Hunter and I have been friends since middle school. And honestly I can't remember how we met. My memories start with us hanging out at mutual friend's parties. Hunter would bring a chess board, and I would always join him playing chess. I win about 1 out of every 7-8 games, even to this day. Aside from that, we have video footage of Hunter at my 8th grade birthday pool party. Hunter and I have always had really good friend chemistry, but it wasn't until I moved back to Laguna Niguel at the very end of 2018 that we connected on a romantic level. My friend Alysha and I had gone over to his house to play board games. And while Hunter felt like he was getting mixed signals between our usual dynamic and me trying to encourage him to do online dating... I maintain that I was oblivious to our potential at the time. It wasn't until a couple months later when we went rock climbing together, that it really started to feel like a date. And it was something Hunter pointed out at the end of the evening. To which my brain short-circuited while I tried to process this development. I may have left Hunter hanging in this conversation. We hung out a few days later for more rock climbing, and it took me the entire evening to get up the courage to talk about the potential of us dating. So began our relationship filled with lots of love, patience, and a willingness to communicate. I can honestly say we have such a wonderful foundation to continue our relationship the rest of our lives.