Soon to be Married

It was our Junior year at Duke, Fall 2021. After a year of a lot of isolation from Covid, Paige was ready to grow her social circle. Her friend Andrew had the idea that Paige. should play video games with my friend Morgan. So, Paige headed — not realizing that the spoonful of honey she’d eaten beforehand had left her hands subtly, disastrously sticky. Morgan welcomed her in, they booted up Overcooked, and chaos immediately took over. Morgan launched into full Gordon Ramsay mode — shouting dramatic critiques at cartoon vegetables — while Paige tried not to glue the controller to her palms. Somewhere between the laughter, the kitchen fires, and Morgan’s theatrical “IT’S RAW,” something unexpected started simmering. A tiny spark. A little warmth. The very first hint of something that might, one day, turn into love. And that’s how it all began — a sticky‑handed, joyfully chaotic night that turned into something real.