Be forewarned: This may be the longest "how we got together" story you've ever read. If you would like a summary, here it is: Jeremy and April first met and talked to each other while in school at USC in the early part of 2000. They became good friends and would always hang out with each other. A little less than a year later, they each realized that they had a lot in common and maybe even had feelings for each other. Finally getting up the guts to tell his best friend that he liked her, on Sunday, March 4, 2001, Jeremy stopped April on the way to his car and told her that he was falling for her. Since then, the two have been inseparable and one day, they decided that they should get married. The end. Now for the unabridged version. Enjoy!

Fall 1999
Jeremy first noticed April in the fall of 1999 when he spotted her in the clarinet section of the USC Trojan Marching Band. The clarinet line always stood behind the tenor saxophones; which is how April also took notice of the big bald Asian guy with the large calves who stood in front of her. What also caught her eye and piqued her curiosity was that Jeremy wore an AACF (Asian American Christian Fellowship) T-Shirt that read “Keepin’ It Real” across the back. Jeremy was a sophomore in college at the time and had just decided to major in music industry that fall. It was April’s first year at USC and her freshman year in band.  Naturally, Jeremy assumed he was older than April but to his surprise, he was in the same music industry classes that April was taking and always envied the fact that she had a circle of friends while all he did was show up for class and then leave.

Spring 2000
On Tuesday, January 11, 2000, waiting outside the USC United University Church on the first day of the spring semester, April noticed the bald Asian guy from band was also going to be in her class and decided to approach him and make an introduction. For the first time in the history of the world, the two chatted amongst the flies in the hallway of the church but after class, parted ways without so much as a goodbye. That day however, Jeremy learned that April was indeed older than him and had transferred to USC from Biola. Although he was happy to find out that April was also Christian, it was difficult at first for Jeremy to make sense of their relationship since he was older than April in band years, the same stage in classes but younger than April in age. Over the course of that semester, the two would sometimes make small talk before and after class and April introduced Jeremy to her friends in their classes.

Summer 2000
At the end of the spring 2000 school semester, Jeremy ran into April at an on-campus concert at Tommy Trojan. She was with a boy on a skateboard and Jeremy was with some AACF friends, having just come from the end of a meeting. They chatted amidst the noise and seeing that Jeremy was a cool friend, April decided to give Jeremy her phone number and told him to give her a call over the summer so they could hang out and keep in touch. They saw each other once more at the spring USC band concert in Cerritos but all Jeremy remembers is talking to April until it was time for dinner, at which point he was left to hang out by himself until it was time to go on stage. That summer, Jeremy worked and April worked but they never once talked nor saw each other.

Fall 2000
The summer passed them each by and while Jeremy lost April’s phone number, it didn’t feel like long before band camp reunited the two. On their first day back on campus, April gave Jeremy a big hug after not hearing from him all summer. Jeremy remembers how nice it felt to know that he had a friend in the band. That week, they found out that they were both enrolled in the same music law class that met on Thursday evenings. So, Jeremy invited April to AACF with him even though they could only attend the ends of the meetings after class would let out. The two also had classes that ended with time to spare before band practice would begin, so they met up at the field and talked while they waited for rehearsal to start.

Their friendship progressed as the two began to spend more time together. Whether it was meeting up for lunch between classes or accompanying each other to run random errands, they realized they had a lot in common. It was during one of their late night meals (at none other than Del Taco on Figueroa) in between studying that they had “the talk”. No not that kind of talk. They had a deep conversation in which they shared about their families, backgrounds, past relationships, and what they had learned from them. It was through this discussion that they realized they were not each other’s “types” when it came to what they looked for in the opposite sex. However, during this time, there was still no interest for the other, so this little tidbit of information didn’t matter much. They were both comfortable enough to confide in each other about their inner feelings and realized that they were truly becoming good friends.

Throughout the semester, they would spend time together at meals, browsing the bookstore shelves and doing random things together. The more the two saw of each other, the more Jeremy thought April would make a great girlfriend. Initially, he wasn’t thinking for himself but rather for a friend of his that shared similar interests with April and attempted to play matchmaker. Fortunately for Jeremy, his efforts were not successful.

At the end of the semester, April invited Jeremy to attend a concert in Santa Barbara with her and her cousin Aura. After the last day of classes, Jeremy drove the trio to see April’s favorite group, Rockapella on Saturday, December 9, 2000 at the Lobero Theater off State Street. It was during that trip that April played a bunch of her favorite music for Jeremy during the long car rides. One thing Jeremy remembers is that she told him a Rockapella tune entitled “People Change” reminded her of him and his past relationship. It made him happy to know that his friend understood what he had gone through. Although April and Jeremy each love music, their musical tastes were so vastly different that one of the things they enjoyed about each other was learning about new recordings and artists. One of the singers April introduced Jeremy to on their trip to Santa Barbara was Lea Salonga. Lea was the singing voice of both Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and Mulan in Disney’s Mulan. Jeremy had wanted to hear some tagalog music, so April let him borrow a CD to hear the love ballad Nandito Ako (translation: “I’m Here”) by Lea. Although he enjoyed the song, Jeremy took a liking to another track even more: a duet by Lea and Brad Kane called We Could Be In Love. When finals were over, April found seasonal employment with Charlotte Russe at the Cerritos Mall and invited Jeremy to visit her during the winter break. However, due to his own seasonal position, once again, Jeremy was never able to visit April during their break.

