This Snapchat Love Story Defied All Odds

It’s the ultimate romance for the social media age: Girl crushes on boy at library. She confesses her love on Snapchat. He snaps back. Their love is thwarted by missed connections. They finally meet. Love lives! It’s an epic Snapchat love story that really happened at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last week. Who said romance is dead?

It all started when Abby, a senior majoring in zoology, spied Vikings fan on UW’s campus Snap Story, and sent in a video, saying, “To the guy wearing the Vikings jersey on the UW Snap Story, I’m seriously in love with you. Find me.” That guy turned out to be Reed, a fellow senior majoring in biomedical engineering. He sent posted his own snap, asking her to meet him at a building on campus. She didn’t see his snap until it was too late to meet him, and snapped back. Eventually the two were able to organize a meet up at a local bar, but even then, they almost missed each other. By the time Reed showed up, Abby had already left, and she had to sneak in through a back entrance to get back into the bar. But at around 1:30, they finally were able to be in the same place at the same time, and greeted each other with a long hug (all recorded on Snapchat, of course).

My favorite part of this story is the way that the pair’s fellow Snapchat-loving students got involved, and followed along with the real-life rom com as it was actually happening. Students posted their own snaps, cheering the couple on. One girl said in a video, “Sitting here refreshing my Snapchat every 30 seconds just to see updates from Vikings Fan and Memorial Library Girl. Hope you guys meet up tonight!”

“If this Vikings dude does not go up and get this girl at The KK, he is dumb as hell,” one male student said in a snap. “I mean, this girl put up on Snapchat that she is in love with you, and you’re not gonna go get her?” When it looked like Abby (aka “Mystery Girl”) might not make the meeting, the same guy warned, “Don't you do this Mystery Girl! Do not do this! If you left, I'm about to be as devastated as I was when Jojo didn't win The Bachelor.”

Madison Malone Kircher at NY Mag spoke with Abby and Reed after their Snapchat meet cute went viral. “I don’t regret what I snapped, because everybody is saying how bold and funny it was, but it definitely made me look a little desperate,” Abby remarked. “But I don’t care, because obviously now I’m here.” When she recorded her initial video, she wasn’t expecting the story to go viral. “I didn’t think my snap [to Reed] would even get posted,” she said. “I hadn’t found the right lighting, or taken my hair down, or taken my glasses off. I just opened my phone and recorded my snap in one try.”

After finally meeting at the bar and hugging (“It was, um, pretty emotional,” Reed said), Abby gave Reed her number, and he walked her home. They told ­NY Mag that they’ve hung out almost every day since then, though they are not currently dating. Thus far, they’ve been dealing with a lot of attention from media and students who followed their Snapchat story. Abby told Stephanie Buck at Mashable, “When this starts dying down, we'll start going on dates then.”

Is it too much to ask that they Snapchat their first date? I’m invested.

Images: YouTube (3)