1
00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:05,640
Speaker 1: Stevie Lane. Hello, it's fair to say that you know

2
00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,000
Speaker 1: me as something of a storyteller.

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:09,680
Speaker 2: I would say that's fair.

4
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: No, I spin yarns. But you know, I have to

5
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,920
Speaker 1: say sometimes I get a little tired of it.

6
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,040
Speaker 2: What gets tired? Is it just your mouth?

7
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:25,120
Speaker 1: Sometimes this storyteller longs to be a story listener. Now

8
00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,600
Speaker 1: I understand you have a story for me to listen to.

9
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,800
Speaker 2: I do you just have to open up those years?

10
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 1: I shut my big fat yeah.

11
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going to give your mouth a rest.

12
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:37,559
Speaker 2: Today's have you wait?

13
00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:49,199
Speaker 3: Short Jesse and Tory right after the break, Hello, Hello,

14
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 3: Our story today begins with a man, a man named

15
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:54,320
Speaker 3: Jesse James.

16
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 2: Yes, this is he.

17
00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,120
Speaker 3: Right off the bat, Jesse James and I have something

18
00:00:59,160 --> 00:00:59,680
Speaker 3: in common.

19
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:02,840
Speaker 2: I appreciate this is he.

20
00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,240
Speaker 3: But every time I say it, like to my friends,

21
00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,800
Speaker 3: like this is she, they're always like, you're an asshole?

22
00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:09,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, which you know.

23
00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:11,600
Speaker 3: I hope you don't think I'm calling you an asshole.

24
00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,840
Speaker 4: No, of course not. But I am an attorney, so

25
00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:15,200
Speaker 4: I am, in fact an asshole.

26
00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,480
Speaker 3: Jesse, not in fact an asshole? Is here to tell

27
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,080
Speaker 3: me the story of his first love. He was in

28
00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,800
Speaker 3: middle school twenty two years ago in West Virginia. As

29
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,959
Speaker 3: a kid, Jesse had a big personality, was always kind

30
00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 3: of the class clown. But in sixth grade he was

31
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:35,120
Speaker 3: going through a hard time.

32
00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:40,480
Speaker 4: My dad he had got deployed in Afghanistan in the

33
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,800
Speaker 4: wake of nine to eleven, and my best friend Keith

34
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:51,639
Speaker 4: had moved away. I was kind of looking for stuff

35
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,840
Speaker 4: to grab onto. I was kind of rootless, didn't have

36
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:56,120
Speaker 4: any real close friends.

37
00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 3: Then one December day, a new girl showed up in

38
00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:01,600
Speaker 3: his science class.

39
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:07,520
Speaker 4: She had a particular smile that was really great. It

40
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,000
Speaker 4: was more like a smirk, like she knew something that

41
00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:11,600
Speaker 4: you didn't.

42
00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,440
Speaker 3: Her name was Torri. She was from Ohio, Tall, with long,

43
00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,680
Speaker 3: dark hair. Jesse had a crush immediately, so to get

44
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,560
Speaker 3: her attention, he devised an elaborate plan. Since his best

45
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 3: friend Keith had just moved away.

46
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,679
Speaker 4: I declare that I need a new best friend, so

47
00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,800
Speaker 4: I hold a contest. I ask for written applications.

48
00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,880
Speaker 2: Okay, but not really.

49
00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,880
Speaker 4: No, I did. I'll set up a contest. I'll rig

50
00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:53,400
Speaker 4: it so she wins, and we'll right off into the sunset. Wow,

51
00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,080
Speaker 4: are you impressed with the brilliance of this plan?

52
00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,960
Speaker 2: Brilliance wasn't necessarily the word I would have chosen.

53
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,080
Speaker 4: But uh, I think there may have been a talent portion.

54
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,280
Speaker 4: Now I'm certain there was a talent portion. There's no

55
00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:09,280
Speaker 4: way there wouldn't have been.

56
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,720
Speaker 3: Jesse made a questionnaire, Tory took one home and filled

57
00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,959
Speaker 3: it out. Jesse says she really aced one particular question.

58
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,480
Speaker 4: If I was hanging off the side of a cliff

59
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 4: with one hand, you know, slipping, what would you do?

60
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:29,920
Speaker 2: Wow? High stakes?

61
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I remember that she wrote nothing. It was

62
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 4: like she saw through the ridiculousness of it and it

63
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,200
Speaker 4: was like a wink.

64
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:44,880
Speaker 2: Hmm.

