Taylor’s version: One night while busting some righteous moves on the dance floor at Hightopps with my cousins Mollie and Heather, I happen to glance up and notice a boy walking through the door at the top bar. A few minutes later, I see him come down the stairs and head to the side of the dance floor. Without thinking about it for more than a second, I turn to Mollie. “I’m going to go talk to that boy,” I say, grabbing her arm and turning her toward this complete stranger. “Who? That guy?!”, she exclaimed pointing to some other towering man dancing nearby. “Ugh! No! Be right back.” I let go of her arm and head toward the boy. My heart is pounding and I’m starting to sweat. Everything is happening so fast that there isn’t time to even consider the fact he may turn me down. As I’m about two strides away I see him look up at me. I extend my hand to shake his. Our hands meet. “Hi! I’m Taylor. Want to dance?” “Cyrus. Sure.” We danced all night and then, much to the dismay of all of my cousins, proceeded to talk all night at a diner until my cousin Kelsey insisted we go home. A few weeks later I mustered up the courage to reach out to Cyrus to arrange a day and time to meet up again. Cyrus’s version: I had only been living in Maryland for about 6 months and I didn’t really know too many people in town. My roommate Nick and I decided to go out to Hightopps on a Saturday night as we usually did. We decided to venture down to the dance floor to see what DJ Lefty was spinning up. Soon after we posted up, I was approached by a beautiful girl who introduced herself and asked me to dance. I was hesitant at first because I didn’t want to leave Nick alone, but I said, “Sure” and we danced. A few weeks later she texted me and we hung out again. And almost 8 years later...we are getting married!

We were celebrating our 6 year anniversary in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. We’d just spent months in our jammies watching TV and not leaving our home. To celebrate our anniversary, we had decided to dress up and order in a fancy dinner to enjoy in the safety of our dining room. As the dinner came to an end, Cyrus went down on one knee and proposed. Taylor was totally shocked and couldn’t comprehend how he had managed to acquire a ring given the last 2 and a half months of quarantining. Cyrus had been planning this since March and had picked up the ring the day before the state shut down. He had been holding on to it and waiting for the perfect moment for 2 and a half months. While this wasn’t his original plan it turned out to be a cherished and intimate moment that is now a bright spot during an uncertain time.