Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Zoe
The girls and I take a morning yoga class every Saturday, which I barely arrive on time.
“I take it, you were up late again last night,” Macy says with a knowing grin.
“Yes,” I whisper as I roll out my mat.
Macy turns to face me on her mat. “How do you talk to someone for that many hours?”
“It’s romantic,” Chasity chimes in, and I smile her way.
Once I’m set up and seated on my mat, I ask them, “Any connections for you guys on the app?”
All of them shrug and shake their heads. Then it dawns on me.
“I haven’t looked at the guys on there since the first day to recommend anyone to you! Have you guys been doing that for each other? I forgot I was supposed to be searching for you this whole time!”
Candace lets out a laugh. “No, I haven’t since that first day either. I guess we can’t find matches if no one is suggesting guys to us.”
“Okay, after class, we are all sitting down and swiping away. I want to see if this app is truly on to something or if I’m just getting lucky.”
“Well, we all know you aren’t getting lucky”—Macy winks—“but at least you’re having good conversations.”
Throughout the class, I cannot focus one bit, as my mind is fully on Online David. I’m dying to know what he really looks like, and it’s starting to freak me out a little. I’m really falling for this guy, but what if he’s not my type? Can I still be with a guy I’m not physically attracted to?
I have to keep reminding myself that one of my friends suggested him, so he can’t be that bad. I’m just nervous. I pray this is all real and it doesn’t change once we are in person together.
After yoga, we all go to the little coffee shop on the corner.
“Okay,” Chasity says as she pulls out her phone. “Let’s get to swiping. I’m sick of spending my weekends dateless.” She opens the app, then looks up at me. “Your name is Jenelle on here? How did I not notice that before?”
She shows me the screen, where my face is floating in a bubble in the upper corner.
“Oh, yeah, I used the name Jenelle just in case things got weird with a guy. I figured my name was on the more uncommon side, so I didn’t want him to figure out who I was in case I didn’t like him.”
“That’s actually pretty smart.”
I shrug. “I thought I could just explain why and he’d understand if we actually made it to meeting each other.”
She nods, then turns her screen to face us again. “Oh, he’s cute! Who should I recommend him to?”
Both Candace and Macy answer, “Me,” at the same time, making me giggle since they don’t even look at the photo while they are digging out their own phones to do the same thing.
“You’re not supposed to show the picture!” I announce, swatting the phone down so they don’t see what she’s trying to show them.
“Oh, please. You were dying to know what this Online David looked like after that first day, so don’t give us that,” Macy chimes in.
“Yeah, and I’m glad Joey didn’t tell me anything more. It really is nice, just getting to know the guy.”
“Well, I’m going to recommend every cute guy to both of you to up your chances. And you guys do the same for me.” Chasity swipes away on her phone.
“What if we get matched with the same guy and he starts talking to both of us?” Candace asks with her eyes wide, looking around at all of us.
“You would think in a place like New York City, there would be enough guys for us to choose from.” Macy tries to calm her concern. “They said they had a few hundred people sign up the first day, and I know more people have been added since then, so we should be fine.”
“More people, as in females only?” Chasity jokes. “I hope they are getting guys to sign up too!”
Macy waves her hand like she’s shooing away any bad vibes from the conversation. “They are; don’t worry. Keep swiping.”
David
“What’s going on?” I hold out my hand to Donny as I approach Central Park, where we meet to run every Saturday.
He slaps my hand. “Not much. Ready to blow off some steam for sure after the launch week.”
We both work our way through our pre-run stretches, getting ready for the three-mile course we’ve done for years now.
“How did it go?” I ask.
“Good. We’re up to over a thousand sign-ups, which is pretty good for not even a full week.
We’re still working through some little glitches, but we’ll see how the first full seven days of talking goes.
Hopefully, we’ll have some people who made it the whole way by Monday and are able to contact each other off the app. ”
“Yeah, I might be one of them.” I pause as I wait for him to catch on to what I just said.
He stops mid-stretch and looks up at me. “No shit? That girl Chad recommended to you?”
I hold my hands out to my sides. “The one and only match I got.”
“How is it going, just talking to her?”
I let out an unexpected chuckle as I think about how to answer that. “If you think staying up until two in the morning multiple nights is good, then I’d say, you have a winner on your hands.”
I start to run, and he quickly jogs to reach my side.
“You’re being serious right now?”
“As serious as I can be with a girl who I don’t really know.”
“What’s her name?”
“Jenelle. She works downtown, which is cool.”
“What do you guys talk about?”
“Everything. It’s like I’m in high school again, only I don’t have to sneak around on my phone late at night.”
He laughs—I’m sure he’s remembering those nights when his parents would yell at him to go to bed as well. “That’s awesome. I’m glad to hear it’s going so well.”
“We’ll see. I think I’ll be able to get her number on Monday. How will that work?”
“If Monday is the seventh day, then she’ll get a message on her phone, asking if the app can give you her number. If she clicks Yes, then you’re in. It will notify you, and then you can take your conversations off the app from there.”
“And what if she says no?”
He pauses his thoughts but keeps his running pace, only turning his head to face me better. “Are you worried she’ll say no?”
I nudge him slightly. “No. I’m just wondering.”
He laughs, then faces forward. “If she clicks No, then the app will ask if she wants more time to get to know you before giving you her number. From there, she can decide when or if she wants to give you her number. The rules still apply, like no photos or things like that. But then it’s up to you if you want to continue talking to her on the app or move on. ”
“Can you tell how many matches are connecting and actually talking past the first day or two?”
“Yeah, we have a good handful so far that have made it past a day or two. You might be one of the first to hit day seven. I’m not sure how many matches we had on launch day.”
“We’ll see. I hope this girl is who she seems to be. The unknown is killing me.”
Now it’s his turn to nudge me. “You’ve never had to work this hard for a girl. I get it.”
“It’s not like that. It’s just … different.”
“When you take sex out of the equation, things change. The question is, at day seven, can you keep it that way, or will you jump in bed with her, then move on once that challenge is over?”
“I would hope that’s not what’s going on.”
He looks in my direction. I can feel the way he’s staring at me, like he’s trying to figure something out. When he doesn’t say anything, I turn my head to stare back at him.
“You really like this girl?” he finally asks, like he’s shocked to even think it.
I nod. “I do. But what if, when I finally talk to her, her voice is something I can’t stand?”
He laughs out loud. “How many people have a voice you can’t stand?”
“They exist,” I say, defending my concern. “Chad said she was hot, but I have to think there’s something wrong with her.”
“Why? Because she’s single? Don’t forget, you’re single too.”
“Yeah, but I have unique circumstances—you know that.”
“I do. But who knows? Maybe she does too. Or maybe she’s not the bar type. Or maybe she just keeps meeting absolute douchebags. You never know why.”
“Yeah.” I let out a breath. “Two more days, and I’ll know for sure.”