I first heard of Braidan through my roommates, who talked her up to be a literal Roman goddess. According to them, she was so far out of my league that it wasn’t even worth trying. Naturally, that only piqued my interest. A few days later, I saw her Hinge profile and just about lost my mind. I shot my shot, fully expecting she'd never respond or that she’d ignore me at an upcoming community CrossFit workout on the beach. But obviously, I was way too cool and confident to care either way. Fast forward three days to that Saturday beach workout. I saw her in person for the first time and felt like my brain got a factory reset. Not only was she real, but she was somehow even more stunning in person than I'd heard. I was pissed, honestly, because I knew that I was about to fold faster than a lawn chair. I spent the next few hours pretending not to look at her (according to multiple eyewitnesses, I failed miserably). At some point, my roommate Nilda decided to “help” by informing me that Braidan “hates men.” Awesome. Me too, dude, good thing I'm not one of those. To make my chances even better, later that day we played volleyball against each other and met at the net—where I stomped on her feet. From that moment on, it was obvious she was madly in love with me. That afternoon, we all ended up at a different beach, where Braidan delivered a heartfelt TED Talk on how “you’ll never find love in Corpus” and how most of the men here are, in her words, “disgusting.” She also shared that she plays “Hot or Not” on Hinge when she’s bored. Meanwhile, I’m sitting there nodding, taking it all in like a champ, totally not crushed knowing that I had most definitely been ranked “Not.” We parted ways and I figured that I'd never have to embarrass myself in front of her again... that is until a few hours later when I got a notification that I had matched with her on Hinge. I literally jumped off the couch screaming like I'd been shot in my booty cheeks. I assumed it had to be a mistake. It wasn’t. What followed were some of the best (and most chaotic) dates of my life: a beach picnic with enough mosquitos to cause super malaria, me nearly burning down the house—with Braidan in it—because of some poorly supervised garlic bread, a mini-golf date where I sweat through two shirts, a visit to the world-famous two-story Whataburger, and some cozy nights with takeout. Eventually, I met her parents, and when it came time to leave, she wouldn’t let me go until I said “I love you.” She said it right back and even told me that she was going to marry me — yeah right, buddy. (Oh my, I've been bamboozled) Braidan's my workout partner, my co-pilot, my best friend, my life partner, and my person. My life is forever changed for the better now that I'm with Braidan, and I'm so thankful to get to meet the people closest to her. We can’t wait to celebrate with you as we continue to write our story!