Mark Estes Was 'a Little Nervous' Before First Date with Kristin Cavallari But Says They Had 'Instant Chemistry'

Cavallari previously revealed that Estes slid into her direct messages with a note that simply read, "I love you"

Although Mark Estes had no problem sliding into Kristin Cavallari's DMs, he was still feeling some nerves heading into their first date.

The former college athlete, who is one of three members of the successful TikTok group the Montana Boyz, told Page Six how he was “a little nervous” when he met Cavallari, 37, for their first date.

“Along with any first date, I was definitely a little nervous,” explained the 24-year-old social media star. “But yeah, it was great, and yeah, I’d say there was instant chemistry right away.”

“From an outside perspective, it was pretty instant,” fellow group member Kaleb Winterburn added, recalling to Page Six how Estes was "fired up” when the Laguna Beach alum replied to his direct message.

“He mustered up the courage to do it,” he recounted. “And then he did it on the wrong account, but then, she saw it, and he was pretty ecstatic the next day.”

Related: Who Is Kristin Cavallari's Boyfriend? All About Mark Estes

Things went very well on that first date, leading the two to make things official shortly thereafter.

“She’s just super confident. Obviously, she’s gorgeous. She’s an amazing person as well and a great mother. So, yeah, pretty much [the] full package,” Estes said of his girlfriend.

But while the two may be crazy about each other, others on the internet have pointed out that they have a 13-year age gap. Cavallari has previously addressed it, saying on a previous episode of her podcast, Let’s Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari, "I want you guys to know that me dating a 24-year-old is not something that I was, like, searching out... I'm not gonna lie to you guys, like the age thing was a hangup for me at first."

Now, though, she admitted: “I don't give a f--- and I'm all in with this guy and I don't actually care what anybody thinks.”

Estes echoed her sentiments in his interview with Page Six, saying he's not bothered by internet's commentary on their age-gap romance either.

“You definitely got to kind of block it out and just kind of have tunnel vision and have a vision of where we're going, what we want to do in the future,” he explained. “So we don't let that really get in the way of it.”

Related: Kristin Cavallari Shares Sweet Photo of Her Son Bonding with Her Boyfriend Mark Estes

On the March 12 episode of her podcast, Let’s Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari, the reality star revealed that she received a direct message from Montana Boyz's Instagram account that said: “I love you.”

Cavallari later discovered the sweet message was from Estes, who she described as “the hottest guy” she and longtime friend Justin Anderson had “ever seen.”

“Yeah, I thought I was on my own account, and I DMed her,” Estes previously told PEOPLE. “We woke up the next day, and [my friend] was like, ‘Who DM'd Kristin?’ I was like, ‘Oh, that was me.’”

The two then had their first date the day before Valentine’s Day this year, and hard-launched their relationship in February while vacationing together in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

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Estes also shared with PEOPLE that the relationship was “going great” after taking the Internet by storm.

“We love it,” Kade Wilcox — who makes up the final third of the Montana Boyz — said of his pal's new romance. “[We] support it. It’s been fun.”

Winterburn added, “It's been fun meeting her and getting to know her and just everything about that whole world, too. It's cool to see.”

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