At a college party, in a shabby apartment kitchen, a nervous young man approached the young woman with the stunning blue eyes. Calla and Andrew had a lot of friends in common, but they hadn’t met before, and as they talked they realized how much more they had in common. They both loved books, movies, and lame jokes. Truly awful jokes. Puns of a Shakespearean quality in terms of both magnitude and conviction that puns were the highest form of comedy. The evening wore on, Calla left, and Andrew added her on every social media he had. They spent the next few months liking each other’s pictures, sharing memes, and not directly communicating for fear of scaring the other off. In January 2017, Calla and Andrew both planned to attend a Friday the Thirteenth tattoo event just outside Asheville, NC. He slid in her DMs to ask if she’d like to go with him–under the pretense of being environmentally conscious. He knew she’d be into that. And although she wasn’t able to go with him due to scheduling conflicts, she did agree to go on a date with him a week later. On their first date, Calla was so nervous that she read the back of a CD case for over 10 minutes while Andrew tried to find parking. Despite their initial nerves, the afternoon was spent walking around downtown Asheville together after lunch at Farmburger. Andrew took Calla on her first visit to Battery Park Book Exchange to look at the collection of antique books. Before driving her home, he bought a box of Girl Scout cookies outside Dobra Tea to give her. Both were trying to play it cool, and both were failing spectacularly. By the following January – after little more than a year of dating – they were living together. Calla completed her senior year at UNCA while working part-time at White Duck Taco Shop, and Andrew improved his cooking skills in the evenings when he got home from his nine-to-five. After her graduation in May of 2018, Calla and Andrew lived in Asheville as long as they could manage, but eventually, they decided to move to Durham with their friend Caitlyn. Calla, Andrew, and Caitlyn moved into their Durham apartment in March 2019. Before the year was out, their household grew by one when Farris, – Caitlyn’s now wife – moved in as well. Two years passed, and Caitlyn and Farris moved out while Andrew and Calla arranged to fulfill a dream they had shared for some time. During Christmas of 2020, Calla and Andrew brought home the furry light of their lives: Cobalt Secrets Wyche. Despite swearing they wouldn’t be “those dog people,” they immediately rolled over and let their fluffy child dictate their lives right down to when to go to bed. So another year came and went, but this time they felt themselves a complete family. On January 27, 2022, Calla and Andrew celebrated their Five Year Anniversary, but what Calla didn’t know was that Andrew would pop the question less than one month later. He had made a reservation at Vin Rouge, their preferred French restaurant, and bought tickets to Hadestown at DPAC seemingly for a combination-belated anniversary and Valentine's date. Three weeks prior, Caitlyn and Farris brought Andrew the ring he had shipped to them for safekeeping. The three of them then proceeded to scout locations around the theater for the proposal, and they graciously volunteered to bring Cobalt and capture the big moment on camera. After the show, Calla and Andrew strolled through a park, and she wished aloud Cobalt could be there to enjoy the evening with them. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than their friends appeared around a corner with Cobalt – sporting his best tuxedo – as Andrew sank to one knee. It was the one and only time he had successfully played it cool, and she said yes.