65
00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,160
Speaker 4: So it's like you can do better than that.

66
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:53,120
Speaker 3: Jesse's plan worked. He and Tory became best friends for

67
00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,720
Speaker 3: the next few years. They sat together every day at

68
00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,920
Speaker 3: lunch and on the bus ride home after school from

69
00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,400
Speaker 3: their separate houses. They call each other up on the

70
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,040
Speaker 3: phone and watch movies like Misery and Sixteen Candles all

71
00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,800
Speaker 3: night long. Jesse would show off for Tory, play piano,

72
00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,640
Speaker 3: entertain her with his impression of Sean Connery. Tory didn't

73
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,720
Speaker 3: even know who Sean Connery was, but she laughed anyway.

74
00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 2: Jesse was in love.

75
00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,920
Speaker 3: On the day of Tory's thirteenth birthday, Jesse decided to

76
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,520
Speaker 3: make his big move. They were going to the movies

77
00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:28,240
Speaker 3: to celebrate.

78
00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,480
Speaker 2: Do you remember the movie? Oh?

79
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could never forget. It was The Day after Tomorrow.

80
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,279
Speaker 4: There's bad movies, but it's bad in a special way.

81
00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,960
Speaker 4: But whatever. I wasn't even watching the movie half the time.

82
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,760
Speaker 4: I was more looking at Tory, thinking about what do

83
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:50,760
Speaker 4: I need to do to be able to put my

84
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:58,080
Speaker 4: arm around her. I did the old classic yawn, but.

85
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:03,039
Speaker 3: To a surprise, Tory shrugged me off, and I thought, hmm,

86
00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 3: maybe I've miss read some of this.

87
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:11,560
Speaker 2: Jesse was confused.

88
00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,880
Speaker 3: He'd been trying to show Toy in many small ways

89
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,080
Speaker 3: how he felt about her, and she seemed to like him,

90
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,800
Speaker 3: but she kept shooting him down. Jesse recalls one day

91
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,719
Speaker 3: in school when he saw Tory carrying a big bouquet

92
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,760
Speaker 3: of balloons, balloons from some other admirer. He thought of

93
00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,080
Speaker 3: all the other guys who might actually be putting their

94
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,640
Speaker 3: arms around her at the movies. He was jealous, wounded,

95
00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,880
Speaker 3: and afraid of being hurt, so he pulled away. No

96
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,560
Speaker 3: more watching movies over the phone, no more sitting on

97
00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,240
Speaker 3: the bus together. Jesse began treating Tory like any other

98
00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:53,360
Speaker 3: girl in his science class. To fill the Tory sized

99
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,680
Speaker 3: hole in his life, Jesse, now in eighth grade, threw

100
00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,920
Speaker 3: himself into the school musical. He was playing the lead

101
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,120
Speaker 3: in the music Man, and rehearsals were a welcome distraction

102
00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,599
Speaker 3: from Tory with a capital T and that rhymed with

103
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,840
Speaker 3: B and that stood for broken hearted. On the night

104
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,719
Speaker 3: of the show, everything went great and Jesse was riding

105
00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,120
Speaker 3: high until he came out to take his bow from

106
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,479
Speaker 3: center stage. Jesse saw Tory sitting smack in the middle

107
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,919
Speaker 3: of the front row, beaming at him, and then she

108
00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,240
Speaker 3: held something up for him and all the school to see.

109
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:31,479
Speaker 4: She had made a sign on a large piece of

110
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,960
Speaker 4: poster paper, and it said, Jesse, will you go out

111
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:36,359
Speaker 4: with me?

112
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,240
Speaker 3: In the romantic comedy version of his life, this would

113
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,560
Speaker 3: be the moment when Jesse would leap from the stage

114
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:48,520
Speaker 3: and swoop Tory into his arms. But instead, I was

115
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:57,039
Speaker 3: so embarrassed, Jesse froze. It was everything he'd wanted, but

116
00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,640
Speaker 3: all he felt was fear. Everyone in the art auditorium

117
00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,760
Speaker 3: was looking at him expectantly, and he had no idea

118
00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,560
Speaker 3: what to say. He was just thirteen years old, an

119
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:09,520
Speaker 3: age when even a kiss on the cheek from.

120
00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,280
Speaker 2: Your aunt might make you blush?

121
00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:13,840
Speaker 3: Was he really supposed to profess his love for Tory

122
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,680
Speaker 3: for all his friends, family, and classmates to see. The

123
00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,120
Speaker 3: applause died down and the lights came up. The audience

124
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,880
Speaker 3: filed out, and the rest of the cast went backstage.

