Reddit user u/kouignie asked people to share the real-life meet-cute that made them feel like they were in a romantic comedy, and their responses made me sigh and "aww" all over the place:
1. "We both reached for the last pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food at the grocery store. We each insisted that other take it, and then we agreed to split it and shared it in the parking lot. We ended up chatting for more than an hour! It's been four years, and we still split a pint every Sunday!"
2. "On my first day of serving tables as a struggling grad student, I accidentally spilled four glasses of red wine on two businessmen. It fell right off my tray and onto their laps! They laughed it off and accepted my offering of soda water, but I was mortified..."
"Well, I graduated with my master's degree and applied to be an accountant at a local law firm — and the attorney was one of the men I spilled wine on! It was instant and romantic."
3. "I went on a cruise alone, went to the bar on the first day, and fell in love with a bartender on board. We snuck around the ship to see each other, and he came to my room the last night of the cruise. Now we're getting married."
4. "We both reached for the same drink at Starbucks because we both use the same unisex nickname, 'Danny.' It was an instant spark!"
5. "I was supposed to meet a date at a concert, but he was an hour late. So I bought myself a beer, pulled up a chair at a table with two dudes, and asked them if I could sit with them until my date arrived..."
"I ended up really hitting it off with one of the guys so much so that when my real date showed up and tried to put his arm around me, I shook it off and he went home. I started dating the table guy shortly thereafter."
6. "My dog fell in love with his dog — she completely froze every time she saw his dog on walks in our complex, refusing to move until they said 'Hi.' And one day, my dog rolled over right at his feet for a belly rub! So eventually, he asked for my number for a doggy playdate at a dog park, where we discovered that coincidentally, we were both about to move to the same rural location two hours away..."
"We had four dates in one week, and we signed a lease together not even two months later. We've been together for two years now."
7. "I was at a bar for my roommate's birthday, and there were way more shots than she could possibly drink, so I walked around handing them out to people, hoping I could meet a man that way. Well, I tapped someone tall, dark, and handsome on the shoulder with my very last shot, and said, 'Want to split this shot with me?' We hit it off immediately."
8. "I traveled to Seattle from Vancouver for a solo vacation, and my friend told me she had an old college friend who lived there that could give me some restaurant recommendations. So we met up to chat, then ended up getting dinner, then drinks, and the next thing I knew it was 2 a.m.! We just clicked so hard, and we ended up hanging out for the rest of my vacation!"
"We tried to date, and it ended up not working out, but it's probably the cutest way I've ever met someone."
9. "I bumped into a girl on the elevator in college. And then I bumped into her again 10 minutes later. We were both flustered because she dropped all her stuff, and we started giggling like kids. I'd always assumed I was 100% straight before that, but I just wanted to see her more. I asked her if she wanted to study with me and my friends, and we ended up dating."
"I had never felt romantically attracted to a woman before I bumped into her."
10. "I was biking in college when I overshot the pedal and got my foot stuck in the spokes. Well, my school's police had a transport program for the health center, and I found myself in the back of a cop car with a cute boy who had torn his ACL..."
11. "We met on a plane, and chatted throughout the whole long flight. I found out he was visiting the city for work, and that his workplace was right next to mine!"
"We exchanged numbers and met for drinks a few times before the pandemic hit and he had to move back to his home country, and that was it. But it felt just like a movie in the beginning!"
12. "I was binge-watching a Netflix cooking competition show, and one of the contestants caught my eye. So as a normal girl would do, I did a little bit of Instagram stalking, and ended up liking a few of his posts. Well, two hours later, I got the shock of my life when he slid into my DMs thanking me for the likes. Six weeks later, we're still chatting."
13. "When I first met my husband, I was talking about how much I like penguins, and he turned around and showed me the penguin tattoo he had on his back."
14. "In college, my friends and I decided to take a dance fitness class together, but the time slot they chose didn't work for my schedule, so I ended up signing up for a different time on my own. Well, I showed up to see a class full of thirtysomething women and their friends...and one random guy. I ended up partnering with him because we were the two oddballs. We've been together 10 years."
15. "I worked at an Indian takeout place close to the university where he played college basketball. The first time he came in, we made eye contact and I felt a literal 'zing.' Well, he started coming in every Thursday after basketball practice, and we'd always chat, until homecoming came, and the restaurant was way too busy..."
"When he came up to the counter to order and tried to chat with me, I was super dismissive because I needed to get to the next order, which I hated because I was so into him! So hyped up on crowded restaurant energy, I boldly wrote my name and number on a sticky note, slapped it onto his container, and prayed to God I didn't make a fool out of myself. Three days later, he called me, and we've been together for seven years. He's my forever partner."
And lastly, a meet-cute so cute I can't even handle it:
16. "I was living in Prague at the time, feeling low about myself, and jealously watching my Italian roommate talk to and kiss all sorts of guys. I was 23 and had never kissed anyone, so I decided that the next time we were out together, I'd talk to whoever talked to me and see if I liked them enough to kiss them..."
What about you? Did you and your partner meet in a way that's straight out of a romantic comedy? Tell us about it in the comments section, and you could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post!
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.