Christian and Emma lived in the same town almost their whole lives. They participated in the same community events, went to rival high schools in the same county, and even swam on the same swim team during different times of the year. Their paths never crossed until they were leaving Fredericksburg and that’s where the story truly begins.

In May 2017, Emma was invited to a graduation party by a friend of hers. The friend was part of the Governor’s School program in which those students went to a different high school for those courses. Christian was also invited to the party, as he was in Governor's School in the same class as Emma’s friend. The friend briefly introduced them, and they exchanged a quick "hi," and that was the end of it.

Two months later, Emma is a freshman at George Mason University attending new student orientation. The activities had ended for the day and Emma makes her way to the chaos of the student union. Emma sees Christian standing alone and walks up to him, reintroduces herself and then invites him to hang out with her and the friends that she had met during the day. From that point, they became friends throughout freshman year, both secretly harboring crushes on each other, but nothing developed further.

As they went their separate ways, focusing on classes and extracurriculars, they lost touch. It wasn’t until junior year, at a Halloween party, that their paths crossed again. Emma, searching for her friends, spotted Christian in the crowd. They spent the night catching up, but she eventually found her friends and left.

The next day he texted her, wanting to reconnect again. They started hanging out and the rest is history!