They grew up on the same block. It wasn't until they moved across the country that they connected.
Claire Friel and Christian Hurley grew up across the street from each other on New York's Long Island. Their parents claim they first met as babies — but it took decades and thousands of miles for them to get together.
Friel, now 25, and Hurley, now 26, met via dating app Hinge in L.A. But their childhood was full of near-misses.
"A bunch of really small, kind of kismet-type scenarios," Friel said. "We were probably constantly passing each other by and just never really noticing."
They briefly attended the same church. Both played in the same Little League and tagged along with their moms on trips to the same grocery store.
Friel said as a teen, she even used to joke about her cute neighbor.
"He went to a private school where he had to wear a full suit every day," she said. "So I would always be like 'Oh, who's that boy? He looks so good, he's got a suit on.'"
Friel, who went to a public school, didn't date while in high school, and then Hurley, a year older, left their suburban town for college on the West Coast.
Friel babysat for Hurley's neighbor, who spilled the news about Friel's crush to Hurley's mother. Hurley learned about it when he was visiting home one summer. His reaction?
"That's great news, but…," he said, knowing he was headed back across the country.
Years passed.
Hurley stayed on the West Coast after college and had lived in Los Angeles for years when Friel also moved to the city. They didn't quite live on the same block, but they did live about 10 minutes away from each other when they finally connected in 2023.
"It was a weekend and I was sitting at a coffee shop. And I didn't know a lot of people in California, so I was really starting to be like, 'Oh man, like I'm getting lonely,'" Friel said. "I opened up Hinge and the first 'like' that I saw was Christian, and I very much recognized him."
Her hometown crush had reappeared.
The pair ended up chatting about how they were from the same Long Island town.
"I think for him it's like, 'Oh, it's kind of coming back to me,'" Friel said.
They quickly set a first date at a local bar.
"I was so nervous because I hadn't been on a date in a while and I remember you approaching and I was like, 'Oh my God, she's beautiful.' You looked so sweet," Hurley said.
They both ordered cider.
"And I remembered thinking 'Oh OK, cool, we're in the same boat here,'" Hurley said.
Conversation came easily that night — families, backgrounds, shared experiences. They stayed until closing time.
"We were both immediately like 'This is going to work,'" Friel said.
But Friel, who works in education, was moving back to New York in just a few months for a job.
"Neither of us really knew what was going to happen when I moved back," she said.
While Friel's cousin was supposed to help her make the cross-country trip back to New York, Hurley ended up stepping in as Friel's travel buddy when she moved that August.
Long-distance didn't last long. Hurley, who works in film directing and shooting, followed Friel back to New York a few months later.
"I feel like a month in I was like, 'I don't want to lose out on this,'" he said.
Friel's and Hurley's parents are both divorced. Hurley said Friel's relationship with her family inspired him to reach out to his own family more. He also says Friel is funny and brings out the best in him. Friel says she loves Hurley's creativity — but he quickly jumps in to show off one of her paintings.
"I think that Christian kind of pushes me to see those things in myself as well," she said. "Being around him is almost contagious, like if he can talk to anybody, I can talk to anybody."
That first cross-country trip set the tone for other travel. The two do a lot of camping and are trying to visit all 63 National Parks. They've hit up several so far, including Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon, Shenandoah and Acadia.
One of their trips — a ski trip to Vermont — is a stand-out memory. Hurley had been skiing a few times and Friel had never been. Rather than paying for lessons, Hurley showed Friel the ropes on a bunny hill a few times before they went to the top of the mountain.
"We picked the easiest route, but it just immediately was not clicking. I was falling flat on my face probably every 30 seconds," Friel said.
It took hours to get to the bottom.
"It was really the ultimate test of our relationship," Friel said. Both thought the other would be mad, but neither one was, they said.
They have also made up for at least one missed milestone.
"We always joke about the missed opportunity to have gone to prom together in high school," Friel said.
Then, a few weeks ago, a friend of a friend threw a prom party.
"He came outside my apartment with a big sign and held it up asking me to go to prom with him," Friel said.
The pair are planning to move in together and are looking for a place to live right now.
"There's a connection — it just took a while to finally, finally meet," Hurley said.
