We want to play a game. Last month, we asked you for your Greenville meet cute stories for an experiment, but didn’t give many more details. The time has come to reveal our master plan.
Some of the stories below are actual, true Greenville meet cute stories. The others were written by AI. It’s your job to decide which is which. After you read the stories, take the quiz below and see how well you did.
Bakery blunder
“Here’s how I met Jake. I tripped in Falls Park, Methodical coffee spilling, cinnamon roll flying — straight into a guy who caught me. And, of course, I was wearing a white shirt. ‘You okay?’ he asked, holding my squished pastry. Turns out, he owned a coffee shop in Greer. He replaced my coffee, and then I got breakfast and a boyfriend.”
Coffee connections
“The day, May 31, 2017. The place, Coffee Underground, the seat, booth with its back to the bathroom. He wore a blue button up shirt, and had deepest voice that made me melt right in the booth. Talks of travels past and future, comparing sizes of our hands. Our sweet server had to interrupt our date and let us know everyone had left the cafe and they were locking the doors. We went back on our first wedding anniversary.”
Swamp Rabbit soulmates
“Where better to meet your spouse than Swamp Rabbit Cafe? I was reaching for the last chocolate croissant when — bam! — so was she. We both froze, not wanting to willingly give up our favorite treat. She said, ‘Rock, paper, scissors for it?’ I lost, but she split it with me. Now, we split pastries and Sunday mornings together.”
Main Street match
“I met Daniel at a red light on Main Street—literally. I was jogging, he was biking, and we both misjudged the timing. Cue a very awkward near-collision. He laughed, said, ‘Well, that’s one way to meet someone,’ and bought me coffee to make up for it. We both take our coffee black, which I think is a sign that we’re meant to be together. Good news for us, we’ve been together since then.”
Unity Park union
“I went on a first date at Unity Park last spring. We walked around the park and went to the Swamp Rabbit Cafe to grab coffee (even though he disliked coffee and didn’t tell me), and we walked around and talked so much that by the end of the date, I had a sunburn on the top of my hand from holding my coffee cup for so long. Of course I forgot all about drinking the coffee, I was too busy falling in love! I’m happy to report that we are getting married in June.”
Liberty Bridge lovers
“I was a new medical student in Greenville. He was a remote worker who chose to rent an apartment in an up and coming city ‘just for a year’ to ‘try it out.’ I swore off relationships for the first six months of school to focus on my studies. He got invited to a beginning of school year party through a friend. I wore an open back cheetah scarf top. He wore... khakis. We crossed paths on the Abanico’s dance floor. We went on our first date at Spill the Beans. We got engaged under Liberty Bridge. We will be married in November!”
Think you’ve got this down? Take the quiz to find out.
