It all started when Julia moved into Amanda's apartment building on November 4th, 2017. Amanda saw Julia moving in her cat, Leonidas, and thought, "that must be my new upstairs neighbor!"

They enjoyed a year of being neighbors, exchanging hellos in the hallway and at the laundromat down the street on occasion.

Fast forward to the following November. Julia invited Amanda to her birthday celebration at her apartment upstairs. Amanda brought her a birthday gift - a small succulent - and left the party early.

About two weeks later, they were both awoken in the night by a blaring fire alarm. Amanda rushed outside with her cat, Taco King, in a carrier. Julia came outside shortly thereafter, unable to wrangle her cat into a carrier in time. It turned out that a stove in the restaurant underneath their apartment building had caught on fire, but luckily the fire department got there quickly enough to put it out before anything was destroyed.

Julia felt so ashamed that she left Leo upstairs, that she pretty much ignored Amanda while they stood outside in the freezing cold with their other neighbors. Plus, she had no makeup on and was in no state to flirt.

The next day, Julia texted Amanda asking if she wanted to "get a drink to celebrate the fact" that they were still alive, and they arranged their first date. The rest is herstory!