Carrie invited Seth over during the middle of a global pandemic after weeks of texting to ensure it was safe. They started the night with a Scooby-Doo board game. Carrie chose Velma and immediately threw herself into it, fully committed. Seth played Shaggy and couldn’t stop smiling at how seriously she took the game. Dinner plans fell apart somewhere between conversation and laughter. They meant to order Indian food but forgot until it was too late, so they settled for a cheeseless vegetable Papa John’s; the only thing still open. Rusty, Carrie’s sweet but pizza-obsessed cat, made sure no one ate in peace, climbing Carrie’s back to steal bites and turning every slice into a small struggle. Suddenly it was 5 a.m., and Seth was still there. There hadn’t been a single awkward silence all night, but eventually Carrie said she needed to sleep. They said goodbye, and Seth left worrying he’d talked too much. He hadn’t. It wasn’t a love story born from normal circumstances, but board games, books, nerdy obsessions, and a night neither would ever forget.