When Roommates Fall in Love

May 27, 2003 -- Looking for love in allthe wrong places?

There may be one placeyou haven't thought to look — your own home.

ABCNEWS' Good Morning America today interviewed two coupleswho started out as roommates,but then their platonicfriendships blossomed into love.

It happened in less than a yearfor Kelly Chambers, 26, and BrentIrek, 27, who say it might not havehappened at all if they hadn'tstarted sharing a Los Angeles apartment two years ago.

Kristen Schultz, 27, and TerryDollard, 28, started outas roommates in New York four years ago, but four monthsfrom today, on Sept. 27, they'll becomehusband and wife.

Answered an Ad

Schultz, an associate editor for Good Morning America contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy, first met her future husband, a producer for ESPN, when she answered an Internet ad that said two men in their 20s were looking for a third roommate.

"I preferred to live with men because I grew up with three brothers, so sort of a rowdy messy household, I would prefer that," she told anchor Charles Gibson. "And, then, there's the social aspect. You think, 'OK, these two might not bemy type, but they'll have great friends.' There was absolutely a social element to it."

It turned out that, at least as roommates, they were Schultz's type from the start.

"They were smart.They were witty.They were funny," she said.

Dollard said eight people answered the ad, four men and four women. Of them all, Schultz caught his notice.

"There were definitely some sparks flying right then and there," he said.

Schultz agreed: "Palpable chemistry from the moment of the door opening, sure."

Nevertheless, the couple at first"just became friends," Dollard said, until he made "the first move," telling her how he felt in 1999. They have since moved into their own apartment.

Mutual Friend, Chance Meeting

For Chambers, an actress and bartender, and Irek, who works for a tax-preparation service, it seemed more like a set-up than pure fate, though there was some chance involved.

"A friend that we had in common sort of let me know aboutthis room for rent, So I moved in," Irek said. "Then a week later ... "

"I followed," Chambers said, finishing the sentence.

She said Irek had called "a couple of times" before, when they had previously been introduced by the same friend, but the relationship "sort of fizzled."

She says that when they got back together — by living in the same house — "I was kind of in denial. I didn't want to get into anything. So, what would happen, was we'd stay up watching TV all night. We'd say, 'Oh, we're just friends.' "

If they hadn't lived together, she says, it wouldn't have clicked.

"We waited six months. But I don't think it would have, because we had the chance [to meet before] but it didn't happen."