He Stole Her Heart (Literally)

Kayla was struggling with the first assignment in a computer science class that she wasn’t even sure she should be taking but nonetheless was pushing through. Her friend and original assignment partner had decided to drop the class and change their major even before the assignment deadline had been extended the first time. Now staring down the second extension deadline and still no closer to solving the ridiculous bug she’d run into, she decided to do the most sane thing, go to work. Although working a shift for her college’s tech crew was a good distraction, the topic of the impending deadline and doomed assignment came up in a conversation with a colleague. He was somewhat familiar with the assignment, although not in the class, because a friend of his had been struggling with it too and had been vocal about how the solution was a disgusting chunk of code. The colleague offered to give Kayla’s number to his friend if she wanted the help. Having already humbled herself in a few ways for this assignment, she figured that soliciting help from a stranger couldn’t hurt and agreed.

Later that evening, Simon’s friend casually mentioned that he had a colleague who was also working on the assignment that he’d finished earlier (albeit in a less than ideal way). Simon offered to help, thinking that this friend may have been stuck on something simple. The wall of text he received after texting Kayla for the first time convinced him otherwise, and they agreed to meet and work on the problem together. All was well, except for one little detail: Simon had forgotten to tell Kayla anything about himself, not even his name. This led to him walking into their meeting place (The Fireside Lounge), looking around for a few seconds, realizing his mistake, and then sitting somewhere and contemplating his options. Fortunately, Kayla spotted this, and put two and two together.

Kayla tried to explain the issues she was having but Simon was having a hard time wrapping his head around her convoluted solution. He very calmly explained that he could walk her through a more straightforward solution before the impending deadline. Kayla pulled out a piece of paper and they began jotting down notes and getting the assignment done. Just as Simon promised, he was able to help her through the assignment before the deadline and she even showed him a trick that would’ve made his solution less lengthy. Overconfident in the capabilities of the code they wrote, Simon inputted a large example and hit run, then immediately realized that it was gonna take awhile for it to compute. He looked at Kayla and said, “So what’s your life story?” Realizing that they worked well together, they agreed to become programming partners for the rest of the quarter.

A few weeks later, Valentine’s Day was approaching and Kayla was in the Fireside Lounge with a couple of friends. One of them asked her if she knew how to fold an origami heart and she offered to demonstrate for them. She always carried scrap paper in her backpack and pulled out a piece to turn into a heart. Some time later, Simon wandered into the Fireside Lounge and joined Kayla and her friends. They hung out for a bit before deciding to head to dinner and Kayla felt that the paper heart could be left behind for someone else that wanted it. Simon recognized that she had made the heart out of the paper they used the first time they met and secreted it away. Kayla wouldn’t find out that he had stolen her heart until a month later, a few weeks after they had started dating.

It’s a Thing

Simon and Kayla met a few times a week to work on the assignments for their computer science class and they quickly learned that being together was easy and comfortable. Soon they were meeting up for lunch or dinner at the dining halls around campus. Kayla even encouraged Simon to get off campus and visit Santa Cruz locales.

Their friend groups noticed that they were hanging out more and started to pester them, cue the mixed signals. Confused about where they stood but knowing that he had feelings for her, Simon asked, “Is this a thing?” And Kayla responded, “I think it’s a thing.”

She Said “Yeah”

Even after putting him through a trial by fire three months into their relationship by bringing him as her date to her sister’s wedding. Even after he accepted a full time job which moved him to Seattle for two years. Even after a pandemic where they were separated by circumstance and distance. Even after commuting between Santa Cruz and San Francisco for a year when he changed jobs. Even after all this and almost seven years, Simon got down on one knee in the shadow of a giant sequoia and asked Kayla to marry him and she said, “yeah.”