125
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,120
Speaker 3: In Jesse's memory, it felt like he and Tory were

126
00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,720
Speaker 3: the last two people left in the auditorium, all alone.

127
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,120
Speaker 3: Tory was still holding the sign, Jesse, will you go

128
00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:41,920
Speaker 3: out with me? But Jesse couldn't even meet her gaze.

129
00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 2: He walked off stage and left.

130
00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,920
Speaker 4: I couldn't face my fear. I can be honest with

131
00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:56,720
Speaker 4: myself about how I fell the I very very very

132
00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:01,640
Speaker 4: much loved her. I didn't even understand the full shit scope.

133
00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,720
Speaker 3: After the music man, Jesse and Tory didn't talk about

134
00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:05,160
Speaker 3: the sign.

135
00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,760
Speaker 2: In fact, through the end of middle.

136
00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,240
Speaker 3: School then high school, they didn't talk at all. They

137
00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,840
Speaker 3: were in separate classes and avoided each other in the

138
00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:18,040
Speaker 3: halls until four years later, at the end of senior year.

139
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,920
Speaker 3: Jesse recalls it was right around graduation. Tory's younger sister

140
00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,280
Speaker 3: was a friend of a friend of Jesse's, and so

141
00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,400
Speaker 3: one day, by chance, he found himself hanging out with

142
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,560
Speaker 3: a bunch of people at Tory's house. He walked by

143
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,160
Speaker 3: Tory's room and, seeing her, stopped in the doorway to

144
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,400
Speaker 3: say hi. They began chatting casually, and Jesse sat down

145
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,840
Speaker 3: on the carpet. It was bizarre, after years of no

146
00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:47,120
Speaker 3: contact to suddenly find himself right outside her bedroom. They

147
00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,520
Speaker 3: weren't talking about anything serious, but to Jesse it felt sacred.

148
00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,440
Speaker 3: It suddenly hit him he was still in love with Tory.

149
00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,040
Speaker 4: It didn't really make any sense to me. Why because

150
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,520
Speaker 4: it's over and you shouldn't still feel anything like that,

151
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,160
Speaker 4: But I did.

152
00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,160
Speaker 3: Jesse resolved to tell Tory how he felt, to finally

153
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,920
Speaker 3: rectify the mistake he made in ignoring her. After the

154
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,760
Speaker 3: music man and with high school coming to a close,

155
00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,520
Speaker 3: it was now or never. The night of graduation, he

156
00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,679
Speaker 3: went over to her house, but before he even got

157
00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,360
Speaker 3: to the front steps, he saw Tory and her boyfriend

158
00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 3: at the time standing outside on the lawn yelling in

159
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,680
Speaker 3: the middle of a big fight. There was no opening.

160
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:43,920
Speaker 3: For the second time. Jesse said nothing and left. It's

161
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,840
Speaker 3: not unusual for your first love to make an impact,

162
00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,480
Speaker 3: but for Jesse, his first love left a crater. It's

163
00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,160
Speaker 3: been twenty years since The Music Man. Jesse's dated other people,

164
00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:58,480
Speaker 3: was even engaged for a while, but he's never stopped

165
00:09:58,480 --> 00:09:59,560
Speaker 3: thinking about Tory.

166
00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,160
Speaker 4: I tried to convince myself that kids think that they're

167
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,640
Speaker 4: in love all the time, it's no big deal, But

168
00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:12,360
Speaker 4: subsequently I never felt the same.

169
00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,920
Speaker 3: Jesse has a scar in his palm that Tory gave

170
00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,599
Speaker 3: him with her fingernail by accident. He looks at it sometimes,

171
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,920
Speaker 3: grateful to have proof. He says that he and Tory

172
00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:27,839
Speaker 3: were ever close.

173
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,840
Speaker 4: In twenty nineteen, I was in West Virginia talking to

174
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,199
Speaker 4: my best friend over a can of cors Light or two,

175
00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:44,440
Speaker 4: and I had narrowed down exactly one regret, only one.

176
00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:48,080
Speaker 4: If you could go back in time and change one thing,

177
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:56,320
Speaker 4: I knew what it was, don't freeze. After the music

178
00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 4: Man performance, tell Tory, I felt, yes, just tell her something.

179
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,200
Speaker 5: He was so dear to me.

180
00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:07,800
Speaker 3: He was.

