The Saturday before Thanksgiving of Mattie's senior year at Northwestern, she was trying to leave work but her car would not start. (Later found out that rodents had crawled into her engine looking for warmth and decided to snack on the wiring inside... Who knew?) Being without a car, her dear friend Kirsten offered to drive her to church Sunday morning, then come to her parent's home for the afternoon to hang out and avoid being trapped at Mattie's apartment without a set of wheels. Kirsten was also going to be telling her parents about a certain boy named Matt that she had been talking to, and Kirsten wanted Mattie to help distract the situation hehe.

While at the Darling home, there came a moment where Kirsten and her parents had left the room for various reasons, leaving Mattie alone with Ben, Kirsten's oldest brother. Here's where Mattie panicked. She'd thought Ben was a cutie for a while now... but as everyone knows she has no game. Thankfully, the Minnesota Vikings were getting absolutely destroyed by the Dallas Cowboys, providing her an easy conversation starter. The two talked about football for a total of approximately three awkward minutes before everyone else returned and Mattie's face returned to a normal color.

What Mattie did not realize at the time was that Kirsten concocted an idea that Sunday afternoon. In the next few days, Kirsten wouldn't drop the idea of Mattie and Ben dating (which Mattie was certainly not opposed to). Kirsten eventually bet Mattie that she would buy her a coffee if she added Ben on Snapchat. Free coffee? Very cute guy?? What does she have to lose?

A few weeks later, after a first date of tacos and Mattie destroying Ben at every arcade game (who doesn't know how to play Frogger??), Ben asked Mattie to be his girlfriend. They have been inseparable since.

Special thanks to Kirsten for setting me up with my best friend... And to the rats who ate my car and started this whole journey.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. The startlingly attractive Ben Darling was wandering aimlessly around his apartment, wondering what to do with this cool, crisp fall day. Should he hit the golf range? Should he take a long walk? No, he thought. I should go see my parents and catch up on life. He drove over to the Crapids to see his lovely parents. Upon entering the house he heard a sound he had scarcely heard before. A sweet, womanly voice. Captivating as a siren. His head drifts left and there, cross-legged on the living room floor sits the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She looks and smiles at him, melting his heart. In that moment he knew. He must follow her on Instagram. And thus, the story of Mattie and Ben began.