Laura's version: I had moved to Denver in December 2020. Being in a brand-new city, while working remote, during a time with limited options on meeting new people, I decided to give online dating a shot. With input from my sisters, I decided Bumble was the way to go and created a profile. Let's just say the online dating culture (and in Denver for that matter) was way different than anything I had ever experienced. All the guys were holding a fish in their profile pictures (gross), asking what pass I had (absolutely none with zero interest in skiing/snowboarding/the cold), and if I wanted to go on hikes - in DECEMBER (good luck getting me to hike when it's warm)! I went on one AWFUL date and decided online dating probably wasn’t for me. I was going to give it one more shot and if it didn't work out, I was giving up online dating for good. Ryan’s profile popped up and I thought, this guy looks cute (TBH - it was really Indy in Ryan’s profile pic that got my attention) and swiped right. We matched immediately and the conversation lasted less than a minute. It took me a few weeks to reply back, but I eventually did. Ryan mentioned he was disappointed he hadn’t heard from the cute Jersey girl and when he texted me for the first time hit me with a “hopefully this time won’t take two weeks to get back to me.” It didn’t; we texted my entire 4-hour flight from Jersey back to Denver, bantering about dogs, pizza, and margaritas. He texted me a few times that weekend asking how my first ski lesson went (not well) and by the end of the weekend, I knew I needed to meet this guy. I asked him to grab drinks when I got back from Vail and a few days later we met for margaritas (obviously). I did end up giving up online dating for good – but for the best reason. Ryan’s version: I thought I hit the jackpot when I matched with Laura and we initially started talking. Turns out I didn’t have it that easy, as she quickly proceeded to forget about me for the next 3 weeks. When she did finally get back to me nearly a month later, I remember getting a notification from her and feeling like I somehow got lucky and had a second chance. She was flying back from New Jersey for work and needed to fill the 4 hour plane ride back to Denver. I was more than happy to forget about my work for the day and talk to “the cute Jersey girl” who I thought had forgotten all about me. We chatted for the rest of her trip into Denver, I gave her my favorite spots around Denver, and hyped her up for her first ski trip (where she found out that there aren’t actual ski caddies to carry all your stuff). After giving her all of my limited instagram worthy recommendations around Denver, she was the one who suggested we grab drinks later that week. We met for the first time at My Neighbor Felix in LoHi, because some of Laura’s main interests included “tacos, tequila, and margs.” I remember her sizing me up as she walked in the restaurant with some badass black leather boots. That night I ordered us the salsa trio, which was probably not the best choice since she was allergic to the pineapple in one of the salsas; however, I had no trouble finishing it off myself (she still gets annoyed that we only had chips and salsa that night with our multiple margaritas). We stayed and talked until My Neighbor Felix started to close down for the night. As I was walking her back to her car, I pulled her aside, kissed her, and asked if she wanted to see me again. She said yes to that and a while later, she said yes to the rest of our lives.