The history of Cheryl and Vin, or, more appropriately, of their courtship, seems to have one central theme: beverages. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. You'll see what I mean soon enough.

It started back in February of 2002. They had both attended a poetry reading arranged by their mutual friend Veronica, at a coffeehouse in downtown Jersey City. They didn't meet at the reading but afterwards when a bunch of the people that attended went to a local bar & grill to chit-chat and get something to eat.

Rolando (Veronica's boyfriend [editor's note: Rolando and Veronica were recently married] and Vin's childhood friend) and Vin were discussing Olympic sports. Vin was explaining why he didn't think that baseball, basketball, and the like shouldn't really be in the Olympics because they weren't really a testament to an athlete's ability, or something like that. Cheryl, sitting across from Vin, asked him to go into more detail. A small discussion followed and that was that. Though they didn't say anything else to each other for the rest of the night, Vin kept stealing glances at Cheryl during the time they were there.

Later on, Vin ordered a fresh glass of Coca-Cola, and was sitting across from Veronica when he made an arm movement and spilled the entire glass of Coke all over his lap. This wouldn't be the last time.

The next time Vin and Cheryl met was at a party thrown by Veronica and Rolando. Since it was on the eve of Vin's birthday, he decided to partake in some shots with friends. By the time Cheryl arrived (Vin opened the door for her to let her in) Vin was feeling pretty good. Vin asked Rolando about her and was told that Cheryl was indeed single and that he should go and talk to her. Vin replied that he was not in the right state of mind. But the seed had been planted.

During the course of the night, Vin started to feel not-so-right and spent some time in the bathroom. At first, Rolando and Sheelagh (another mutual friend) took care of Vin in his time of need. At one point however, it went from Rolando and Sheelagh to Cheryl taking care of Vin. How the hell did this happen?! Vin thought. Unbeknownst to Vin, Rolando and Sheelagh had told Cheryl that Vin had taken aliking to her. Vin had literally pushed her out of the bathroom. The next time he looked around, Julman, Cheryl's brother, was sitting there. Not to help, but because he needed to use the bathroom.

Beverages: 2 Vin: 0

Wanting to make a good impression on Cheryl, Vin e-mailed Rolando and Sheelagh, thanking them for their help that night with his “illness”. He also asked if he could get Cheryl's e-mail address to thank her. A few days later, Vin received her e-mail address.

It should be noted here that Vin had a plot in mind. He would thank Cheryl for taking care of him, start a dialogue, then ask her out.

The best laid plans, they say....

Cheryl wrote back saying Vin was welcome, that it was no big deal. Then she asked Vin out for coffee. Vin read and re-read the e-mail about a dozen times just to make sure that he was reading it correctly. He replied in the positive.

Their first date was on March 22, 2002, (which Cheryl usually forgets, though it is the birthday of one of her best friends) at a downtown sushi restaurant. Vin waited outside for Cheryl to show up, all the while getting strange looks from passersby because of the bouquet of flowers he was holding. When she finally showed, Vin handed her the flowers and they went inside to be seated. They talked about movies, comic books, a whole assortment of things.

It was a good night. So good they actually had a second date.

On their second date, they saw Monster's Ball. Afterwards, they went to a Starbuck's coffeeshop. [ed.'s note: Vin does not, as a rule, drink coffee. And he hates the likes of Starbuck's and all their weird and deceiving descriptions for their sizes of drinks. Call it a large damnit, not a grande, for chrissake's.]

While they were talking, Vin with all his smoothness, spilled his hot extra-large-grande-supreme tea all over his lap. As he was cleaning up his mess, a woman sitting at the table behind them asked if he was all right. “It's all right,” Cheryl said. “He does this all the time.”

Beverages: The winner!

Thus began a relationship not only based on love but an ongoing bickeringfest where neither one gets the best of the other, and they both laugh a hell of a lot.