John and Nikki both saw an ad for a dating app called Hater, which was initially borne out of a comedy sketch idea for a fake dating app that matches you based on things you both hate. We were a 92% match - both haters of bad grammar and Donald Trump and lovers of bread. Since then, the things we hate together has only grown, and we think we may have finally hit 100%. Sadly we will never be able to confirm this, because the app has been deleted forever.

John and Nikki picked out a ring in February of 2020, right before things got ~ weird ~. John had been planning for something special around her birthday in April but the pandemic had other plans. John decided he would try to wait a couple of weeks for the pandemic to pass (ha) but as July approached, with no end in sight, he decided he couldn't wait any longer. He planned a day trip to the beach with Nikki. Nikki countered that plan by saying "oh, I told my friends we're going to be at the beach this weekend and they said we should just go there". John tried to act like this did not derail his plan. He woke up at 4:30 that morning and removed the ring from its hiding spot (inside the PC he built) and moved it to the car. He then spent 4:30-7:30 inside the car, worried someone would break into the car and find the ring. They spent the day on the beach with their friends. John asked Nikki if she's "still good to leave around 2:30/3" every 5 minutes for 3 hours. She continued to say "yes that's fine". She thought he was acting weird because he was tired. Everyone else also thought he was acting weird. After they got up to leave the beach, one of their friends said "John was really itching to get out of here". John said "I'd love to drive down to the lot where your grandpa's beach house used to be and do a crossword together, just the two of us. I think it would be a nice thing to do together before we drive home." Nikki accepted, she loves crosswords and she loves when John is weird. They got to the empty lot (previously desecrated by Hurricane Sandy) and leaned on the railings of the path to the beach, just the two of them. John presented her with a themed crossword. Once they finished the crossword, he handed her a cryptex. She opened the cryptex with the crossword theme and found the ring inside. It was the best day.