Spring 2001
By now, April and Jeremy had become close friends and they were even sort of planning their class schedules together. That spring, they were only able to have one course together but it didn’t matter because they would hang out with each other all the time. After AACF meetings, April would always go in Jeremy’s car for the post-meeting activities and they would go get food together after playing in the basketball band. It didn’t really matter what the activity was, if there was a chance to hang out with each other, they did.

That year, Jeremy had also been chatting with an old high school friend who was living in the Bay Area at the time and the two had decided some time back that if neither had Valentine’s Day dates come February, they would be each others’ Valentines that year. Jeremy had prepared a basket of goodies as a Valentine’s gift and got ready to make the five-hour drive up north for the special holiday. Even amidst all the planning and commotion of the semester, Jeremy held to his promise. April was jealous, not of the girl that Jeremy was going to see but just jealous that Jeremy had a Valentine and she did not. At first, she thought it was a weird reaction to have and quickly dismissed it. A funny thing happened on the Grapevine though. The night of Tuesday, February 13, 2001, it was so cold and had rained so hard in Southern California that authorities closed traffic on the Grapevine because of sleet and snow. Saddened, Jeremy turned around and went back to his place in South Pasadena for the night with the intention of making another attempt the next day. He called April and told her the situation and she actually felt sort of happy that Jeremy wouldn’t be able to make it to his Valentine’s dinner. She didn’t tell him that of course. On Valentine’s Day, Jeremy made another attempt at driving up the Interstate 5 but as fate would have it, the freeway was still closed. Deterred once again, Jeremy called his friend and apologized before returning to campus to go to classes with all of his classmates.

The next two weeks were very busy for both Jeremy and April with midterms and papers. Jeremy also had the pressure of preparing for G3, a campus-wide Christian event coming up. Even though he was extremely busy, he always made sure to make time to spend with April and found himself strangely attracted to her. He didn’t think anything of those feelings so he just brushed them off. Coincidentally, April was also developing some sort of feelings toward Jeremy but didn’t know what to make of it and decided not to put anymore thought into it for the time being.

The night of Thursday, March 1, Jeremy and April each played in the USC basketball band at the LA Sports Arena before heading over to a G3 band practice and prayer meeting. After the meeting, Jeremy had to run several errands before heading home to type up a slew of overhead slides for the event. April was kind enough to volunteer to stay up all night with him so that he could get everything done. While Jeremy was hard at work at the computer, April went to nap on his bed so that he couldn’t fall asleep on it but eventually, his eyes could not stay open anymore and he knocked out next to her. (Just for the record, he was outside of the sheets but in the middle of the night, April remembers Jeremy holding her hand for a brief moment before he completely zoned out.) When he woke up in the morning, he was in a panic because he remembered that he still had a lot to do before it was time for G3 that night. He looked over at his desk and there was April. She had woken up in the middle of the night and finished typing up all of his overhead slides. Shocked and flattered, he thanked her over and over again for saving his life and as they got ready to leave the apartment to do some last minute errands, Jeremy gave April a kiss on the cheek as he thanked her once more. April thought to herself, “he does that to all of his good friends.”

G3 went off without a hitch thanks to the grace of God. April and her cousins, who Jeremy asked to perform in the event, sounded magnificent and that night, they all went out to celebrate. Late night dinner wasn’t enough of a celebration however. Jeremy and April made plans to meet up for lunch the next day. After an early morning meeting, Jeremy went to April’s to pick her up and walk to one of his favorite restaurants Pasta Roma. They shared a tasty meal and afterwards, walked back to her apartment. On the way, they continued a conversation that had begun over lunch. In jest, Jeremy asked April “would you date someone my age?” since she was older than he. She said yes, but only if the person were mature enough. Then very quickly, he added “would you date me?” but she just laughed and brushed the question off with a quick and friendly “of course—you’re cool!” Jeremy had to head over to the LA Sports Arena for another basketball game so the two hugged and parted ways. Jeremy remembers that hug very vividly because it was the first time he felt like April admitted that she liked him through her actions. To this day, he still asks April to hug him with both arms around his neck so he can remember the feeling he had that day.

On Sunday, March 4, at church, Jeremy talked with his friend Karen about how they liked G3. By this time, Jeremy had finally admitted his adoration for April to himself and decided to confess them to Karen, who was happy and excited to hear about it. Jeremy made plans with Karen to study together at USC’s Leavey Library that night. Needing to study as well, Jeremy invited April to come along. They studied for about an hour before their hunger got the best of them and they left to get some food. They brought the food back and ate in a nearby building before heading back to the library to drop off Karen’s order. On the way, April had decided her eyes were dry so she was going to go home and take her contacts out.

As they headed back to Jeremy’s car, Jeremy couldn’t contain himself anymore and decided now was the time to do something about it. Walking amidst the gentle sprinkling of the rain, Jeremy slowly slipped his hand into April’s hand and said “You know that song by Lea Salonga, We Could Be In Love?” April just looked at Jeremy confused for a moment. Then he continued “Well, that song reminds me of us—you know why?” April indulged him and replied with a “Why?” to which Jeremy answered “Because, well, I think I’m falling for you.” April just stared at him for a brief moment and then gave him a big hug, confirming that she felt the same way. Jeremy was so relieved that he had finally told his friend that he liked her. They headed back to her apartment where she took out her contacts and they sat and talked for hours about what this meant. Being best friends, this was not something they could simply jump into. However, after much discussion, they decided it was worth a try to take it to the next level. There in the middle of the night, on March 5, 2001, April and Jeremy officially became a couple and Prel & Jer was born. What a cute story.