I was not expecting this

Of course we met on Hinge. How else can you meet someone during a global pandemic? We started talking soon after and, well, I’m not too fond of the term ‘talking’ as it felt so much more than just a mutual exchange of words. It was an exchange of emotions, of thoughts, of opinions and more. We’d call for hours, watching the skies get darker as our hearts got fuller. He became my evening downtime as much as my morning alarm and it took this separation to bring us closer and closer each day.

A July sunset was hazing over the gorge in Bristol. I packed a bag with my speaker, some ciders and a soon to be defrosted pasta salad I made the day before. Anxieties aside, I took the deepest breathe before walking around the corner to the spot we had decided to meet at. Do I run up to him like I’m reuniting with a long lost lover, or play it lowkey and let him find me? Before I even had time to make up my mind, we locked eyes.

Someone who I had built such an image of in my head was just standing there right in front of me. A mental picture had suddenly become a definitive reality. He smelt so much better in flesh form. I ran to him. We hugged. I looked up at him then we hugged again. We smiled and hugged then after we finished hugging we hugged once more. Each squeeze deepening the reality of the situation - that he was here and he was real - that this was real. The remainder of our first evening together will live forever in my mind, rent free.

How do I condense our summer into a few sentences? It was textbook falling.
We spent weekends exploring the city, a city I know so well, made to feel completely new just because he was in it.
He opened doors that the world has recently closed, bringing love and curiosity with every creak. How can two people be so similar but still learn so much from each other every day? During the summer we realised that the house he had signed for before we even met was around the corner from my place! I will forever be indebted to the universe for aligning us this way.

Everyone deserves to be loved like this. The kind of love that takes many forms, like a gentle hand hold, a belly full of potent laughter or a tender glance across the room that catches you when you least expect it, and trust me, I was not expecting this.