181
00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 5: My best friend.

182
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,920
Speaker 3: This is Tory, she's an artist now living out West.

183
00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,600
Speaker 3: I call her to ask how she felt about Jesse.

184
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,000
Speaker 5: But he meant more to me than that. Also, he

185
00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:21,360
Speaker 5: was really my first love.

186
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,320
Speaker 3: And so Tory remembers all the same moments of their

187
00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,360
Speaker 3: relationship that Jesse does science class, the long late night

188
00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,199
Speaker 3: phone calls, the balloons, which, as it turns out, were

189
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,199
Speaker 3: not from some middle school casanova, but from her dad,

190
00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,679
Speaker 3: and of course she remembers going to see the day

191
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:39,559
Speaker 3: after tomorrow.

192
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,679
Speaker 5: For the record, I did not hate it.

193
00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,600
Speaker 3: Tory says that when Jesse put his arm around her,

194
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,079
Speaker 3: she might have shruckd him off, but secretly she was thrilled.

195
00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,400
Speaker 5: In my mind, it was like I was going to

196
00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,520
Speaker 5: have more chances somehow, like he had made a move,

197
00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,640
Speaker 5: and I confirmed that he liked me, and then we

198
00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:01,920
Speaker 5: could go forward from here.

199
00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,240
Speaker 3: It never occurred to Tory that she was sending Jesse

200
00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,720
Speaker 3: mixed signals until it was too late.

201
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,120
Speaker 5: I had been too reserved with my feelings. I had

202
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:16,040
Speaker 5: held them too close, and I lost him. And I

203
00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:19,400
Speaker 5: felt like, if only I could show him the extent

204
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,280
Speaker 5: of my feelings, he would come right back. And I

205
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,480
Speaker 5: think to myself, this needs a grand gesture.

206
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,640
Speaker 2: And so Tory made a sign.

207
00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:37,680
Speaker 5: It was all caps in black sharpie on a white

208
00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,080
Speaker 5: poster board. You know, I had to catch attention.

209
00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 3: Which it did from everyone, it seemed, except the person

210
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:45,520
Speaker 3: she wanted it to.

211
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,000
Speaker 5: Other students. All my classmates see me and Jesse won't

212
00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:56,679
Speaker 5: look at me. I thought, wow, I fucked up. And

213
00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,400
Speaker 5: from that day Jesse and I did not speak.

214
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,800
Speaker 3: Tory moved on, She made other friends, dated other people,

215
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,000
Speaker 3: like her boyfriend. Senior year, Tory remembers the argument they

216
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,479
Speaker 3: were having on her front lawn the night of graduation,

217
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:12,280
Speaker 3: and who.

218
00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,360
Speaker 5: Shows up with Jesse And he's standing there on the driveway.

219
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:25,520
Speaker 5: I don't know what he wanted to say. After graduation,

220
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,720
Speaker 5: I move all over the United States and I get married.

221
00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,000
Speaker 4: It is devastating I find out that she was married.

222
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:41,120
Speaker 3: Why is it because on some level you still had hope.

223
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:46,920
Speaker 4: It was even more complicated than that. It was that

224
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,319
Speaker 4: I didn't feel like I was good enough for her,

225
00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,520
Speaker 4: but this guy definitely wasn't.

226
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,720
Speaker 3: Over the years, Jesse and Tory would occasionally exchange messages

227
00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:11,160
Speaker 3: on social media. They talk about jobs and moves and relationships.

228
00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,160
Speaker 3: Two old friends catching up. Jesse tried not to think

229
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:20,080
Speaker 3: about what might have been. Are you confident that if

230
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:22,880
Speaker 3: you had had the chance that night, graduation night to

231
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,600
Speaker 3: talk with her things would have been different?

232
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:31,040
Speaker 2: Yes?

233
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,520
Speaker 3: Timing is everything. When Tory was ready to declare her

234
00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,760
Speaker 3: love for Jesse, Jesse felt ambushed. When Jesse was ready

235
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,120
Speaker 3: to be honest with Tory. She had moved on. It's

236
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,880
Speaker 3: like Tory and Jesse have been playing a decades long

237
00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:55,800
Speaker 3: game of phone tag. Last December, Jesse and Tory were

238
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,960
Speaker 3: both home in West Virginia at the same time. By

239
00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,960
Speaker 3: this point, they were in in their early thirties. Tory

240
00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:06,320
Speaker 3: was divorced and Jesse's engagement had ended. Jesse suggested they

