The Castillas

Connor: It's 2022. COVID is nearly over (thanks China), Russia has invaded Ukraine, and inflation is hitting thirty-year highs. The world seemed like a grim and cold place to Connor, but then he downloaded Hinge, and it all seemed even worse. Connor had hoped that this app might be the key to finally finding love. Instead, after several months, it seemed like Hinge was the key to wasting $40 on dinner and suffering through 90 minutes of dull conversation. Connor's love life was pretty desolate, and it seemed destined to stay that way. You see, Connor was never especially lucky in love. In fact, Connor had never really been in love at all. Now, there's plenty of reasons for that: focusing on schoolwork, prioritizing his career, suffering from childhood obesity. But the simple truth is that he had just never met the right person. But that was all about to change… Lauren: Lauren had done everything right so far in life. She'd made the right grades, she'd posted the right pictures on Instagram, she'd made the right friends, but she'd never met the right guy. Of course, there was no shortage of suitors (losers), but they came and went (good riddance) (can you tell who wrote this part?). None of them gave Lauren that special spark of love that she was looking for. You see, Lauren had always been something of a romantic. From a young age, she fantasized about meeting the man of her dreams in some cute, romantic setting. But just when she was about to give up on these hopes…she did, and so she downloaded hinge instead! Lauren has always wondered whether or not hinge was as bad as people said. However, after a few months of using the app, she knew that it was actually much worse. After so many awkward conversations with over-eager, under-impressive dudes, she was pretty bummed out. By this point, meeting someone in the indigestion aisle at a CVS felt romantic when compared to Hinge. So she pretty much put the app aside. During a family trip to Vietnam, she realized she hadn’t even checked the app in weeks and decided it was time to delete it. But before doing that, she’d go through the backlog of matches that she hadn’t looked at one last time… Connor: Connor was sitting downstairs with his roommates, half watching whatever low-tier reality TV show they had put on and half scrolling through people on hinge, when he wandered across something unexpected: an actually good match. But this girl wasn’t just a good match—she really stood out. She looked amazing in her photos, without coming across like she was showing off. Her prompts were sweet and funny, without seeming insincere. In other words: she was probably out of his league. But Connor had learned that if you might as well go for broke if you are already broke, so he figured why not give it a shot. Lauren: Well, this was different. This guy who’d sent her a like... he didn’t seem half bad. In Lauren’s words her first impression of Connor was the he seemed like “a bit of douche and a little fratty,” but she also thought he was really funny and genuine. She also thought he was hot. She had just been about to delete the app for good. But this guy really stood out. Eh… what heck… she might as well match with him. If the conversation didn’t go well, that would be it. She could still just delete Hinge and move on; it’s not like she’d have to marry this “Connor” guy.

Well the rest went pretty much how you might guess. The two matched and they hit it off over text. Then they met in person and that went just as well. If Connor had known that he was having his first date with his future wife, he might have done something more romantic than getting dinner together near his office on a Wednesday. But Lauren never held it against him. Everything they did that first night was just more evidence that they had found something special. He ordered chicken fried chicken, she ordered chicken fried steak. She ordered onion rings, he also ordered onion rings. They also had a lot of personality things in common too apparently (that’s what Lauren says). They both wanted the date to continue and were so excited for the next one. From start to end, Lauren felt warmth from Connor's cheery manor, his attentiveness whenever she spoke, and his effortless ability to make her laugh. Connor was stunned immediately by how genuine and sweet Lauren was and her uncanny ability to carry herself with warmth and kindness. But best of all, they shared a love for the Lord! The first date led to a second. And a second to a third. After several dates and a few months of courtship, it was evident that this would be the relationship to take it to the finish line. And so, one year later Lauren finds herself at a park with her friend, Phoebe, taking pictures for her next Instagram venture. When she hears Connor calling her from behind where she is standing. Strange, he wasn’t supposed to meet up with her until afterwards. And now he’s walking up to her and it looks like his eyes are starting to cloud up. Just as Lauren begins to put the pieces together, he gets down on one knee and says “Lauren Chu…”