“You look like funrich9,” Julie Ann Mollo wrote in her first message to her future husband. “Are you an Anthony or a Tony?”
“Never a Tony,” replied Anthony Michael Verderame. Somehow it was the perfect call and response. They messaged on Hinge, where they first connected five years ago, and texted every day after.
A week into their correspondence in October 2019, Mr. Verderame still hadn’t asked Ms. Mollo out. “I usually only give guys one or two days,” she said. So when he still hadn’t made the request, “I said, ‘You should ask me out.’”
So he did, and they planned a date at the Great Georgiana, a bar in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Mr. Verderame had since shaved the beard he was sporting in his Hinge photos. “She kept telling me I looked like John Belushi,” he said. “So, I thought it was over.” But his impression changed when she suggested a second drink.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT“He was super cute,” said Ms. Mollo, who happens to be a fan of John Belushi. The connection quickly became clear. They talked for hours. He walked her home. Then, Mr. Verderame said, “I smooched her.”
The next morning, he texted, “I may or may not have an extra ticket for this band we both love.” He had to tell his best friend, Christian Marshall, he was no longer going. The two went to see Saves the Day at Elsewhere in Bushwick a week later.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.rich9