The background to our story, from Laura's point of view: In 2009, at the cusp of our last year in high school, Aaron and I happened upon each other at our glamorous jobs at Hollister in the Solomon Pond Mall. As I crushed (hard) on Aaron, I did what most girls would do and hid in the backroom and refused to ever talk to him. As the year passed, I had countless fails, tripping over my words, and sweating when even thinking about talking to him. I tend to not fight battles I am sure to lose, so I lost any hope of a chance to be more than just a distant coworker. Then, on the night of my high school graduation celebration, I heard a doorbell and there stood Aaron Caola, an actual dream/nightmare of mine. He stayed for a few hours, I continued to embarrass myself and I spent the next ten years having faint memories of our short time together. I did, admittedly see him in a bar in 2018, but my lackluster performance from years before caused me to flee the scene in panic, rather than say hello; which is like the only reason this we're not already married ;) From Aaron's point of view: What Laura didn't realize was that her crush on me was entirely reciprocated. After making friends with the managers, I would specifically ask to be put on Laura's shifts. What must have appeared as a fortunate coincidence in working together was actually an elaborate scheme I had devised in order to spend more time getting to know her. 10 Years later, Aaron saw that I was on a dating app and immediately jumped on the opportunity to setup a date. May 10th, 2020, we had a very COVID influenced take-out date on his deck in Southie. We talked straight through the night, accidentally sweeping past mother's day celebrations (sorry, moms), and ended the night knowing this wouldn't be the last date. Fast forward 3 months and we were moving in together and 7 months after that, we made the easiest decisions of our lives, one that was likely in god's plan for us 10 years prior.