TL;DR: School is going well, and my best friend and I are well on our way to being something more, something better.

It's been just about 4 months since my last post, and things have continued to go well. I'm in my 4th week of my 1st semester of Robotics, I completed ISU's START program in December and was recognized by my English instructor for my essay work, which included a fan-fic set during season 3 of The Flash written from Iris West's perspective. That recognition came at a small graduation ceremony that my mom attended. My best friend was there too, a young woman who is also in my congregation from church. My friend and I went to see Frozen 2 after the graduation, which was fun. Before the movie we talked a little, including about dating, but we decided to just stay friends for a while longer. After a few weeks she let me know that she'd signed up for the Epee Fencing class that the Phys Ed department offers and that I'd already signed up for, and we've been partners for most of the days so far.

Well, on Friday the university held a formal dance. My friend and I wanted to go together, but out of respect to our earlier decision neither of us had mentioned it to the other. Wednesday we had lunch together with a mutual friend, and both of us are indebted to that friend. She not only mentioned wanting to go to the dance, but invited my best friend and I to go with her as a group. So yeah! I met them at my best friend's house where they were getting ready. Our wing woman came to the door when I got there, while my best friend was finishing up. I stepped inside and after a moment She came out from the hallway into the entry. She was wearing a prom dress that she'd not gotten to use in High School, a dress much like Belle's from Beauty and the Beast, but so much more beautiful. After having my breath taken away I smiled really big and of course complemented her.

We left in our friend's car for campus, arriving about half an hour early. While waiting for the doors to open we stood in the hallway outside the ballroom, where a classmate from robotics showed up with his wife and a male friend in tow. Over the course of the night, the wing woman mostly danced with my classmate's friend, leaving my best friend with me. During one particular slow dance, to the song Hero by Enrique Iglesias, we nearly kissed! Unfortunately we were interrupted by a kinda creepy guy that had latched onto our group. Overall the night was great though. A bit later I requested a song for the next slow dance, Beauty and the Beast from the 1993 animated version of the movie. I think that it became our song when they played it. We'd been standing over by the photo booth that'd been set up, waiting to get a group picture when the song came on, and she looked around surprised before settling on me. She smiled and I offered my hand and led her to the dance floor, where I got to dance with a real life Belle. She told me today that it was her favorite part of the dance.

The happy mood continued on to Sunday, which while a normal service, was great. The first Sunday of the month is general used for congregants to share their own thoughts and feelings about church stuff, and of course both my dear friend and I spoke. After our meetings we said bye, and headed home to await the incoming snow storm. I ended up watching parts of the Super Bowl, which my team won! Texting her about it, she was excited for me even though she's not interested in sports at all. (I'm only slightly interested myself).

Yesterday we didn't get to see each other until the afternoon at our fencing class because of delays that the storm caused, and we talked about going to the sledding activity our congregation had planned because of the snow. Unfortunately she had some homework and wasn't able to go,  but she asked if we wanted to go today. We went to the same hill from last night and had a great time talking and sledding and just enjoying each other's company. It was an awesome almost date! We headed back to a common building after about an hour to sit and talk and warm up before I had to get back to my classes. As we walked she mentioned that she would've really enjoyed going to dinner this evening, something I'd offered due to her not having her usual ride to her choir practice if she'd needed to stay on campus. She then said that she'd enjoy having dinner together another night though! As a date! We don't have anything planned yet as far as when, but we do have a where, a diner just across the street from campus. Right now I'm sitting listening to her sing with the choir, enjoying the music and picking her voice out every so often. I know how I feel about her, I haven't told her yet because it's not time, but I know, though she probably suspects thanks to how easily it shows on my own face when I'm around her.