Taylor and Emily met in Lakeland, Florida on April 16, 2022. Although Taylor lived in St. Petersburg and Emily lived in Tampa, they both happened to be in Lakeland that night and were invited out to Rec Room by a mutual friend - Taylor’s best man, Logan. While Logan and Taylor were talking in line, Taylor couldn’t help but notice a cute girl awkwardly leaning up against a wall waiting to get in. Logan ended up leaving the line to say goodbye to some friends that were leaving. Emily seized the opportunity and took Logan’s spot in line next to Taylor. After that, things happened fast, and as soon as Taylor made Emily laugh, the two had officially hit it off! A couple of shots and a few games of skee ball and air hockey later, Emily got the handsome stranger’s phone number, and they parted ways. The following morning, Taylor woke up to a hangover and a simple “Hi” from Emily. Due to his headache and being preoccupied with family Easter activities, Taylor left Emily on read for a few hours, and so she reached out to Logan to see if she misread the prior evening. Logan then called Taylor to tell him off for not responding. As a result of Logan’s friendly scolding, Taylor finally responded, and he and Emily agreed to meet up again later that day for a night on the town in St. Petersburg. This time, having extra time to overthink and prepare to meet up again, both were extremely nervous. Eventually, Taylor answered a knock on his door and received an unexpected “Howdy!” from Emily (at that point, neither could imagine that they would be headed to Texas less than a year later!) The unique greeting immediately quelled Taylor’s nerves and the two had a fantastic night. After that, Taylor and Emily became head over heels in love with each other and would look for any excuse to continue to spend time together.