maryland, searched Maurice on myspace.com and found him! He was married, living in Virginia, in the Navy and seemingly happy. She took the chance and messaged him, just to ask if he remembered her. A few days later, he replied! His response explained that he was shocked to find her, said that he didn’t know her last name but has searched for her before. She was happy about this but made it clear she just wanted to be friends, he agreed. A month or so went by after these first MySpace messages and Maurice messaged and said he and his wife Heather would be driving through Charleston, WV on their way to Kentucky to visit some of Heathers family. Nicole offered up a coffee stop for them and thought how nice it would be to catch up. Maurice and Heather agreed (Heather is a mutual friend too!). In June of 2006 Maurice and Heather came to Charleston for coffee and to meet with Nicole but they ended up staying a whole week! It was nice to have them hang out for so long. Nicole and her friend who was living with her at the time, took Maurice and Heather to Ichiban in Charleston for dinner. Midway through the meal Heather and Nicole stepped outside for some air and Heather began to tell Nicole everything she had known about her based off of what Maurice had told her. Heather explained that after the summer Maurice met Nicole, he beat up the other boy she was “dating”. This started a little list of criminal issues for Maurice but Nicole thought it was incredibly sweet that he fought for her. Heather and Nicole also discussed how many more mutual friends they had and even had witnessed a couple of situations where they were at the same place, watching something happen but at 2 different angles/views. How crazy! Nicole thought Heather was very sweet and was very happy for her and Maurice. After dinner this night they all went back to Nicole’s house. Nicole’s friend and Heather fell asleep and Maurice and Nicole stayed up late chatting outside and catching up on what all had gone on in their lives, after all at this point it had been 14 years since their first meeting. Nicole found Maurice to be fascinating and he found the same characteristics in her. Near the end of the night he even tried to kiss her, but she refused stating his wife was just inside the house asleep and she wasn’t there to ruin his marriage, just reconnect. Maurice explained that his marriage was rocky anyway but Nicole stood her ground on the subject so they continued to stay friends and stay connected. Two weeks after Maurice and Heather left West Virginia, Maurice was deployed on a 6 month cruise for the Navy. He sent her postcards letting her know where he was and though she promised to write back, she didn’t because life kind of just happened, especially with 2 kids!
In December 2006, Maurice came home from cruise and walked into an empty apartment he had shared with his wife, Heather. She had cheated on him while he was away and left him, taking all of their stuff, even Maurice’s favorite cat ever, Taz. Maurice was heartbroken and sought refuge with Nicole. They talked on the phone a lot and Nicole mentioned to him that he shouldn’t be alone on Christmas, offering up her home as a place to spend the holiday. She told him this at almost 1am two days before Christmas, and Maurice promised he would be at her house. Nine hours later he arrived. He drove all night to come see her. Nicole knew he was sad and tried to help him through everything. He left the day after Christmas for some military workups feeling a little better. When he got back to Virginia, Heather had filed for divorce. Maurice and Nicole kept talking, and it was nice again to have company, he even came to visit again in June 2007 which was nice. They went to Coonskin Park with Nicole’s children and had a blast. Nicole thought it was very nice how he interacted with her kids and her kids thought he was cool too!
He even liked her crazy faces which of course made her happy because everyone else thought she was weird.
Later than year, Maurice left the military and moved in with Nicole. He showed up right around Halloween. Nicole was elated and Maurice was too! They built the beginnings of a life together. In March 2008 Maurice’s divorce was final and both were relieved that it was. It meant they could really throw things into full force.
Now in 2012, Nicole and Maurice are happier than ever. They share inside jokes (lots of them) and seem to find the best in each other, no matter how strange everyone else might think they are. In the past 5 years they have learned a lot about each other and are about to take on a new chapter in their lives by moving to Florida to be closer to Nicole’s mom who is in kidney failure. Whatever happens, they’ll do it together, especially considering he just asked her to marry him (no date set yet!).
