IN THE MIDDLE of July two American students went viral after one of them shared screenshots of a joke that had been going on for three years.
Josh Avsec and Michelle Arendas who both attend Kent State University in Ohio matched on Tinder back in September 2014.
Josh made the first move and said “Hey Michelle” and she didn’t reply for two months.
When she got around to it, her response was “Hey sorry my phone died!” The excuses about their busy lives then went on for the next three years.
When Josh posted the tweet it didn’t take long before it received 100,000 likes. So naturally, it got back to Michelle.
People were immediately telling the pair to get married.
lauren💕 / Twitter
lauren💕 / Twitter / Twitter
By total coincidence, they had pretty similar profile pictures.
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In two days, Tinder finally decided to comment on the story. They shared Josh’s tweet and wrote “It’s time you got together IRL. You have 24 hrs to decide the city you want to have your first date in and we’ll send you there!”
So they chose Maui in Hawaii.
You could do a lot worse.
The pair were delighted. They’ve both gained over 20,000 followers each on Twitter since the exchange with Tinder. People are obviously dying to see how their first date goes.
Of course, it’s pretty scary for most people to imagine going on a weekend away with someone that they’ve only ever met on Tinder. The exact thing your parents warn you not to do on the internet.
So yesterday, Good Morning America allowed the couple to meet for the first time live on air.
Their nerves were actually palpable, which makes sense. They’re just regular people who don’t usually go on one of America’s most watched breakfast-time TV shows. That made it all the more endearing.
It’s a wonder that both of them actually showed up on time.
Here’s how it went down.
If the video won’t play, click here.
They did a quick Q&A to get to know each other and break the ice before meeting face to face and it emerged that they are both huge fans of The Office. Then again, who isn’t? Their story and ongoing private joke has serious Jim and Pam vibes.
They were asked how it felt to finally meet in person and Josh said it was “the best meeting [he] could possibly imagine… Amazing.” They both agreed that it had been a crazy adventure.
The host then mentioned that Josh’s sister actually met her fiancé on Tinder and Josh said “it kind of gave me some hope! They’re getting married in November!”
No pressure, Michelle.
You can’t help but feel very happy for the pair, but also extremely jealous that they just got a free trip to Hawaii and probably some decent spending money from their Good Morning America appearance.
The most you can get from Tinder in Ireland is someone to pay for a spicebag for you and that’s rare enough.
Now Michelle is even using the exposure that the whole experience has gotten her to raise awareness for several charities, including education, shelter, food and clothing for Honduran children, fundraising for ALS and a charity that helps people with Leukemia and Lymphoma cancer.
Hopefully everything works out for them. If not, at least they’ve got a great story to tell everyone for the rest of their lives.
