His text was, interestingly enough, sparked by a lengthy letter Lara had handwritten and left in his apartment. She believes that a handwritten note can communicate things an email cannot.

When it comes to romance, "I think there's a level of flirtatiousness that helps to sustain a relationship, and that's what I had every day with Joshua in person," Lara said.

Now that they're long distance, the pair makes an effort to fly to see each other when they can. But in the interim, "for me and Josh, being romantic is having one night a week where (we're) eating together on Skype," she said. "I think that's really romantic."