Partners Sam Collins and Cricket Osborn met in Chicago and have been together for about three years.
They spoke about the somewhat chaotic start to their relationship and their decision to choose love over fear.
Cricket Osborn: Our story started on Tinder in 2021.
Sam Collins: Yeah, in Chicago, and –
Cricket Osborn: You slid into my Tinder.
Sam Collins: Yeah, I messaged Cricket, and I think I was on Christmas break, so we, like, talked for a while, and then –
Cricket Osborn: It was really awkward.
Sam Collins: Yeah.
Laughter
Cricket Osborn: I didn't know how to look her in the eye, and it was really cold out, and I kept walking in and out.
Sam Collins: Oh, my god, yeah, and I, like, walk everywhere. So, I could, like, see them from down the street. I was like, “Oh, that's definitely them because they –“
Cricket Osborn: Pacing…
Sam Collins: – they looked so nervous. It was funny.
Cricket Osborn: We kept talking, and we went on a second date to a coffee shop, and then we went to the thrift store, and [I] also had a very hard time, like looking at her.
Sam Collins: Yeah, Cricket sat, like, sideways in the chair.
Cricket Osborn: I just felt so awkward. It was, like, my first time dating since I'd started testosterone. So, I was just, like, an anxious mess, but also, like, super excited, but more so anxious.
Then we went to the conservatory for our third date, and, like, I invited my roommates – my best friends, and it was really fun. It was a good time.
But afterwards, Sam was like, “I really wanted to kiss you,” and then I got so nervous that I was like, “We could be friends?”
Sam Collins: Yeah, I think you’re, like, “Oh, you should have” over texts.
Cricket Osborn: Yeah, I did say that.
Sam Collins: You were, like, ballsier over texts, and then, like, a couple days later, you decided you just wanted to be friends.
Cricket Osborn: Yeah.
Sam Collins: And I was sad about it. I was like, “Oh, whatever, I guess we’ll just be friends,” and then all of my group of friends were like, “Why would you do that? That's silly because, like, you're obviously into this person.”
But then we hung out, like, one or two more times –
"It was, like, my first time dating since I'd started testosterone. So, I was just, like, an anxious mess, but also, like, super excited, but more so anxious."Cricket Osborn
Cricket Osborn: And then I was like, “I'm so sorry. I actually want to be more than friends.” Like, as soon as I said it, I wanted to take it back, and then, yeah, after that, we just basically didn't stop hanging out.
Sam Collins: The day that I realized that we could work as like a relationship, we had a really awesome Valentine’s Day.
Cricket Osborn: Oh, my gosh. It was so fun.
Sam Collins: Yeah.
Cricket Osborn: It was crazy.
Sam Collins: And, you know, we started dating in December, so it was, like, we had been dating for like, two months or something.
Cricket Osborn: But really, we had been dating, like, officially calling ourselves “partners” for like, two weeks.
Sam Collins: Oh yeah. It was still really early.
Cricket Osborn: We had so much fun.
Sam Collins: It was the first day that we had spent an entire day together, like, from morning to evening.
Cricket Osborn: All around the city.
Sam Collins: And we just, like, bopped around and ate food at like three different places, got coffee and went like shopping and just –
Cricket Osborn: And rode the most packed bus I've ever been on my life.
Sam Collins: Yeah, but it was, like, such a fun day, and, yeah, that's when I was like, “Okay, we could, like, date date.”
Cricket Osborn: Yeah, I went home and told my roommates, too. I was like, “I think we're gonna work.”
Laughter
