It was 2018 and Valyrie had just lost her job and resorted to social media for leads. An old acquaintance from years ago, Sara, commented saying her department at (then) Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper) was hiring! Two weeks later, Valyrie had the job and little did she know how much her favorite beverage was about to change her life.

"There's someone here at work that I want you to meet," Sara texted. "I think you two would really hit it off."

"No way. I'm good. No more dating for me. I'm perfectly fine with just my kiddos at my cat," Valyrie replied.

"He's on vacation your first week on the job, but you'll see him soon enough!" Sara said. Valyrie rolled her eyes and set the phone down. She had enough things to worry about that she didn't want to even think of dating.

Her first week of work came and went. She started getting to know the names, faces and voices of those who worked around her. But that second Monday arrived and she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the end of her row. She rolled back in her chair and looked down the aisle. There was this nice looking, fit, blonde guy talking to a coworker about the upcoming Cowboys football season, with this arm propped up and leaning on the edge of the cubicle.

"He's cute. Surely, that can't be the guy Sara was talking about though," she thought to herself and glided her chair back to her desk.

Sara arrived to her desk right behind Valyrie a short while later. Valyrie spun around slowly and whispered, "Hey- what was that guy's name you wanted to set me up with again?"

Sara answered, a bit loudly, "Oh, that's Randy! He's right there!" and pointed toward the end of the row. Valyrie's face turned bright red, she hushed Sara, and sunk in her chair, hoping not to be seen.

Something about Randy made her nervous. Those that know the Valyrie of 7ish years ago know this is not a common trait of hers. This was an unusual feeling.

It's a running joke that Valyrie has "super hearing" and can pick up on things from quite a distance away. Randy's cubicle was along a shared wall, two spaces back from hers. Being the social guy that he was, people often stopped at his desk to chat. One day, she couldn't help but overhear him talking about a computer game. It sounded familiar: playing turns as various country's empires. She couldn't place where she had heard of it before, but it sounded fun nonetheless. The conversation transitioned into talking about football again. She actively tried not to listen, as to not eavesdrop, but it was difficult not to.

"So he's a gamer too, like me?" Valyrie messaged Sara though the company chat feature.

"Oh yeah. Super nerdy guy. That's one of the reasons I want to set you up!" Sara messaged back.

Valyrie wondered how she could open up a conversation with him. This was never an issue in the past, but that weird nervousness kept cropping up at the thought of it and she would put the idea behind her.

A week or so passed but Sara still had plans in the works. She scheduled a happy hour and invited a bunch of coworkers, including Randy and Valyrie. Apparently, other coworkers that were invited to the happy hour were also in on the setup and were going to make sure that we both attended.

Every morning, from where she parked, Valyrie had to take the back staircase up to her desk, which happened to walk right past Randy's. He sat on the corner and if he was chatting with someone at his desk, he would face the door to the stairs. And every morning, she would think to herself before opening the door from the stairs,

"Please don't be looking at me. Please don't be looking this way. Please don't make eye contact with me." Why? Reasons still unknown but it had to do with that perpetual nervousness he created in her.

But she was determined to overcome her fears and break the ice via the company chat feature with Randy. She was interested in finding a new fantasy football league that year so she thought that would be a good conversation starter, since she heard him talking about football the days before. She typed out a message, deleted it, typed it out again differently, deleted it, and typed out a new one. Once she felt comfortable with her draft, she turned around to Sara and asked her to read it first before she sent it to make sure it sounded okay.

Sara rolled over in her chair and read the message. Before giving any sort of feedback, Sara popped her finger on the "enter" key and sent the message for her! Valyrie could feel her cheeks turning red, partially with embarrassment and nervousness and partially with anger. Sara just smiled and rolled back to her desk.

Valyrie: Hey-- I was told you are the resident football guy around here. I'm looking for a fantasy football league to join. Do you know of any that might have an opening?

Randy: I don't play fantasy football but I can ask around for you.

