5: "How I Met Your Loui"

Kids, this is the story of how I met your Loui.

As you know, Loui is one of your dad's closest and best friends, but it wasn't always that way.

It all starts back in the fall of 2010.  I had just moved into the White House and we were throwing our first party: a surprise birthday party for my then-roommate, Casey.

Now, I knew none of the people at this party, outside of my roommates and one or two other people I'd met.  So, needless to say, I was a nervous wreck.  Not only was I at my first party, I was HOSTING my first party.  And I was upstairs almost throwing up, avoiding the party.

My friend Mava, one of the few people I already knew, came upstairs and told me something along the lines of "stop being a party pooper and get downstairs."

When I walked downstairs, I saw a house full of people I didn't know, so I went straight to the kitchen to get out of the way.  Then, I was stopped by a group of girls staring at our class schedules, which we had posted on the fridge.

"Zach, what the hell kind of a schedule is this?" were the first words Loui ever said to me.  It was pretty aggressive of someone I had never seen before in my life, but not nearly as much as her taking my phone to program a reminder of when her birthday was, and not nearly as much as what she said next.

"Zach, come be my beer pong partner."

Now, a couple things to note: a) I had just met her.  b) I had never played before.  c) we don't play with beer, so it's just "water pong."

Anyway, I said yes.  And we played, except she found out very quickly that I could not play, and that's when your Aunt Katie started making fun of me.  Loui joined in, and it was somewhat humiliating.  We lost, obviously.

Later that night, Loui, Aunt Katie, Aunt Allison, and Aunt Ginger had me take them to Taco Bell, the first of many such situations (but we'll get back to that another time).

Over time, Loui and I started to hang out more and more.  At first, though, it was a lot of me driving her places (mostly Taco Bell) and picking her up from parties.  And she was always VERY VERY mean to me.

One of my favorite instances of this was when she said, "Zach, you're so nice on Facebook but then in person you're really dull."  And the time she bought me Taco Bell and ate it all.

Another time, when I begged her to give me a compliment, she said, "I'm an honest person, Zach. If there was anything to compliment, I would."

And then there was the time she came up to me at a party, tried to sit on my lap, and then made fun of me for not knowing how to react (because I was legit freaked out).

She had a way of being very bossy, and at one point, my roommate, Luke, and your Aunt Julie sat me down and said, "we think you need to not be friends with Loui anymore.  She's so mean to you.  She takes advantage of you."  I told them they were wrong, that they didn't see how Loui acted in private.

They did see, however, the time she came to see my acting debut and barely acknowledged me afterwards when everyone was congratulating me.

But what they didn't see were the deep conversations.  The time Loui and sat on a swingset and swapped stories of our lives.  Or the times she'd come over to my house and keep me company, spend the night, take me out to eat.

And they didn't see the time Loui gave me what is still to this day one of the biggest compliments I have ever received.

I was helping her move into her new house.  Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter that night, and I was pissed I was missing it.  I tried to ask her to let me leave, but naturally, she wouldn't.  The job had to be finished.  So as we unpacked in her room, we got to talking and she made a comment about how I lived with an interesting group of guys: the slob, the nerd, and the closet gay guy (she loves all those guys, so I don't want to insinuate that she was being mean to them).

After a moment, I thought, 'hey what about me?'  So I asked her, "what do people call me?  What is my identifier?"  And she got silent for a second as I waited.  Whether she was being nice or not, I still don't know (but knowing she doesn't like to lie, I believe her), she said:

"Zach, you're the nice one."

THAT is the Loui I know and love.

I have tons of Loui stories.  And, most of them I've told many times before.  The time her and your Aunt Katie made me get out of bed two or three times before telling me to stay home.  The time she had me drive her halfway to Taco Bell and turn around.  The time she spilled a cake in my car.  And there are several more I've sworn never to repeat again.

But this might be my favorite Loui story.

I went to a movie with, I believe, my ex-roommate Luke, your Aunt Monica, and maybe her roommate Courtney, but there were a few movie nights I get confused now in my old age.  Anyway, Loui had asked me if she could watch the Red Wings game at my house.  I said yes, but told her I was leaving for the night but that she could stay and hang out.  She said she was fine with that, that maybe she'd have a couple of beers and make herself comfortable.

Then, during the movie, my phone buzzed.  It was the reminder she had set on my phone at that party long before.  Loui was alone, in my room, drinking by herself and watching TV alone...on her birthday.  I felt awful.  So, after the movie, I went with whoever I was with to the store to get her a cake and a bottle of wine.

When we got home, Loui was asleep in my bed, but we woke her up to sing happy birthday to her.

Now kids, Loui used to get really upset when I'd only post negative things about her on Facebook.  So, here's a few nice things to make up for it:

Flash-forward to the spring of 2013.  Loui and I have been friends for three years.  And she's the only friend who's been a real constant in my life during that time. We've had some crazy nights, sure, but what I remember most about Loui is how caring she is.  She truly is one of the most caring people I have ever met.  On one of the most difficult days of my life, the first person to call me was Loui, to see how I was, and then to tell me she was coming back to school (which was a big deal at the time).

I remember how during my summer exile from Facebook, she would Skype me late at night, a few times a week sometimes, just to talk.  She'd share stories of her summer, and let me do the same.  And considering most of my friends - and family - didn't even call me on my birthday, that says a lot.

Loui is such a good friend that her and I know we can say anything to each other, even if it's critical, knowing the other only has good intentions.  We've had some great conversations about stuff that wasn't always fun to talk about, but that is the sign of true friendship.

All in all, kids, this story makes the Top 5 because not only is it a fun story to tell, but meeting your Loui is one of the best things that happened to me in college.