“It’s fucking cold outside,” Austin exclaims as he walked toward the table.

Interesting first choice of words, Katie thought as she stood up and walked toward Austin for a greeting hug.

It was the month of January and the snow was a smidgen away from becoming relentless. Austin and Katie decided to meet for the first time at none other than El Azteco, located in East Lansing, MI. The restaurant had a mix of adults and Michigan State University students, perfect for a first date.

Katie and Austin have finally decided to meet after two weeks of talking through Tinder. Tinder, the app most notorious for flings and perpetuating the culture of ghosting people, somehow managed to bring two people together for, little did they know, their happily ever after.

“So what do you like to do?” the conversation flows naturally into the standard topics of work, family, hobbies. Austin was a software developer at the time (spoiler alert: he is now a senior software developer), and Katie was freshly graduated from MSU and heading toward Physician Assistant school in the Fall.

As Austin takes a sip of his shitty Miller Lite beer, he notices just how….tall…Katie appeared sitting infront of him. Man, she must be close to 6’0’’ or something! He starts to feel rather intimidated by the height difference.

Whether it was the poorly designed seating areas or the full moon spurting Katie’s height 5 inches up, Austin could not tell.

Katie looks at Austin’s plate of food that looked only half eaten. “You must not be hungry,” she says. My Chinese mother would never allow this, Katie internally scoffed. As she was blatantly judging his appetite, Katie was not-so-discreetly eyeing the food on his plate and fighting back the urge to pick at his remains.

Unfortunately, Austin never took notice of Katie’s vulture-like tendencies, as he was too busy regretting eating those chicken tenders beforehand. Instead, he replied, “I do have a late-night tennis match tonight so I didn’t want to overeat.”

That was only the half-truth. Austin could faintly hear the echoes of his roommate's voice who told him to “look busy after the date." However, his plan began crumbling once Katie excitedly said, “But I have to show you this bubble tea place nearby!”

Austin and Katie leave the restaurant to trek two blocks over to UniCha, a bubble tea shop that is semi-famously known for their rolled ice-cream dessert in East Lansing. Austin, who is a usual ice-cream enthusiast, decides to try a bubble tea drink instead.

“I really think you should try the ice-cream,” Katie said.

“That’s ok, I want to try some bubble tea! I’ve never had it before,” He says as he orders a fruit tea with boba. His drink rings up and Austin excitedly takes his first sip.

….I should have gotten ice-cream, Austin regretted. In mourning of his life choices, Austin takes a bite of Katie's strawberry ice-cream roll. "This is amazing!" Austin exclaims as he takes another bite.

Why is my ice-cream half gone, Katie horridly thought.

The conversation continues to flow. Austin was expressing to Katie his love for Tennis. At this point Katie feels rather flirtatious. Apparently, Austin’s conspicuous passion for Tennis really activated her gears. Hmm, he’s actually kind of cute. She notices two barstools-worth of space in-between them. I should move closer...

Katie makes the bold move and sits one barstool closer to Austin.

Oh my god. Austin visibly reacts but tries to hide his surprise. It was too late as Katie quickly noticed and blushes. He spluttered out a small laughter and continued reminiscing his tennis endeavors. Katie debated on touching his leg to further signal her growing interest in him, but alas, shyness got the best of her. I hope he knows I’m interested!

The date is coming to an end, as Austin actually had to leave for tennis (spoiler alert: he was late). “We should do this again, this was fun,” Austin exclaimed. “I had a good time.”

“I had a good time too,” Katie says, smiling.

No, there was no kiss on their first date. People say first dates are very comparable to job interviews, and this one was no different. But the cumulation of their dates to come was a snowball effect into something deeper.

As they learned each other's values in life, childhoods, passions, personalities, hope for the future...they found commonalities in their differences. They grew to appreciate and love each other for the person they are. They became each other’s rock, safe-space, best friend, and lover. And they will continue being each others’ light...until death do them apart.

~fin~