A student says she spent months eyeing up her 'rugby boy' neighbour before finally bagging him wolf-whistling, knocking on the window and making paper airplanes reading 'marry me'.
Francesca Burrin had been revising earlier this year with her housemate when they spotted a rugby ball being thrown up and down behind their garden wall before discovering it was Joe Pearce, 21.
The 20-year-old routinely spied on her new crush from her bedroom window before slowly trying to get him to take notice of her - which Joe admits he and 'the boys' found hilarious. The anatomy and human biology student even began scrawling romantic notes on paper airplanes and even pinned up a sign on her window featuring her Snapchat username to entice the lad.
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It took three days before Joe, from Newport, finally added her account, coolly asking 'you must be the neighbour then?'.
The pair chatted online for a while before Francesca and her housemates met Joe and his friends for drinks, and quickly began dating. Now, after celebrating two months as a couple, Francesca hopes her love success story will encourage other woman to 'shoot their shot' - proving romance can be found outside of dating apps.
Meanwhile Joe admits it was 'obvious what Francesca wanted' from the start when he noticed the blinds 'twitching' and confessed that putting signs up in the window 'is not the most subtle'.
Francesca, originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, said: "When my housemate Jasmeena [Sahota, 20] and I spotted him, I said 'go to your room - there's some boys over there'. I said 'let's go see who it is'. I'd just come out of a long-term relationship so Jasmeena was pushing me into it.
"When I spotted him, I was attracted to the fact he was sporty and tall. I found him good looking. It got to the point where every time we were upstairs we'd look outside the window to see if they were there. They eventually caught on once we started knocking and whistling and stuff.
"They lapped up the attention but pretended they weren't interested, but then we finally met them. When I tell people how we met, they can't believe it because everything nowadays is the usual Tinder or Hinge. It's good because it's encouraging girls to just shoot their shot. I'd usually be too scared to do that."
Francesca had been ready to find love again after a recent break up and after spotting Joe, who studies biomedical science at the same university in Liverpool, decided to try her luck.
Francesca said: "Jasmeena said 'why don't you put your Snapchat on the window'. We didn't hear anything but about three days later, someone added me on Snapchat and it was him.
"We talked for about two months and didn't agree to go on a date or anything. Then he asked me for a couple of drinks the next day then we got on really well."
Soon after, the pair started dating and were even forced into self-isolation together as Francesca caught coronavirus.
Despite admitting it could have been make or break, Joe temporarily moving in helped them grow closer and before long, they were an item.
Francesca said: "We just got on and I ended up being his girlfriend. We became official in mid-June so we've only been properly together for two months but known each other since the start of the year.
"When we'd known each other for about three or four weeks, I caught Covid, maybe from the gym or something, and he's living with three boys. He hadn't really seen them so he had to isolate with us. He had to isolate with us after only knowing each other for about three weeks. It was make or break but we got on. It made us get on even more.
"We're not living in that house anymore because we're going into our final year of uni, so we're not actually neighbours anyone. I took my chance while I had it and thought it wouldn't matter if it didn't work out because I wouldn't see him again."
Joe had enjoyed watching Francesca and her friends spying on him from their home for weeks before getting in touch - admitting they 'weren't the most subtle'.
Joe said: "Me and the boys used to go out in the back garden and mess about when it was hot. We'd always be out there. We clocked a few times that blinds would twitch on a window on the opposite side of us. Eventually we caught on and we'd look over, then their heads would disappear.
"In the end we used to know and pretend we weren't paying attention then eventually we caught their four heads and they disappeared. It was quite funny. One day she put that note in the window and me and the boys saw it. We fell about laughing - it was funny.
"I decided to add her on Snapchat. I had an idea what she wanted - it was a bit obvious. A big note in the window kind of says it - it wasn't the most subtle.
"We'd just got together then the next day, just as I went back to my house, Francesca text me saying 'I just got a positive Covid test'. I didn't want to stay in the house so she said 'you might as well come and isolate with me'. We've been together about two and a half months now and things are going well."
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