It all began on a freezing November night in Chicago back in 2015.

At the time, I was living in the suburbs of Chicago, about an hour outside the city. One freezing Saturday night, I had plans to reunite with some college friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Even though one friend dropped out because of the cold (classic Chicago weather), I still decided to make the drive into the city anyway, thinking, why not?

After a few shots at my friend’s apartment, we headed to good old Soundbar. When we got there, the line wrapped around the block, and there was absolutely no way we were standing outside in that weather. Somehow, with a little liquid courage, we convinced the bouncer to let us skip the general admission line and join a much shorter VIP table line instead.

In that VIP line, I ended up standing behind Justin and his group of friends.

I remember him warning me about a puddle on the ground, and somewhere between that and a little small talk, we started chatting. He invited us to his table (of course), but honestly, I had just gotten there with my friend and was fully committed to having a girls’ night with no guys involved. So once we got inside, I told him, “We’re going to the bathroom!” fully intending for that to be our polite escape.

We took our time in the bathroom, but when we finally walked back out, Justin was standing there waiting with a drink in his hand.

And honestly, I couldn’t say no to a free drink.

The rest was history. ☺︎

What was almost a canceled night out for Young became the beginning of a story neither of them could have imagined. After one of Young’s friend backed out because of the cold, she nearly called it a night herself, but decided to brave the freezing weather and head to the city anyway. Like many nights in our twenties, it led her to SoundBar.