The moment I knew: I had planned to break up with him – then he snuck out of school to buy me hot chips

Dylan and I first started dating in high school when we were 16. He was a “bad boy” who got drunk at parties and occasionally spoke to other people with his fists.

One night, I was sitting at my computer, chatting with friends on MSN and Facebook and Dylan’s name popped up. I enjoyed playing online checkers with people from school, so I invited him to a game. During the game we chatted online, which led to flirting. The winner got to choose what they wanted. I lost and what did Dylan ask for? To date me. We agreed to one date at the movies and to declare to the school we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I thought this was hilarious, though I planned to break up with him after a few days.

The date went better than I thought – he offered to invite friends so that I wasn’t alone. He paid for my ticket, bought me Malteasers, and when I realised I’d left my glasses in the car, he ran back to the car park in skinny jeans and sandals to retrieve them.

At school, I remember the first time he tried to touch me, on my lower back. When his hand made contact with my shirt I immediately told him he was not allowed to touch me without my permission. And he didn’t. I liked this about him and felt more comfortable around him.

Days turned into weeks, and I still hadn’t broken up with Dylan. I liked that he had a strong relationship with his mother, worked two part-time jobs while at school, was eager to go to university and had great plans for his future. He also did a lot of pull-ups and had nice biceps.

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On another date, we watched Toy Story 3 at the cinemas. Dylan pointed to the little girl character, Bonnie, and said, “That’s what our daughter would look like if we had one.” I was surprised that a teenage boy would think of this.

He said he wanted a long-term relationship, someone he could be with for ever, and said he would like that with me. I wasn’t too sure about that yet. I had a lot of plans of my own. I wanted to go to university and go into scriptwriting or become a novelist – both difficult career paths. Dylan wanted to be an engineer. His future was very assured, while mine felt unknown. I decided to end the relationship before we grew too attached.

Then one day at school, during lunchtime, I sat in a group with my friends and said I felt like some hot chips from KFC. Dylan overheard, and snuck out of the school grounds and walked all the way to the shops. I remember him jumping back over the school fence in his school uniform, clutching a brown paper KFC bag. I had no idea he was going to do it and was very surprised when he brought it to me – grinning, red-faced, hair a mess. He was put in detention. Dylan lost an afternoon, but he won my heart. And the chips were delicious.

From then on, this teenage boy would do anything for me. He drove me anywhere I wanted to go, stopped going to parties, never drank alcohol again and went to therapy to deal with his reckless spirit. I never asked him to do these things, but he said he did them for me. Although he did continue to ditch school and bring me KFC – which was traitorous, since he was doing weekend shifts at Red Rooster.

At 18, when we were at uni, Dylan and I moved in together. In our early 20s, we married. In 2020, our little girl was born – we named her Bonnie.

Dylan is so supportive of me. When I told him that I was going to work on becoming an author, the next day he renovated our spare room to become my office and surprised me with my dream computer. His way of saying “I love you” is by asking, “This weekend, should we buy some more books?” and “Do you want me to read what you’ve written today?”

And of course, on date nights, Dylan and I always go out for KFC.

• Maleah Pearce writes under the pen name Penny Sunday. Kill To Love by Penny Sunday is available now through Hachette Australia (AU$24.99)