On a summer night in Montgomery County, MD Brittany and Kyal found themselves at a mutual acquaintance's house reminiscing over HBCU history (don't you dare say "little state") and common interests like Gospel choir, bible study, food, graduate school aspirations and relocating to Maryland from Virginia. After a short but really awesome introduction, Kyal and Brittany were encouraged to stay in touch and support one another's goals ... but just be friends.

After a couple years of random check-in texts, routine birthday wishes and "future career" conversations, Brittany and Kyal decided to start hanging out more regularly. From evening drives around Montgomery County to rock climbing sessions in Columbia, MD; family board game and bar b que nights to pet fish sitting, Kyal and Brittany had lots of fun and lots of conversation about next steps in life, friendships, relationships and processes. During one family game night, Kyal and Brittany talked about the differences in dating styles and flirted with the idea of possibly dating for 21 months after a family member made the observation that Brittany had technically fit in better with the family than any past fling any family member had brought home. After careful consideration... the "Let's do this!" turned back to a "let's just stay friends first".

2015 saw Brittany and Kyal circling one another's parents more than ever before. At milestone birthday celebrations or during cross country road trips for college prep, God-parents and parents started taking more notice of the friendship between Kyal and Brittany. Unbeknownst to Brittany and Kyal, this may have been the start of a positive foundation for their future relationship.

After many fun times surrounding binge watching anime, re-watching Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox or Hotel Budapest, conversations over salmon about raising children in church, marriage potentials and focused work on career moves, Brittany and Kyal had made really strong strides in their projected life paths. Kyal finally stabilized his career and established his own household but was still single. Brittany had wrapped up a strong career in Maryland and was projecting to move back to Illinois, but was also single. On a celebratory night at Honey Pig in Germantown, Brittany and Kyal revisited the conversation from 2014... and it was made clear that a romantic future was highly possible, but the "just be friends" advice had gotten in the way. Feeling that it would be too much of a rush to make something happen at the beginning of a major move, the two decided to continue staying in touch over long distance while holding off on any major decisions.

After years of silence (minus the routine birthday texts), Kyal and Brittany found themselves face to face again - at a wedding, of all places. Kyal had heard that Brittany was in a relationship but didn't know it wasn't true. Being respectful, Kyal kept conversation with Brittany friendly and cordial, even in the face of his aunt's blatant query about a marriage to dance at in the future when spotting the two talking. At the end of the night, Brittany addressed the years of silence and perceived disinterest by informing Kyal that her number had never changed. At the moment of her walking away... like something out of a romance movie, Kyal grabbed her by the hand and walked her out of the venue in view of everyone. Brittany and Kyal talked briefly about the misunderstanding and years of trying to follow friendly advice while suppressing romantic feelings. The two decided to resume the conversations over the phone and never stopped talking from that point forward.