It was their junior year of college and Austin was in desperate need of a lab partner. They locked eyes, he asked the question, she ran the calculations in her head, and she said yes to him for the first time. Their first semester together was filled with lab experiments, fun conversations, and a formal dance. But alas, destiny called Austin elsewhere.

Austin went away to St. Louis in January 2019 for an engineering co-op, but the two stayed in touch with birthday texts and a ring dunk back in College Station. In August he returned to the city where it all began and knew what he had to do. They had classes and went to football games together and he wanted to catch up on as much time as he could. They began dating and went to a Halloween party, another KYX dance, and family vacations. Then the first challenge arrived.

COVID hit the streets. They worked on puzzles and watched movies, all the while growing closer and closer. Once the semester ended in May, Allison returned home to San Antonio and then off to Dallas to start her new job. Austin graduated in December and moved to Bay City to begin his. The long distance proved challenging at times, but as the great Hunter Hayes sings, “love don’t know what distance is.”

They drove most weekends to see each other and called each other frequently to share in the memories of the day. They didn’t know a lot of people in their cities, but they knew they had each other to keep them going and that was always more than enough. Allison made her move to Houston and eventually Austin followed, finally being in the same city again after 3 years of living away from each other.

Austin only waited a few months before getting down on one knee, stumbling over words as he asked Allison to say yes to him again. This time she wasn’t just a lab partner, she was the partner. Although distance slowed them down, they were ready to move onto the next phase of life and say yes in front of their closest friends and family members.