Forever.

On Thursday, May 19, 2016, Brian went online to cancel his Plenty of Fish account after catching nothing but duds. He had no idea that in doing so, he’d stumble across the woman he was going to marry. When he saw her profile, he told himself he’d send one last message and if she didn’t respond in a couple of days, he’d cancel his account after all.

Danielle received Brian’s message as she was sitting next to her sister, Erica, while she was getting her nails done for her wedding two days later. In fact, they were chatting about Danielle’s own recent dating disasters when it arrived. Danielle looked at her phone, saw she had a message on PoF, and put it away. That day and the following three were about her sister’s wedding! Danielle would respond on Monday. But when Erica learned of the message, she made Danielle pull out her phone again, read it and Brian’s profile aloud, and then show her the pictures. When Erica saw a picture of Brian dressed as a Ghostbuster, complete with Proton pack, she insisted that Danielle respond then and there. It was a good thing she did, too, because if Danielle had waited until Monday as she'd been planning to, Brian’s profile would’ve been gone.

After several messages back and forth that same day, they exchanged phone numbers. They texted throughout the weekend and set up a plan to meet the following Saturday at the Dragonfly Café in Somerville. What began as a first meeting full of anxiety became a five-hour date of talking, laughing, walking around town, and getting to know each other. It was going so well!

But as the sun started to set, something shifted, a feeling of distance suddenly between them, and Danielle's heart sank a little. She thought to herself, "Did I say something wrong? Did I offend him somehow? He doesn't seem to be interested at all anymore." But she reminded herself that she might be imagining it and to wait and see what happened. And then the date ended in an awkward hug and no mention of seeing each other again. Her heart sunk even more as she drove away with unexpected tears in her eyes, saying to herself, "I really thought there was something there. I guess I was wrong."

But then he texted. And texted again. And they went back and forth for two days before they decided to meet up for dinner and a movie. That date marked many important milestones for Danielle and Brian. It was the first time they watched a movie together (something that they love to do and do frequently). It was their first meal together. It was the first time they held hands. It was the first time they kissed. It was the first time they realized that they had once been at the very same concert years before, standing not very far from each other. And when Danielle was driving away on their second date, all she could do was smile and say aloud, “I’m going to marry that man someday.”

From then on, they were pretty much inseparable. Barely two weeks went by before they decided to be exclusive, and not even two more weeks passed before Brian told Danielle he loved her and she said it back. And that was it for them. They moved in together six months later, adopted their cat, Luna, four months after that, and then in ten more months, they were engaged.

Now Danielle and Brian are getting married! What comes after that, we'll just have to wait and see! <3