One man has refused to let the coronavirus lockdown curb his love life – by using a drone to ask out a neighbour.
Brooklyn-based photographer Jeremy Cohen, 28, first spotted his crush while she danced on the rooftop of her block.
Cohen, who said flirting doesn’t come naturally, was inspired to make a move after becoming attracted to the mysterious woman's “energy”.
In footage shared to social media, the pair shared a wave across the New York skyline before Cohen taped his phone number to a drone and flew it across to the woman.
“I can’t believe this actually works and yes this is a real story,” Cohen said in a tweet accompanying the video, which has been viewed over six million times.
“Flirting was normally daunting for me, but since I’ve been quarantining in my apartment for a week now, I was craving some social interaction,” he added.
Cohen went on to say that 2020 had got off to a terrible start “but I still needed to shoot my shot.”
The woman quickly snapped up Cohen’s date offer, responding by text just an hour later.
With some help from the mystery woman’s flatmate, Cohen organised a dinner date from their respective rooftops using FaceTime.
“It’s very Gen Z,” he later told Insider. “I Venmo’ed [a mobile payment app] her roommate for everything she did, because I wanted to treat her to dinner.”
After the first date, Cohen then asked his love interest – Tori Cignarella – out on a real date.
Keen to follow strict social-distancing guidelines, Cohen rolled over to Cignarella’s apartment in a huge plastic bubble.
“It was the first time I saw someone dancing on the roof,” he told the publication. “She just kept dancing and I was just attracted to her energy.”
Cohen went on to explain that he wasn’t sure whether the quarantine relationship would last, but would be happy to see Cignarella properly post-lockdown.
“If this doesn’t work out, which also is a possibility, I’m sure we will be close in some way, just because she’s so cool and chill,” he said.
“We’ve had this crazy experience together.”
Cignarella was impressed by Cohen’s approach, explaining that he “set the bar pretty high”.
“No one knows what day it is anymore, it doesn’t matter because we’re all just at home, so it’s kind of nice to look forward to something,” she told NBC.
Cohen first spotted Cignarella while photographing people on their balconies for a magazine.
