13-06-2025
Building Things Together Became Their ‘Love Language'
The police broke up the party where David Van Fleet Bloys and Joseph Justin Whited first met in June 2012. But that was the only breakup the two would experience.
The get-together was in Georgetown at the private home of a Washington lobbyist. Zach Robbins, the lobbyist's assistant and a mutual friend of Mr. Bloys and Mr. Whited, managed the guest list and told Mr. Bloys there was someone he wanted him to meet.
Mr. Whited was unaware of this matchmaking plan. 'I came with my roommate,' he said.
This was no frat party. Guests were mostly 'post grads and lobbyists,' said Mr. Bloys, who goes by Van. Nevertheless, a neighbor called the police to complain about the noise. So, although the two connected, they didn't exchange numbers.
Luckily, they bumped into each other not once, but twice at the Penthouse Pool & Lounge, a private club in the U Street corridor of Washington.
At the second chance meeting, in early July, Mr. Whited recalled thinking, 'There's that hot guy from the party. Should I go say hi?' The two exchanged phone numbers and social media handles that day.
'Once we got connected, we quickly got to texting,' Mr. Bloys said. Their first date was a few days later: dinner at a neighborhood wine bar called Cork. 'It was nice to be one on one after meeting at a big party, and we hit it off immediately,' Mr. Bloys said.
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