Some people go to the gym for a workout—Lauren and Tommy walked away with a love story. For three weeks, Tommy had noticed Lauren at the gym. She was always focused, locked into her workouts, and frankly, a little intimidating. One day, he finally worked up the courage to say hello. She was in the middle of a HIIT workout, earphones in, completely in the zone. He grabbed an ab mat, sat down next to her, pulled out an earbud, and just as he turned to speak… she got up and left. Just like that. No words exchanged—just Tommy, sitting there, choking on the hello that never happened. He went home to his friends, embarrassed, and of course, they didn’t let him live it down. But they also told him he had to try again. A couple of weeks later, on Labor Day weekend, he was getting ready to fly home to Arizona for a family reunion. In a good mood and feeling confident, he spotted Lauren again in the same ab room. As he approached, they locked eyes in the mirror. She rolled her eyes (not the best start), but she did take her earbuds out. Kneeling down next to her, wearing his lucky Arizona Cardinals t-shirt, he finally said what he had been meaning to for weeks: *"Hey, I’ve seen you in here the past few weeks, and I’ve been working up the courage to ask you out. I’d love to grab coffee with you and get to know you if you’re open to it."* To his relief, she said yes. They exchanged numbers, and the rest is history. (Though she later admitted she wasn’t planning on texting him back—but thankfully, she did.) And that’s how a missed hello turned into forever.