Tinder is sending a pair of procrastinating college students who have never before met on a dream date in Hawaii, three years after they started messaging each other on the dating app.
Kent State University students Josh Avsec and Michelle Arendas started messaging each other in September 2014 and have continued sporadically ever since, The Associated Press reported.
Avsec, 22, told BuzzFeed News that he thought Arendas, 21, seemed "different" from other girls he had been matched. He sent her a message that simply said, "Hey Michelle," in September 2014.
"Hey sorry my phone died!" Arendas replied two months later, kicking off a running gag that has continued for three years.
Back and forth the pair messaged, each time with excuses to explain why it had taken so long to write.
"Sorry Michelle, I have made a horrible first impression," Avsec wrote in May 2015. "I (got) really caught up with finals."
Arendas responded seven months later.
"Hi, I really do apologize for just now getting back to you, I've just had a really busy week," she wrote.
Arendas told BuzzFeed News that she often deleted and re-downloaded the Tinder app, and so she’d often miss messages.
"I was not really expecting he would message me back and play along with it," she told the news website. "I thought my message to him would be the end of it."
Avsec, 22, posted a screenshot of their running conversation on Twitter last week.
Hahahaha one day I'm going to meet this girl and it's going to be epic. Look at the dates of our tinder texts. pic.twitter.com/DASQK4c5cX
— Josh Avsec (@Wes_03) July 8, 2017
Tinder took notice.
“It’s time you got together (in real life),” representatives of the dating platform wrote on Twitter. “You have 24 (hours) to decide the city you want to have your first date in and we’ll send you there!”
Good things come to those who wait ⌛️
— Tinder (@Tinder) July 10, 2017
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! @mch_rnd https://t.co/7r2JQtcxKC
— Tinder (@Tinder) July 10, 2017
After some back and forth, Avsec and Arendas settled on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
"We're sending you to Maui, but you can't take two years to pack your bags!" Tinder wrote Tuesday in a tweet.
Honestly just a huge s/o to the internet! thx for making some of my dreams come true, I've always been a big fan !!!!!!
— Michelle Arendas (@mch_rnd) July 11, 2017
My mouth is literally sore because I have been smiling nonstop for 3 days straight.
— Josh Avsec (@Wes_03) July 12, 2017
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