Valyrie: Okay, great. Thanks!

"That wasn't so bad," she thought to herself as she exhaled the breath she had been holding the entire time.

A few more days pass. A pop-up appears in the bottom right corner of her computer screen. It was Randy. He wasn't able to find any open fantasy leagues for her. She thanked him anyway and was about to assume that was the end of the conversation when she got a burst of courage and sent another message:

Valyrie: So are you going to the happy hour on Friday?

Randy: I am thinking about it, yeah. Are you?

Valyrie: Yeah I'll be there.

They chatted a bit more but nothing substantial. She mentioned how big of a Dallas Mavericks fan she was. He mentioned having lived in New York. Little things that kept the conversation going for a little while.

Friday finally arrived and it was happy hour time. When she got to the restaurant, Randy was already there along with a few other coworkers. He was sitting on the end, with a few seats already taken. Valyrie felt it would have been awkward for her to take the seat directly in front of him since they had never spoken in person before and she wasn't familiar with the person next to him, so she sat on the other side and end of the table with Sara. After a few group conversations and a few drinks, people were starting to leave. The spot in front of Randy opened up. Sara loudly and obviously said, "Hey Valyrie, why don't you go sit down on that end near Randy because we're all kind of squished down on this end. We need to even out the table." There was that damn nervousness again. She could feel the warmth in her face.

He was wearing a 2011 Dallas Mavericks Championship hat.

"I wonder if he wore that hat on purpose," Valyrie thought.

Over the course of the next hour or two, they discovered they had quite a bit in common. Their love of spicy food, specifically Chuy's and their hatch green chile sauce and their New Mexican Martinis. They both loved 90s rap, specifically Dr. Dre and the album 2001. They both were big Beatles fans, of course with Valyrie having shared her son's naming story and her tattoos to back it up. It turns out the familiar game Valyrie had overheard him talking about was Civilization 6. Her dad frequently played the game and she had taken a few turns on it before too. The list went on.

"He keeps looking at me with this... look." She couldn't quite describe what it was. It was hard to tell if he was flirting or not.

In typical woman fashion, she got up to use the restroom and asked Sara to join her.

Once in the bathroom, Sara asked, "So how's it going down there at the other end of the table?"

"I think it's going well. He's really hard to read though," she replied. "I guess we'll find out eventually."

She also took this time to run her theory about the Dallas Mavericks hat choice by Sara. "I think you're over thinking it," she answered.

The group decided to move the happy hour to the bar next door. Some stayed, some went home. With the drinks flowing, conversation became easier and easier. The nervousness Valyrie had been feeling started to go away with each drink and each conversation topic. So much so, that she started talking smack about Tony Romo when the subject of Cowboys football came up. Valyrie was an anti-Cowboys fan just for fun. She didn't have any real disdain for the team, but liked poking fun in front of fans just to troll a bit.

With each comment, she could see Randy's face becoming more frustrated and less interested in the conversation.

"Oh gosh. I messed up, didn't I?" she thought.

The happy hour ended and they went their separate ways, but just before getting into his car, Randy hesitated. "Can I get your number? I'd like to hang out again sometime."

The heat flushed back to her face. It was as if all the drinks that took away the nervousness suddenly left her system and it came right back. "Sure," she replied.

There are various versions of the "rule" that supposedly applies of when a guy can text or call a woman after getting her number. One day, two days, three days. Valyrie didn't know what to expect. So when Saturday came and went, she assumed the worst. She texted Sara:

V: I think my Tony Romo comment might have ruined my chances. I didn't think he'd take it so seriously but here we are, no text, no call.

S: I doubt that. Just give it more time. Maybe he's intimidated by you. You can be an intimidating person sometimes.

She put the phone down and gave up hope for the day on the subject. After the bedtime routine with the kids, (Harrison was three and Hadley was just shy of two years old), she got them tucked in and she went to lay on the couch.

*buzz buzz*

The phone lit up from the coffee table.

