Once upon a time, two nerds got accepted to Winthrop University, and proceeded to silently cross paths for a little over 3 years. Jo was studying Communications, a program primarily based in the Johnson building. Emily was studying Psychology as well as Technical Theatre, which also happened to be based in the Johnson building. However, both programs were on different floors, so they never actually saw each other. Or at least that they remember. To make things worse, both worked at Carowinds during this time. Jo, a Caricature artist, was frequently stationed at the stand underneath the Arbor. Emily, a Stage Manager, was working a show in the Carowinds Theater and walked under the next-door Arbor daily. Surely, they must’ve met here, right? Wrong. Flash forward to late 2019 Emily got a side job as a desk host in the Roddey residence hall through a mutual friend to make a couple extra bucks during the day. Jo happened to be an RA in the same building, which means they both worked in Residence Life, and that MUST be where they met. Wrong. It wasn’t until pre-pandemic 2020, a few weeks before school closed, that Jo met Emily at the desk. He would come down every shift to do work in the office and to spend time with her. As Emily says (in the most loving way possible), “he came down to bother me, and luckily has ever since”.