Neil and MJ don't remember for sure when they first met. It was definitely in the summer of 2008, after Neil moved to Los Angeles for an internship at Universal Pictures. They do know for sure that Neil and Henry met before Neil and MJ met.
The first time they remember hanging out was in September of that year, at a pirate-themed birthday party MJ and her roommates at the time threw at their apartment in Burbank. The party is memorable to both of them, because Neil was manning the grill that day and grilled up a fireball that singed his hair, face, and the tree above the grill. Neil was embarrassed, MJ felt bad they invited "the new guy" and then set him on fire.
A little under a year later, Neil asked MJ out. Over text. She turned him down. Not to worry folks, this only made Neil realize he had to take his time and try again. And thus began a year-long slow game that Neil likes to call "tricking MJ into dating me." And in September of the next year, he tried again. He asked her out on a date, in person this time, and she said yes.
Their first date was on September 10th, 2010. They had dinner and saw a movie. It was a good first date, and MJ agreed to go on a second date. But their third date was really memorable. From Neil's point of view, it was a nightmare, everything went wrong. He locked his keys in his car, with it still running, in a rough area of downtown Los Angeles. They had to wait by the car for 45 minutes until a locksmith could come unlock the car. For MJ, it was perfect. That date was when she realized she really liked Neil and wanted to continue dating him.
The next two and a half years saw a lot of changes for Neil and MJ; each of them started new jobs and moved to new apartments, they made new friends, and Neil decided to attend business school full-time. All the while, Neil and MJ continued dating, falling more in love, and by Spring of 2013, Neil knew he wanted to do next.
On Saturday, May 18th, Neil took MJ to breakfast while a friend left a box Neil had prepared on MJ's doorstep. When MJ and Neil arrived at her apartment after breakfast, she was really confused about the box and asked a lot of questions and generally made opening the gifts in the box more difficult that it should have been. The gifts were tokens and reminders of the past three years, and the last gift was a ring.
Neil and MJ are very excited to be getting married, and so looking forward to celebrating with their friends and family in September!
