Alex moved to New York’s Upper West Side in January 2008 from New Jersey when he decided to go on 100hookup. He wanted to meet a nice, hookup girl – someone not too religious, but someone who was proud of her Judaism – a girl with strong family values who was attractive, fun, career-oriented, and just an all-around great person to be around.

Melissa had tried 100hookup at the insistence of her friends and had actually met someone that she dated seriously in the past. She rejoined 100hookup after finding herself single again, but was not actively pursuing a relationship.

In March 2010, Alex was browsing 100hookup and came across Melissa’s profile. He thought she was adorable, so he winked at her. Melissa logged on to check her email that same day and noticed that a cute guy had winked at her. With the encouragement of one of her friends, Melissa instant messaged Alex. They exchanged phone numbers and Alex called Melissa that night to set up a time to meet the next weekend.

Alex and Melissa met at the boat basin on the West Side. Expecting the worst, Alex allotted himself a two-hour window before needing to meet some friends on the east side. Pleasantly surprised, Melissa looked just like her picture, but was even cuter. They talked and walked for two hours and neither of them wanted the date to end, but both had prior commitments. They shared a cab across town and made a plan to meet up again later in the evening to watch the Yankees game. Melissa is a huge Yankees fan and was excited that Alex liked them too.

Alex’s first impression of Melissa was that she was athletic, beautiful, petite, intelligent, caring, but not what he expected – and definitely not someone whom he would have expected to fall in love with. She was different from every other girl he had ever dated. He thought she had a good head on her shoulders and was easy to talk to. He found himself wanting to talk to her for hours.

Melissa’s first impression of Alex was that he was very tall, athletic, smart and fun to be around. He was even cuter than his picture and had a million friends on Facebook (she thought there definitely had to be something wrong with him, why was he still single?).

After their first date, Melissa and Alex talked practically every day and became very close. Their personalities are quite similar, they can both talk to anyone and be comfortable in almost any situation. They say they balance each other out, and each bring a different strength to the relationship – Melissa helps Alex make decisions and provides advice, while Alex is very caring and takes care of the little things that Melissa doesn’t have the patience for. Over the next six months, they became best friends. Both Melissa and Alex grew close to each other’s families as well, and spent a lot of time with both sets of parents and sisters.

Around Thanksgiving of 2010, Alex’s work responsibilities increased and the stress began to put a strain on their relationship. Alex just wasn’t ready to move to the next level. But a few months later, around January 2011 (about the time of Alex’s birthday), the couple got back in touch. Neither could remember why they started talking again. Even though they were both dating other people, they remained close and their friendship grew, they were suddenly speaking or emailing almost every day. They both relied on each other for support and advice – with one of them leaning on the other more so at times – and they maintained their friendship. When they would go a few days without speaking, it felt almost lonely, like something was missing.

In the Spring of 2012, Alex asked Melissa’s professional opinion on a house that his parents were looking to purchase. Alex was in New Jersey with his parents and Melissa was on her way home from Philadelphia where she was visiting her best friend. Alex asked Melissa to see the house and picked her up from the train station. Melissa was greeted by Alex’s parents and uncle, the three of them still could not figure out how Alex could have broken up with Melissa. Ultimately, Melissa helped Alex’s parents pick the house that was right for them and they credit her every day with the best decision they ever made.

Alex and Melissa’s family could not understand how the two could be such good friends and not date – especially when Alex and Melissa went to Alex’s parents’ house and niece’s birthday parties together, but not as a couple! Both just liked hanging out together.

Melissa had shoulder surgery in May 2012 and Alex came to visit. He even made dozens of cupcakes from scratch. It was obvious to Melissa’s parents that something was going on between them and they finally said to Alex – make a decision, it’s obvious you have feelings for her or you wouldn’t be here. Ultimately, they decided to spend more time together that summer to figure out if there really was something between them. They went away for the weekend with some friends to upstate New York, spent a few days in Key West with Alex’s best friend, and celebrated the hookup holidays with Melissa’s family. It was clear to both of them that they loved each other, and should be together as a couple.

Happy to be dating seriously, they decided to take things one day at a time and see where they wound up. However, in September Alex announced that his friend wanted to rent his apartment starting in November. Alex eagerly agreed to rent his apartment and told Melissa he was going to move in with her. Now, they had talked about living together down the road, but Melissa’s reaction was priceless: “WHAT???” They moved in together that October, and Alex proposed to Melissa at her favorite sushi restaurant on December 17, 2012. He asked her sister to be there to document the moment and to help make it a surprise.

Melissa and Alex were married on July 21, 2013 with all of their most cherished family and friends in attendance. It was truly the most amazing beginning to the next chapter of their life together, and the culmination of a very special dating story made possible by 100hookup.

Melissa and Alex
New York, New York

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