Niko met Alyssa when she handed him her resume. It was spring in San Luis Obispo, and, a true college student, she was broke. She filled out an application for Woodstock's, a popular pizza joint downtown, and handed it over the cash register to Niko. He put in a good word for her — he liked her vibe, or maybe it was her face — and she got the job. The thing was, however, she didn’t actually like the job all that much, and she frequently tried to offload her shifts. Because Niko was also a struggling student, he often picked them up, which meant they seldom worked together. But one day, they did. During that night’s dinner shift, Niko noticed they both had the same beaded bracelet from an imports shop downtown. For a while, they were just friends (or sometimes casually dating) but eventually they found themselves back home in San Francisco. Niko had moved up to finish his degree in Liberal Studies at San Francisco State, and Alyssa’s summer internship at a Mission District hip-hop label turned into a full-time job. One day, Niko came to Alyssa’s apartment in the Sunset District to make pizza — like old times — and they stayed up late talking, like they did on their first “date” back in SLO. Those nights became more and more frequent. They joined an intramural soccer team together; after games they’d go to Niko’s apartment and stay up late drinking wine from Diet Coke cans while laughing along to “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Ace Ventura.” Before long, he was orchestrating an elaborate 21st birthday for Alyssa back in the Paso Robles wine country. There, atop Bishop’s peak, he asked her to be his girlfriend and they officially became more than just casual. Their story is long, with as many twists and turns as life, but they nevertheless arrived in New Orleans in October 2018 for Alyssa’s 30th birthday, stronger than they’d ever been. On the mezzanine of a Bywater jazz bar, with family and friends looking on, he proposed to her, and she accepted.