Somehow this small-town North Dakota boy found this small-town Pennsylvania girl in, of all places, the Big Apple. Melissa and Brandon had both moved to NYC several years ago, separately chasing their dreams, pursuing their careers, paying waaaay too much in rent, and singing A LOT of karaoke. Seriously...so much yokie. Little did they know that their friend groups were beginning to overlap, and their friends started seeing something in each of them. For about a year, MC and BC's mutual friends tried getting them to meet at different parties, friend gatherings, board gaming nights, etc. It wasn't until a chilly Friday in March that they succeeded. Melissa and friends were meeting for Happy Hour at a wine bar called Corkbuzz near Union Square, when Brandon strolled in. The table of friends dwindled down about every hour from 6, to 5, to 4, to 3 as their friends conveniently had to "head out" for various reasons. Finally, it was just Melissa and Brandon at the table talking late into the evening. The next day Melissa left the City for a week long vacation, and Brandon made sure to reach out by texting a lot (like A LOT) during that time. Once back in the City, they met up for dinner. Melissa mentioned how sweet the texts were but that she may not need play-by-play texts of random NBA** games, to which Brandon responded earnestly, "Well... I just didn't want you to forget about me." She never did, and she never will. <3 **Brandon would like to add that Melissa mentioned on their first date that she had played basketball in high school. Wanting to impress her, Brandon thought it would be a good idea to give her highlights of the 2018 ACC tournament semi-final games he was attending. (They were close games!)