We met at Woodson High School in Fairfax, VA, at the end of our sophomore year and started dating not long after. We were together for 11 months—until Zach broke up with Sam over text right before our junior year ended. After that, we went our separate ways and lost touch completely. We graduated in 2017, went to different colleges, and lived totally separate lives. In October 2019, Zach followed Sam on Instagram and reached out to grab coffee and apologize. It was nice catching up, but the timing wasn’t right—we were both about to start new relationships—so we went our separate ways yet again. Then in August 2020, Zach bombarded Sam with likes and follows on social media until she finally messaged him to see what was going on. At the time, Sam was living in Florida and Zach was still in Virginia, so we spent a lot of late nights on FaceTime, catching up like no time had passed. Not long after, Sam visited Virginia, and Zach planned a re-do of our very first date: a rooftop picnic where everything fell back into place. It didn’t take long for both of us to realize that whatever was between us had never really gone away. That weekend was the start of the rest of our lives together.