Michael and Gianna first met when they were seated next to each other at a dinner with mutual friends at a hibachi restaurant. Michael ended up separated from the people he knew, so Gianna decided to make it her mission to befriend him. She asked him questions, told him about herself, and thought he seemed terrified of her. As Michael tells it, though, he wasn’t scared, just nervous to be talking to such a pretty girl. The night took a funny turn when a nearby table was celebrating a birthday. Michael casually mentioned, “Ugh, I hate when people sing Happy Birthday to me in restaurants.” Minutes later, Gianna slipped away to the bathroom and told the hostess it was Michael’s birthday, even though his real birthday was eight months away. Sure enough, towards the end of the dinner the entire staff came out with sparklers and drums to sing. Gianna swears he looked annoyed, but Mike admits that while he was embarrassed, he also thought it was funny and cute. From then on, the two kept running into each other through mutual friends. Gianna, always her bubbly self, made a point to say hello. Mike, the reserved introvert, shyly returned the greeting while secretly crushing on her. One night at a bar, Gianna threw her arm over his shoulder when a fun song came on, and Mike immediately brushed it off and bolted to the other side of the group. Gianna thought she had completely misread their friendship. Mike, meanwhile, was just hopelessly nervous around the girl he liked. A few months later, fate stepped in again during a group trip to Hoboken. Gianna and Mike ended up seated next to each other on the train, both convinced the other didn’t want to talk. But after a few minutes, they started laughing and chatting… until Mike spilled a full beer on himself mid-conversation. Mortified, he thought he ruined everything. Instead, Gianna jumped up, grabbed some towels, and saved the day. That’s when Mike realized Gianna wasn’t just pretty, she was genuinely kind, and he didn’t need to be so nervous around her. Later that night at the bar, Gianna found herself stuck with a guy who just wouldn’t leave her alone. Fed up, she ran over to Mike’s group of friends and yelled, “Someone needs to pretend to be my boyfriend right now!” Without missing a beat, Mike threw his hand up and said, “Me! I’ll do it!” And from that moment on, they’ve been inseparable. The fake boyfriend quickly became the real one, and neither one has their eyes off each other ever since.