I met my partner of 2 years when we hooked up at a brunch party. It was my first time ever being with a woman.

In the summer of 2019, Kim Borrero had no plans to attend the New York City all-girls brunch party where she met her now-girlfriend of two years, Kris Crawford. Crawford didn’t either. Borrero, who worked at the Bronx brunch venue, had the day off from work.

The 28-year-old told Insider she had plans to model (one of her other jobs) for photos that day, but cancelled last-minute since she wasn’t in the right headspace. Instead, she went to her friend’s party. While going through a low period, 32-year-old Crawford made the uncharacteristic decision to go to Sunday mass, something she hadn’t done in years.

She left church feeling spontaneous, and decided to head to her friend’s gathering, RSVPing on her way there. They both arrived alone and soon introduced themselves to each other. Immediately, the chemistry was apparent, Borrero said.

“I just gravitated towards her like, ‘This girl is really pretty and I like the way she dresses. I wanna to be close to her. I wanna be her friend.

I wanna know who she is,'” Borrero told Insider. That chance meeting was three years ago. Now girlfriends, Borrero and Crawford said open communication and genuine curiosity about each other’s worlds has kept them together and in love despite their differences.

Borrero and Crawford both showed up alone, and their pals were quick to introduce them. Crawford said she noticed Borrero’s piercing eyes right away. After a brief conversation, they parted ways, chatting to other people, until Borrero spotted Crawford sitting alone on a couch.

She didn’t know it at the time, but Crawford was waiting for her high-school ex-girlfriend, another party attendee, to sit down and reconnect, and possibly rekindle romance. But Borrero took her spot. “I don’t know if that was a sign.

Actually, I know it was a sign. And then we were inseparable after that, and my ex never tried to come and talk to me,” Crawford told Insider. They spent the next few hours talking, taking pictures, dancing, and doing shots at the bar.

Though their connection was fresh, it also felt familiar and easy, Borrero said. When Borrero’s friend asked if she’d accompany her to the bathroom, Crawford asked if she could join too. She wanted to stay around Borrero’s warm and playful energy, she said.

While the friend used the bathroom, Borrero and Crawford exchanged a look, and then a quick-yet-disarming kiss. They went back to dancing, though everyone else from the party had gone home. They took more tequila shots, then made another trip to the bathroom.

They hurried into a stall together, and Borrero had her first sexual experience with a woman, performing oral sex on Crawford. She’d experimented with a friend when she was a teenager, but never since, and she always identified as straight. “I think it was all liquid courage.

I just wanna thank Don Julio,” Borrero said. The next morning, she told Crawford it was her first time being with a woman. Crawford wanted to know if she regretted it, but she didn’t, and they never stopped talking.

Crawford, who has called herself a lesbian since 16, said she casually dated straight women before, but had reservations once she learned of Borrero’s situation. But she couldn’t deny their connection, so she decided to be curious rather than write her off. They continued to meet up over the next year, and Crawford regularly asked Borrero about her fears around dating other women, and how she envisioned her future.

“I just wanted to make sure she was as invested as I was trying to be. I did have worries about it maybe being a phase,” Crawford said. They’ve kept this open dialogue since that start, talking about everything from sexual fluidity to melding friend groups to having children.

Though they haven’t seen eye-to-eye on every topic, viewing it as a learning experience, rather than an argument to win, has made all the difference, they said. “The end goal is for us to understand each other’s perspectives and where these ideologies or thoughts come from. And remembering we’re a team,” Crawford said.

“It’s not us against each other. It’s us against the world. “.