1. The Girl Who Fell For Her Arch Enemy

“I met my boyfriend our Freshman year in high school. We were both politically active and, of course, he was a conservative and I was a liberal. I led protests and a few on campus marches in support of a number of liberal issues. We basically hated each other, used to talk shit about each other, really demonized one another and the funny was that neither of us were particularly extreme. We were both nice to ‘the other side’ on campus. It was just he and I that had all this animosity.

And it probably would have continued like that all four years if we hadn’t randomly ended up sitting on a couch together at a party on election night in 2012. He struck up a conversation which I now really think was brave of him and I realized that he was really funny and not at all the angry dude I thought he’d be.

Yeah, so we made out that night, dated afterward, and got married two years ago. I know, it’s ridiculous.”

—Jane, 22

2. The Guy Who Fell For His Little Sister’s Bestie

“My girlfriend is best friends with my sister and the only times I used to see her was when she and my sis were drinking and so I had this impression of her as ‘the most annoying girl in the world’. It didn’t help that I also thought she was hot so in my head it was like ‘she’s so pretty but also such an idiot.’

I thought this way about her for literally three years until my sister invited me to go see the new Star Wars with them. I went and discovered that she wasn’t annoying at all. She was just an annoying drunk…just like everyone else.

Anyway, I hung out with her and my sister a few more times before I asked her out. Her number one complaint she confessed about me was, you guessed it, that I was annoying and overbearing when I was drinking.

So I guess we’re the same person, lol.”

—David, 24

3. The Girl Who Gave A Nervous Guy A Second Shot

“I thought my boyfriend was a total big talking idiot when I first met him through a friend. We went on one date and he talked about himself the entire time and I was sure he was a completely self centered jackass. I ended the date early and told my friend there wouldn’t be another one. She begged me to give him one more shot, said she’d known him since they were kids and that he had a big heart.

So, I gave in and he just came clean to me on our second date that he’d been really nervous and wanted to come across confident. After that the second date was really relaxed and we spent the whole evening laughing and smiling. Really, the best date I’d ever been on. We’ve been dating over a year now and I couldn’t be happier. Don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t given him another shot and he hadn’t been honest with me.”

—Mary, 26

4. The Competitive Assholes Who Couldn’t Ignore The Sexual Tension

“My wife and I hated each other and I mean hated each other when we first met. We’re both competitive and for some reason a really small disagreement about religion one night at the bar with our mutual friends turned into this long standing grudge. Like, our friends didn’t know if they should invite both of us out with them at the same time or not.

But they did, and we continued to fight until her best friend literally told us to get a room one night. It’s weird but up until that point I hadn’t noticed that there really was this huge sexual tension going on between us. We made out in this super sloppy drunk way later that night and suddenly we didn’t fight anymore and were nice to one another.

Men and women are weird. Love is even weirder.”

—James, 28

5. The Guy Who Was So Nervous He Couldn’t Shut Up

“My now husband is a doctor and he was a doctor when we met on our first date. I also thought he was a crazy person because he showed me a picture of a brain scan of one of his patients and talked about the difficulty in doing a biopsy on brain cancers.

I literally thought he might be a murderer because who wants to look at cancerous brains during dinner? He followed up with a really strong text game though and I found myself agreeing to go out with him again despite having serious reservations about his social skills.

It turns out he just freaked when I asked about his job and instead of just giving me a little information he felt like he had to give me ALL the information. The second date was great after that. I think sometimes we’re all too hard on one another on first dates. Unless they’re mean to you or you aren’t attractive I think it’s almost always worth another shot.”

—Gina, 27

6. Stealing Your Best Friend’s Crush

“My story is a little strange. My current boyfriend who I love very much was originally a crush of one of my best friends. She was and sadly still is the kind of girl who just can’t stop falling for guys who are assholes and will always be assholes. As a result, when she fell for my boyfriend I assumed he was also an asshole even though he wasn’t into her. I used to talk him down to her and tried to steer her towards people I thought would be good to her and I honestly just hated him by default.

Fast forward a year and I meet him for probably the third time in a totally different context and we end up having to talk to each other and I discover that he’s a really great and sensitive guy and super smart. We started dating and that was a little awkward with my friend at first but she was already with someone else by then so it was hard for her to complain.”

—Ashley, 25

7. The Snobby Girl Who Won His Heart

“I thought my wife was a pretentious snob when we first met because she talked to literally no one the first night I met her. A mutual friend of ours had asked her to come out with the whole group and she basically just nodded yes or no all night. She also had a really great education and so I figured she was just uncomfortable being around non-academic types.

Nope, turns out she’s just shy and really wanted to get into the evening and have fun but was too nervous to do it. She’s gotten a lot less shy over the years we’ve been together but people still sometimes think she’s snotty which makes me sad because she’s actually the complete opposite.”

—Marvin, 32