Interestingly enough, the Indy helped fan the flames of attraction the first night I met Andrew.
We started talking at a holiday party, and Andrew promptly challenged me to a round of Dance Dance Revolution, the Wii game requiring dance moves that was being played in one corner of the room. I lost miserably, while Andrew claimed his prize: fake tattoos. Predictably, this led to another challenge: “Help me apply my prize with water from the bathroom sink?”
Within one hour of meeting this man, I found myself in a candlelit bathroom pressing a damp paper towel on his arm to affix a heart-shaped tattoo, while he did the same for me. The air crackled with our intrigue over this unexpected intimacy. We lost each other among friends after that, but Andrew passed me his number right before I left. I promised to call, but inwardly questioned this odd encounter.
I returned home that night to find Andrew smiling confidently at me from the cover of the Independent on my kitchen table; he had recently won an Indy Citizen Award. I knew he had looked familiar! My excitement renewed, I quickly read about Andrew’s award-winning activism and relished having access to such detailed informationand a worthy endorsement of characteron the stranger who just asked me out. On our second date, we went salsa dancing, and I performed much better than I had on the Wii.
We’re now celebrating three years together.
Jen Colletti and Andrew Pearson
Carrboro
