Technically, I wasn’t supposed to be there. But technically, neither was she.

It started as one of those casual hangouts—nothing fancy, just homemade enchiladas, cheap beer, and a Spotify playlist. I had tagged along with Kyle, who assured me, “Yeah, yeah, it’s cool, everyone brings a plus-one.”

She, on the other hand, had wandered in from her room in sweatpants, probably expecting a quiet night without a full blown party in her apartment.

We locked eyes across the room—me, holding an echhilada too big for my mouth, and her, clutching down an empty cup of "Water" like a security blanket.

And that’s when she said it.

"Are you guys making drinks?"

She peeked my Interest.I swallowed my enchilada and tried to look as non-intrusive as possible, which is hard to do when you’re standing in someone’s living room, uninvited, holding a beer that isn’t yours.

"Uh, I’m with Kyle," I said, gesturing vaguely toward my friend, who was already deep into a conversation too random to remember

She narrowed her eyes at me, walked over and shook my hand.

Then, with the kind of resigned sigh only a person who has lost control of their own apartment can make, she ran upstairs promising to come back

At this point, I was not aware she was studying for a midterm with Sameh and Nihaal. All I knew is that she kept her promise to come back downstairs but now with two guys behind her.

A few drinks later, things got interesting. Someone suggested a drinking game—one of those chaotic ones where the rules keep changing based on who’s making them up. At one point, I found myself struggling and loosing at every turn

She, meanwhile, had this uncanny ability to avoid every single drinking punishment. Either she was insanely good at these games, or she had mastered the art of making people forget it was her turn. I suspected both.

We bonded over our mutual confusion about what, exactly, was happening.

"This game makes no sense," I told her.

She shrugged. "Yeah, but you’re losing, so it’s fun for me."

Fair.

Apparently, I later found out that she was trying to help me all along but I was not aware of that until years after.

At some point, after a dangerous amount of chips and whatever drinks Kyle was preparing, she was holding a guitar. Now, I’ve seen people bring out guitars at parties before, and usually, it meant one of two things:

• Someone was about to dramatically serenade another person.

• Someone was about to play Wonderwall.

But she? She actually knew how to play. And she was good. The kind of good that made people stop mid-conversation to listen.

She strummed something upbeat, .... and without really thinking, I got up and started dancing like an idiot—because when someone plays live music, what else are you supposed to do?

This intrepid move gave me the title of "salsa guy”… little did she know that my whole family would disagree

I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the chaos. She protested at first, but then she started swaying and laughing.

And that’s when I knew

For a while, we didn’t talk. Not because we didn’t want to, but because I forgot to get her contact information and as a good guy I was not about to lower my chances by asking our common friends to interfere for me.

Fast forward, and life did what life does: moved on. At least, until the moment I found out the window had opened again—she was free to talk, free to see me.

Only problem? I was in Mexico.

More specifically, I was in Mexico, mid-bite of some life-changing posole, fully committed to my meal.

So, I did what any reasonable person would do. I put down the spoon. Booked it back driving across the border and made my way to meet her at The Mission Inn.

I don’t know if it was the thrill of the unexpected reunion or the lingering effects of really good posole, but the moment I saw her again, it felt like picking up a conversation we’d only paused—not ended.

And this time, I told her I was interested on getting to know her and actually got her phone number.

8 years later. You guys get to see it all go down :)

Thank you for being part of our story

We’re entering the second week of February which only meant one thing. My Stem-cell midterm is fast approaching and I feel ill-prepared. I’m rushing home from the library because I can’t believe it closes at 5pm on a Saturday. The one time Nihaal, Sameh, and I decide to study at the library, it closes before the sun even set. Regardless, the show must go on because whether we ace or fail this difficult exam, we will always do it together. I bust into the door hoping to clean as much as possible before Sameh and Nihaal arrive only to find my roommate making enchiladas and blending up drinks.

“You’re done studying early today! Maybe you’ll be able to hang out with us tonight, Christine is coming over soon.”

I stare blankly at her and suddenly remembered she had told me her boyfriend Kyle and a couple friends were coming over to hang out.

I completely forgot and proceeded to run upstairs to clean my room because Sameh and Nihaal just texted me they parked. We would have to make due with cramming upstairs instead of our usual study sessions downstairs on the living room floor….

By slide number 110 we started getting tired. My roommate knocks on the door to hand me a drink to try since she was in this drink-making-phase. I give her the thumbs up of approval that it tasted great and head back in to discuss hematopoiesis. Nihaal stares at me after realizing I just had a sip of a drink and I almost thought he was upset. To my surprise, he blurted “are you drinking without us?”…. I got the hint and not long after the three of us collectively decided we were over studying all night and went downstairs to join the party. I recognized everyone there except one person sitting in the kitchen with a large enchilada on his plate. Just as he was about to take a bite, I decide to introduce myself, smiled, and held out my hand to meet Geovanny.

It turned out to be one of the most wholesome nights filled with board games, laughter, and amazing music.

At one point in the night, Nihaal kept yelling on repeat: “Mimi, bring out your guitar!!” and he didn’t stop even after I gave him the look the way I would to a brother who was about to embarrass me in front of a group of friends and a stranger I was trying to impress. Eventually he ran to my room and grabbed the guitar and threw it to me. After years of free guitar lessons on ultimate guitar tabs online, I mustered the strength and started playing a tune which turned into the whole group singing along and at that moment I knew Nihaal was onto something with the guitar.

We all sang without fear of what others thought and purely just enjoyed each other’s company. The whole time I couldn’t help but look at Geo and noticed he was staring and smiling at me too. A Spanish song came on Spotify and he was surprised to find out the entire Spanish playlist was mine all along. After I told him I loved latin music and have always wanted to learn how to salsa, he began to teach me how to salsa like he was a pro. After that night, he was known as the salsa guy to me. Before leaving that night, all he said was “I want to take you out dancing”. I just smiled and agreed not even realizing he never asked for my number. My only way to see him again was through my roommate and her boyfriend Kyle but I was too shy to admit that I had a crush on him and wanted to act cool about it. After some time, I accepted the fact that I was never going to see Salsa guy ever again.

Weeks passed after that night and I was looking like a slob studying for yet another exam, this time Physics.

Suddenly, my roommate walks through the front door after being out for days and asked me if I wanted to go out with her that night. I had been in sweats studying all day I really didn’t feel like going out.

But then she adds, “Kyle is gonna be there at the Mission Inn restaurant and his friend Geo might join us later”. That was all it took to get me changed and out the door.

That night, I came face to face with Geovanny once again. It was as if no time had passed with how easy conversations flowed but as if it took a lifetime to get to this moment all at the same time. Eventually, he asked me if he could spend all his time getting to know me more… and the rest is history.