Christine's Version:

Joe and I met while going to school at UC Berkeley (go bears!). It was my freshman year (Fall 2011) and I was considering majoring in English at the time. A mutual friend (hi, Sharon!) introduced me to Joe because he was an English major. Ironically, Joe told me NOT to become an English major and then said some weird things to me about trading essays and burning pants (*shrug*) aaaand the rest is history.

jk. We actually didn't really talk that much afterwards except for the occasional hellos at church and random Facebook comments here and there. I just thought Joe was the really weird guy at church.

Then came my junior year (Fall 2013) -- one day, I was scrolling through Facebook and under the "Suggested Pokes" section (remember when you could poke people on Facebook?), Joe's name appeared. For some reason, I thought it would be funny to start a poke war with Joe. That led to a thread of Facebook messages which led to a random trip to Target which led to many study sessions and eventually a "DTR" ("defining the relationship"). Joe confessed that he was interested in me, but I told him I didn't feel the same way (lol). I didn't want to lead him on so I said we probably shouldn't hang out anymore.

A week passed and I was sad, but Joe was not. I actually had to see him again because he had already agreed (prior to the DTR) to do me a favor and drive me somewhere. As a thank you, I bought him Star Meats for lunch and we ended up spending the whole day together. Joe sensed my weakness (that I had missed him and was sad) and took the opportunity to hold my hand. I left that day very confused about my feelings. Long story short, I reconsidered and gave Joe a chance and here we are now! Over 5 years later :)

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Joe's Version:

One day, I thought to myself, remember that cute girl who was weird? Who had a personality that I thought could match mine? The energy, fierceness, the craziness? Let’s talk to her.

So I formulated my plan - I knew she knew that I wrote a lot. So, girls love poets. So I reach out to her - talk to her about poetry and about writing - and there, the friendship begins.

A rollercoaster few months later, after hours and hours and hours of talking and hanging out, I tell her I like her. She says, I don't feel the same. I think to myself, not yet anyways.

So, we stop talking because she's not comfortable leading me on. Noble. But, after a week circumstance (I promised to drive her somewhere) we hang out again. And it shows - those pesky little feelings. We eat Starmeat's at Willard. Instead of going to Large Group, we spend the afternoon (and night) holding hands.

The rest is history.