... he paid her a compliment that was a little too real during one of their texting conversations (throwing dynamite in the hole he was digging for himself, one might say). This begged the necessity of a phone call between them, in which he said:

"So, hypothetically, there is this guy. And he sees this girl. She has a really beautiful smile and a very kind heart, and he really likes this girl. And he's wondering if she likes him, too."

And, hearing the silence on the other end of the phone, and panicking, she replied:

"On a scale of one to ten, how scared are you right now?"

Which was not an answer!

But he replied with some witty response... Probably. (It's difficult to keep the details straight anymore.) They decided to wait to further discuss the matter later so that she could take some time to think about it. (Of course, the answer was obvious.)

The two continued to make small talk until she returned from quarantine. Upon her return, they took a long walk around the beautiful waning autumn colors on campus and discussed feelings and reasons to date - or to wait.

After a few weeks and a few "non-dates," they decided (she decided, and he already knew) that dating sounded like a pretty good idea, after all.

And so, in December of 2020, they became boyfriend and girlfriend and went on their first official date.

(Yay!)