The first time Logan and Courtney talked was in late January of 2019, though they probably interacted somewhat regularly before that. Logan worked at Seasons, the student dining center closest to the dorms Maple, Willow, and Larch at Iowa State University. Courtney spent her freshman year in Maple and ate at Seasons almost daily. However, with Logan and Courtney both being introverted, it wasn't until the next academic year that they would actually speak. During her sophomore year, Courtney was living in a different dorm, Buchanan, which was a short walk from Seasons. She continued to regularly eat there. Meanwhile, Logan, now a junior, had been promoted from a student worker to a supervisor. One of Logan's job duties was being a greeter: letting people into Seasons by swiping student ID cards or taking different forms of payment. The greeter sat at the entry of the dining center, and everyone who entered passed them. It didn't take long for Courtney to realize she kept seeing the same workers at certain times, Logan being one of them. Since Courtney avoided making eye contact with people, however, it wasn't his hair, his eyes, or even his face that she remembered; it was his forearm tattoo. She saw it when he swiped her student ID and when he made pizzas in the back.

Seeing Logan's tattoo in Carver Hall on the first Monday of the semester was disorienting for Courtney. She passed by it while finding a seat for Dr. Hall's ancient theater class. She recognized it, but she wasn't sure why. Intrigued, she picked the seat that was right in front of the guy with the tattoo. The first exercise given to the class was to decide whether they preferred tragedy or comedy. Comedians on the right, tragedians on the left. Neither Logan nor Courtney wanted to get up, so they both stayed on the left. Dr. Hall then asked everyone to talk to the people nearby about what option they chose. Courtney turned around to face the two computer science students behind her. Logan was shy, so he didn't say anything. Courtney proceeded to talk to the other student, pretending to have an opinion on why she preferred tragedies, all while stealing glances with the tattoo guy. Her goal was to later determine if this was the same tattoo from Seasons.

The very next day, Courtney deliberately decided to read the first assignment from Dr. Hall's class at the dining center: an ancient comedy by Aristophanes called "The Acharnians." If she rested her elbows on the table and held up the small black textbook in front of her face, she figured she might catch the eye of the guy with the tattoo -- if was the same person from class, at least. Sitting alone at a table, Courtney started to read. Within minutes, the guy with the tattoo came up behind her! He asked what she thought about the first play so far. They agreed that it was surprisingly funny. From then on, Logan and Courtney would have second-long "conversations" every day either at Seasons or before class. Finally, on the Friday before the Super Bowl, Logan asked Courtney for her Snapchat. Over the weekend, they learned a lot about each other. Eventually, Logan proposed a bet: whoever's team wins the Super Bowl gets to choose a dare for the loser. Courtney lost. She had to pay for the first date.