Ben's Story. London, England.

The first time I saw Rachel I literally felt as if my heart stopped beating for a minute. When it started pumping again the hopelessness of the situation washed over me. We worked together, you see. Yes, I know it’s pretty common for people to date co-workers, but the company that we were working for frowned upon inter-office relationships.

On top of that I worked in IT. This was over ten years ago and being a computer genius wasn’t the cool thing to be like it is now! My team were definitely the geek squad of the company and Rachel worked in PR, the cool, outgoing team in the company. The office was divided into cliques and people didn’t socialise outside of their teams. Sounds ridiculous, I know-let’s just say it wasn’t the most pleasant place to work.

The first time I saw her was when I set up her new computer. The company was just getting online and the old computer that she had been using didn’t have the capability to support the new operating system. She had been working there for a few years, as had I, but for some reason our paths hadn't crossed.

So, as I said I definitely liked what I saw and we talked a bit as I was setting everything up for her. I worked very slowly so that I could spend more time with her and I’m embarrassed to admit that I made sure that a few things weren’t working properly so that she’d have to call me back for help.

I went back quite a few times and as it turned out we had a lot of things in common-we were both really into music and had actually been to quite a few of the same concerts and music festivals. The more we talked I realised that I was completely in love with her. Unfortunately it didn’t make me happy. You always hear about people feeling like they were walking on air and all of that stuff but I felt like I was sinking. I knew she’d never feel the same about a bloke like me because she was so outgoing and beautiful, I was sure that she could have any man she wanted.

Eventually I sorted her computer and ran out of reasons to go up to see her. A few months went by when I didn’t see her at all. This made things even worse-in my case absence definitely did make the heart grow fonder. The one day she called the IT helpline to report a problem with her computer and to my surprise, she asked specifically for me.

I was really nervous when I got to her desk. I was sure she could hear my heart pounding away in my chest. There was only a small problem with her monitor-the lead had come loose-so it didn’t take me long to sort it. We chatted briefly and she told me that she had just handed in her notice and would be leaving for a new job in a month. I was really surprised and didn’t know what to say so I just mumbled something about it being a shame and needing to go look at another computer. As I walked away I kept thinking to myself that I should turn around and ask her if she wanted to go for a drink before she left, but of course I didn't have the nerve to do it.

Later that week I got an email from her-it was an invite that she’d sent out to a group of people for her leaving drinks. I was really chuffed that she had included me and replied right away that I would come. Of course I then felt like a fool because I must have seemed eager to reply so quickly.  

On the night of her leaving drinks Rachel came over and sat next to me in the pub. We started talking about a band we both liked and before we knew it the bartender was ringing the bell for last call-we had been talking all night.

As we walked together toward the Tube she asked me why I had never asked her out. I was completely stunned and didn’t know what to say. Eventually I said that I never thought that she would have said yes and I didn’t want to embarrass myself. She smiled up at me and said that I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself. So, right there in front of the Tube station, I asked her if she would like to go out sometime and she said yes.

We went out the next night and the night after that and after that. We found that we had even more things in common and I found out that she’d fancied me since the first time we met. After we’d been dating for a year I took her to that same spot in front of Oxford Circus Tube station and asked her to marry me. To my eternal delight she said yes and every minute I spend with her is the happiest of my life.

Have your love story added to the collection by emailing it to: thelovecollector@gmail.com

Artwork has been created by the amazingly talented and generous Valentina Ramos. Check out her blog: Feeling Inspired.








www.what-is-walthamstow-like.blogspot.com