February 14, 2023
Junior Lila Fetter didn’t know her words were about to come true as she sang the lyrics to “Let’s Fall In Love” at CHS Jazz’s Arctic Blast concert last winter. Just a few feet away from her, Henry Collins-Thompson sat playing the piano. Fetter and Collins-Thompson have now been dating for a little over a month.
It all started the night of the concert when the jazz combo Fetter was a part of went to NYPD to celebrate.
“We ended up hanging out one on one because everyone else went home,” Fetter said. “It’s funny because it’s rare for two people to start liking each other at the exact same time, but that’s what happened for us.”
After the two finished eating, Fetter offered to give Collins-Thompson a ride home. On the way to his house, the two decided to make a quick stop at Insomnia Cookies. To their dismay, Insomnia Cookies was out of most of their cookies. So, the two went home, both certain this wouldn’t be the end of the friendship they had started.
A week later Fetter woke up to a text from Collins-Thompson.
“He was really slick and said ‘Hey, do you want to hang out? I still owe you a cookie,’” Fetter said. “I was unsure at first because I had never dated anyone, but once I actually got to know who he was I was like ‘wow, I really like him.’”
Fetter and Collins-Thompson spent the next few weeks getting to know each other as friends with strolls near the river and more pizza from NYPD. Although she tried to avoid it Fetter knew the time they spent together had romantic undertones to it.
A week later Fetter was at the library with Collins-Thompson when she felt an undeniable urge to tell him how she felt. Fetter told Collins-Thompson she was going to text him something and then run away. After typing out how she felt, Fetter ran around the corner and waited. Her waiting was quickly rewarded with a text back from Collins-Thompson reciprocating his feelings for Fetter.
“It was really sweet,” Fetter said. “We’re both each other’s first relationships and I’ve always wanted that.”
That night the two spent hours on FaceTime talking.
“The most meaningful part of our relationship is that we have both helped each other become more confident in ourselves,” Fetter said. “We love the parts of each other that we don’t love about ourselves.”
To this day, Fetter and Collins-Thompson continue to bond over music and are always up for $2 Tuesday at NYPD.