R: Hey. It's Randy from KDP.

She smirked. "As if there were any other Randy's that would be texting me right now?" she thought.

V: Hello! I'm glad you texted. I was beginning to worry that I said or did something wrong.

He assured her that she didn't do anything wrong. They chatted for about ten minutes before he finally said goodnight.

R: Well, I'm off to bed. I'm an old man and go to bed early.

Take note, it was only 8:25pm when he sent that message. She didn't know that he was a regular gym guy who woke up at 4:30am every day to work out. So the ongoing anxiety and nervousness she had been feeling made her assume that their conversation wasn't interesting enough and he was just finding a way to end it. She said goodnight, put the phone back on the table and turned on Netflix to clear her head.

The work week went on as usual. Valyrie continued to avoid eye contact with Randy and Randy continued to talk about football and video games with his coworkers. Everything seemed back to normal, until Wednesday when a message appeared in the chat at the bottom right corner of Valyrie's screen.

Randy: I'd like to take you out on a proper date. Are you available this weekend?

She would have audibly squeaked in excitement if she hadn't been at work.

Valyrie: Sure. How does Friday sound?

Randy: Perfect. I'll pick you up at 7?

Valyrie: Sounds great.

After giving him her address, she realized that she offered the day without thinking it through. It was her weekend to have the kids. She would have to find a sitter on short notice.

At lunch, she sat with her usual lunch group which included Sara and also their other friend and coworker, Jordan. She shared the details of the weekend and the conversation with the two of them at the end of the table.

Jordan excitedly offered to babysit. "I used to nanny for two boys around your kids' ages. I'd be happy to help!"

Sara rubbed her hands together under her chin. "The plan is coming together perfectly," she said somewhat maniacally under her breath, jokingly.

Before she knew it, it was Friday. Jordan arrived to her apartment at 6:15pm. Valyrie gave her the rundown of how bedtime goes.

Randy showed up right on time. She invited him in and told him she'd be ready in five minutes. She just needed to grab her purse and say goodbye to Harrison (since Hadley was staying with her dad that night).

"This is my son, Harrison. Say hello, kiddo," Valyrie said as she turned around to go get her purse from the other room.

And without hesitation, Harrison did not say hello but instead said, "You look like my dad," in a very matter of fact tone.

Randy laughed nervously but Valyrie was mortified. She looked over at Jordan who was trying to contain her laughter.

"Maybe if I don't acknowledge it, it won't be so bad. I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear it," she thought.

Once they got to the restaurant, the conversation was a bit slow. Between reading the menu and Valyrie still dwelling and overthinking on Harrison's comment, it was quiet. Valyrie began people watching at the crowd that was gathered by the bar top. She paid particular attention to an older couple, probably in their late 60's, dressed in fairly flamboyant colors, interacting. Their outfits looked like a cross between tourists in a beach town and bikers. It was definitely easy to pick them out of the crowd. Randomly, the woman reaches behind and over, grabbing a full handful of the man's butt and gave it a squeeze. Valyrie laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Randy asked.

She told him what she had just seen. He turned around to look and he got a laugh out of their outfits and the situation as well.

"They must have a really fun relationship," Valyrie said. And before she had a chance to stop herself, she word vomitted the next sentence. "Is that going to be us?"

"Oh my god. What did I just say? Why did I say that? What the hell, Valyrie. Strike two of the night, one thanks to Harrison and now this. He's going to run away at the first chance and never look back." she thought as her face turned bright red.

Randy's eyes got a little wider, but he smiled and then looked back down at his menu. She hoped he didn't take her too seriously this time.

But in the end, the night went very well. They returned to the apartment to relieve Jordan of her babysitting duties, and he stuck around longer so they could continue the conversations. From that point on, they were inseparable, as most that know them were able to see.

Fast forward nearly six years later, and here they are, getting married. Who would have thought that football, video games, and Dr Pepper would bring two people together for a lifetime?

V&R