241
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,240
Speaker 3: meet up. They spent the whole evening together, Jesse playing

242
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,040
Speaker 3: songs for Toy on his guitar, making her laugh the

243
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,280
Speaker 3: way he used to. There was a feeling of expectation

244
00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 3: in the air, a subtext to everything said, and yet

245
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,920
Speaker 3: still the whole night, Jesse couldn't bring himself to confess

246
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:28,400
Speaker 3: his feelings, never mention the music man. When it got late,

247
00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:42,040
Speaker 3: Tory went home. Once again, they'd missed their moment. This

248
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,960
Speaker 3: is the point in a normal heavyweight story where I'd

249
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,080
Speaker 3: step in to create that moment. I'd get Tory and

250
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,720
Speaker 3: Jesse together and awkwardly nudge them into a conversation twenty

251
00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,000
Speaker 3: years overdue. They'd say the things they didn't have the

252
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,760
Speaker 3: words for when they were kids, and I'd say something

253
00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,880
Speaker 3: stupid like, Jesse, can you do your Sean Connery impression

254
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,360
Speaker 3: for us. But in this story I don't have to

255
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,000
Speaker 3: do any of that because at midnight that night back

256
00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:12,040
Speaker 3: in December, after Torri got home her cellphone, rang.

257
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,200
Speaker 4: I told her everything that I had meant to for

258
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,160
Speaker 4: the past twenty two.

259
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,520
Speaker 2: Years, which was what.

260
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,800
Speaker 4: That was really shitty of me to do what I

261
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:31,080
Speaker 4: did to you in eighth grade. I apologize for that.

262
00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,360
Speaker 4: I don't know if this is obvious, but I love you.

263
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:49,720
Speaker 5: It was one of the best moments of my life

264
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,800
Speaker 5: to catch you up to speed for what's happening now.

265
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 5: We are getting married in December this year. It will

266
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,720
Speaker 5: be our twentieth anniversary of when we met.

267
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:07,280
Speaker 3: Oh my god, is there something that's almost frustrating that

268
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:08,560
Speaker 3: it had to take this long.

269
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:13,720
Speaker 5: Yes, we had many conversations about why did we why

270
00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:17,440
Speaker 5: did we play this game? And I think we both

271
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 5: had a lot of growing to do. And I think

272
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,480
Speaker 5: if we hit stay together, I think we would have

273
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,359
Speaker 5: had a whirlwind relationship. It would have been crazy highs

274
00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,480
Speaker 5: and lows. Maybe, but I don't think we could have

275
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,639
Speaker 5: stood the test of time. This is our time.

276
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,560
Speaker 3: The wedding data set, but there's not yet been an

277
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,199
Speaker 3: official proposal Tori says she's going to make Jesse a

278
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,639
Speaker 3: sign on white poster board with big black letters written

279
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,480
Speaker 3: in black sharpie that says Jesse, will you marry me?

280
00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:59,560
Speaker 3: And this time Jesse won't freeze. This time He's going

281
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:05,160
Speaker 3: to tell her Yes, Jesse, can you do your Sean

282
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:06,800
Speaker 3: Connery impression for us?

283
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 4: Well, let's clear it up.

284
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:11,679
Speaker 2: Much rain at the moment.

285
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:13,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's quite lovely.

286
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:16,320
Speaker 2: Did you eat anything for breakfast?

287
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:17,399
Speaker 5: French toast?

288
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,399
Speaker 3: This Heavyweight short was produced by Moheemy mcgouger and me

289
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,159
Speaker 3: Stevie Lane, along with Jonathan Goldstein. Our senior producer is

290
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,919
Speaker 3: Khalila Holt. Production help from Domiana Marqutti. Special thanks to

291
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 3: Emily Condon, Alex Bloomberg, and Sonya Desani. Bobby Lord mixed

292
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,639
Speaker 3: the episode with original music by Christine Fellows, John K.

293
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,080
Speaker 2: Sampson, Ben Elleman and Bobby Lord.

294
00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,240
Speaker 3: Additional music credits can be found on our website gimlipmedia

295
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,560
Speaker 3: dot com slash Heavyweight, Follow us on Twitter at Heavyweight

296
00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,720
Speaker 3: or email us at Heavyweight at gimlipmedia dot com.

297
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,639
Speaker 2: We'll be back with a new episode next week.

298
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 3: This Heavyweight short was produced by Mohemy mcgowker and Me Jonathan,

299
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:29,800
Speaker 3: oh my god,