Heather's first three years of teaching were spent with second and third graders in Virginia. She was in Manassas in November 2008 when the five-year high school reunion rolled around. Girlfriends Nicole and Kim pestered her into going.
In Pennsylvania, Steve hadn't thought much about the reunion until that night. He and buddy Andrew were bored, so they walked there.
The fact that Heather had a boyfriend did not stop the butterflies in her stomach when she spotted Steve. "Go talk to him," said another friend named Nicole, who knew of Heather's high-school crush.
"She was easy to talk to, as am I," Steve said. "We could have talked all night long." They talked for more than an hour, but then returned to their own friends.
There was some online contact, and then in January 2009, Heather got an out-of-the-blue phone call. Steve was in Virginia to pick up paintball equipment. Could he stop by on the way home?
"I was freaking out," said Heather, now 26. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend.
Steve, who is 27, arrived at 10 p.m. They talked for 45 minutes and shared a friendly hug goodbye.
For reasons not related to Heather, Steve and his girlfriend had a fight on the phone later that night and broke up.
Steve and Heather began talking on the phone "until our ears hurt," he said. Heather came to Pennsylvania for summer recess, and she and Steve started to hang out. By the time summer ended, she realized she didn't want to go back. This time, Steve felt exactly the same way about her.
They dated long-distance until June 2010, when Heather moved back to Pennsylvania.
