Nick noticed Erica, too. "It was open seating, you could sit wherever you want," he said. "I purposely sat next to her."
Nick, who is from Billerica, Mass., and Erica quickly became friends, but fought other feelings. Erica had a boyfriend who she had been dating since high school. The boyfriend was one of Nick's lacrosse teammates.
"I did not want to start anything with a teammate," Nick said.
But he liked Erica more and more. "I loved how smart she was," Nick said. Especially when she helped him with his English and history homework.
The longer Erica knew Nick, the more her first reaction to him was confirmed. In addition to good looks and charm, Nick was kind and thoughtful. Noting her sweet tooth, he would swing by her dorm room and drop off chocolate treats from the school store.
Erica could not stop thinking about Nick, so she broke up with her boyfriend. Nick waited about a month (until the lacrosse season ended) to ask Erica if she would be his girlfriend. "Of course!" she said.
Soon after Erica began college, her mother, Elaine, had been diagnosed with stage I breast cancer. Because the disease runs in her family, Elaine had a double mastectomy as a precaution. She had treatment, and went into remission.
All was well until Erica's junior year. Elaine's shoulder was hurting. Her doctors did exploratory surgery and found that the cancer had metastasized.
"I felt guilty that I was in school" and away from home, Erica said. "But her dream was to see me graduate."
It was a very difficult time, and Erica leaned on Nick for emotional support at school. "When I needed to see my mom, we would drive up and see her," she said. "I honestly would not have made it through school if he wasn't there."
How does forever sound?
