The Roanoker - November/December 2017 - 104

BFF | THE REAL THING

William Sellari
and Stephanie
Fallon: "I love
Stephanie and I love
her husband, too."

a marriage there, but it didn't increase the distance between them. "It was 300 miles," she says, "and we still
talked, still did all that [they had done]."
Melissa is a bookkeeper at Roanoke County Schools
and Angie is the economic development director for
Vinton. Melissa has one child, Angie three.
Angie: "We both have other best friends, but our
bond is long and we cherish that."
Melissa: "We grew up in a different time when you
had to make an effort to be social." Yep, says Angie,
"We'd go to each other's family reunions and know everybody there."
There's security in that. "When something good or
bad happens," says Angie, "she's the first person I want
to call."
Melissa calls it a "no judgment bubble, no boundaries. You know what's said is said with love and there's
nothing we wouldn't say." It is, says Angie, "a no maintenance relationship. We don't have to talk every day to
know what's going on. There's a comfort level."

And, yes, there's a ripple effect. "It works into other
relationships," says Angie. "Our kids," says Melissa,
"have learned from it; they know how we cherish our
friendship."
"It's something a lot of people never have," says Angie.
"It's like an appendage," adds Melissa, finishing Angie's sentence, as the two often do.
WILLIAM SELLARI (36) &
STEPHANIE FALLON (31)
But for the simple fact that Stephanie Fallon was already
married when she met William Sellari in 2016 at the
Taubman Museum of Art (where Stephanie is adult education manager), this relationship might have evolved
differently. However, "I love Stephanie and I love her
husband, too," says William, who works at Foot Levelers
and makes movies.
These two are like a 1930s romantic comedy, engaging in what Stephanie calls "verbal sparring" nearly constantly. With others, their exchanges often "fell on deaf
ears," but they heard each other from the beginning.
After they met, says William, "we didn't stop talking for
a year." He's "more fervent," says Stephanie, "kind of the
king of wild tangents."
They meet for lunch, go to antique shops together,
hang out. She has an understanding and supportive husband, who "is not remotely threatened," says Stephanie. His girlfriend is equally understanding. "William
and I do not have that weird tension" that might occur
were neither married. She says they enjoy spur-of-themoment experiences that their flexible schedules allow.
From the beginning "there was a kinship that we recognized as a special thing," says Stephanie. "I was newlymarried, but it seemed obvious that we were 'bests'."
They said it "out loud on Day 3," she says, recognizing
"similar sensibilities."
William likes it that Stephanie "understands how to
fight" and she says, "I trust him wholeheartedly. If I
need him, he'd drop everything. No, it's not scary. It's
amazing."
If conversation moves to the edge and begins to look
like it might get out of hand, they have an "unsafe word"
that is said, stopping the disagreement. And the conversation goes on.
"I think we'd love to live in a commune," says Stephanie. "That's the dream."
ANGELA DRINKARD (49)
& ROBERT PILOT (49)
It is a modern cultural cliché that pretty women and gay
men have a shared attraction that creates solid lasting

104 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

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