A woman gave her best friend from school a surprise he'll never forget when she travelled across the country to surprise him at his local restaurant after over six months apart. Thomas Borghardt thought he was simply on a video call to his best friend, Kayla Rose Nelson, 20 – but little did he know that she was actually sitting in the parking lot outside. Kayla and Thomas have been best friends since they met in middle school in McHenry, Illinois, but two years ago, Thomas moved more than 700 miles away, to Bossier City, in Louisiana. The two remained in touch, but with the pandemic raging keeping up their regular in-person meetings was extremely difficult. Kayla, though, was determined to make something work, and so she reached out to Thomas' friends in Louisiana, who, with the help of his mom, coordinated a way to get him to a local Olive Garden. There, after driving for more than 11 hours, Kayla waited in the car with her friend, Chloe, where she then called Thomas on FaceTime and said she needed company for a drive she was taking. With Thomas thinking he was simply chatting to his friend, Sydney, his friend from Louisiana, recorded his conversation secretly from inside the Olive Garden. Then, when the great reveal came, Kayla flipped her camera around to show that she was actually outside the restaurant he was in. A stunned Thomas headed straight outside, where Kayla ran up the path to the restaurant before leaping into his arms.