We met on July 9 at Tam Ave in St. Louis. Clare had stopped in for a quick drink with her friend Jessica before heading to Kyra’s birthday party, while Nick had been nearby at Ben’s with Tommy, Walt, Tim, Chad, and Ben before the group made their way over.

Nick noticed Clare at the bar and, after some encouragement from Tommy, came over to ask if he could smoke on the patio. Clare said yes, since it was a public patio, and went back to her conversation. When he came back about ten minutes later to ask again, it was pretty clear the cigarette was not really the point.

He introduced himself and offered her a cigarette. Clare said she had her own, which was technically true, except hers was a bubblegum cigarette she had been carrying around as a joke. Nick, slightly confused and a little tipsy, tried to light it. They both laughed, and it turned out to be a better opener than either of them intended.

Before the night ended, Nick tried to guess Clare’s zip code, but she got a call from her friends and had to leave for the party. They left without exchanging numbers, which seemed like the end of the story.

It was not.

Later that night, Nick found Clare on Facebook using her name and hometown. His friends gave him a hard time, and Walt bet she would not respond. Clare saw they had mutual friends, including Emma, who was sitting across from her at the party and vouched for him. That was enough for Clare to agree to a date the next week.

The date lasted ten hours, and the rest came pretty easily after that.