Luca
“Reputation graphs,” I say after barging into Matt’s office, causing him to spill his coffee on his slacks. I grin. Payback is a bitch.
“What?” he snaps, looking at his crotch and then up at me.
“Reputation graphs,” I repeat. “What better way to vet people on a dating app than a consumer rating?”
“You mean like Yelp?” he asks, clearly lost.
“Exactly. People earn credibility from interactions. And all of this would be visible before swiping right. The metrics could include people who show up. People who have ghosted. People who respond to messages once they’ve matched.
And the higher your ratings are, the more people you have access to swipe right on. ”
“Damn, that is good,” Matt admits, giving up on trying to clean up his slacks. Instead, he goes over to the closet to grab another pair. “No one else has anything like that.”
“Nope,” I smirk, taking a victorious sip of my own coffee.
“Do you think we can do it?”
“I think our team will do anything I can come up with,” I say. “It’s no harder to implement than the star rating for Uber drivers. Except instead of getting fast food on a Saturday night, you get a soulmate.”
“Soulmate,” he echoes and I regret using the word. “Well listen to you?”
“What?” I ask, playing dumb. “I believe in soulmates.”
“Because you met yours?” Matt asks, and normally I’d have a quick retaliation. But this time, it takes me longer than two seconds to respond, giving Matt the opportunity to grill me.
“Damn, Luca. My man. My brother. What has this girl done to you?” he asks.
“Nothing. Who said this was about Olivia?” I ask.
Matt just stares at me. “You’re falling in love with her,” he says.
“So what if I am?” I ask after a long moment.
Matt scoffs. “Are you hearing yourself? Luca. I know she’s hot. And the dates have been fun. But don’t forget the reason you’re going out on these dates in the first place,” he says.
“I went out with her because she was hot. She didn’t seem like other girls, so I swiped right,” I say.
“But you kept going out with her for another reason,” he says.
“Because she’s witty. And the banter is good. There’s nothing wrong with consistency,” he says.
“No, there’s not. Unless that consistency is with someone who is fucking with you,” he says and this time I jump in.
“I don’t think she’s fucking with me,” I snap.
“No? Her best friend went out with you,” he says.
“It was dinner. Not a date. To talk about work. She took it the wrong way and–”
“And that’s not the way Sadie remembers it,” he cuts me off.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“Because I remember Sadie,” he chuckles. “She was dumb and delusional and head over heels for you.”
“And I let her go for not being able to keep it professional,” I state. “You know that.”
“Yeah well, I don’t think Sadie sees it that way. And because Sadie is Olivia’s best friend, Olivia is going to see things from Sadie’s point of view,” Matt says, and as much as I don’t want to, I think about that.
“You think Olivia is still messing with me,” I say, and it comes out as more of a statement than a question.
“Don’t you?” he asks.
“No, I don’t,” I say, and for a second, Matt just studies me.
He’s not going to push it. He knows that if he does, I’m just going to get mad.
He knows that I need to think it through myself.
And I’m not going to lie. Thinking this whole thing through is not something I have done much of in the last couple of dates.
I’ve kind of just gone with the flow. Let things play out on their own. Followed the vibes and…
My heart.
Fuck.
As I wipe my hand down my face, Matt offers a cringe disguised as empathy.
“Girls stick together,” he says. “I know it sucks, but–”
“It’s a fact,” he says.
“And if Livv is really loyal to Sadie…she’ll lead you on. Until your walls are down and–”
“I’m still struggling with it,” I say, shoving up from the chair and pacing his office. “Because I know how girls act when they’re faking shit to get what they want. And Livv is just so…” I search for the word. It’s hard to come up with words to describe her. “Authentic. Candid. Real…”
Matt opens his mouth to argue, but I hold up my hand and drive my point home.
“I need proof. If she’s fucking with me to get revenge for Sadie, I need to know for sure.”
“And how do you plan on getting that proof?” he asks.
“Simple. I’m going to ask her,” I respond.
“And you don’t think she’d lie to you?” he asks skeptically.
And I think about that. I think about who Olivia is.
How she acts around me. How she blushes and giggles, and every one of her emotions shows before she even speaks.
About how she snuggles into me at night and how she smiles when I kiss her awake.
How she danced at the beach and took me shopping, and even let me in her studio, a place that is very private for her.
And after thinking about all of that, I shake my head.
“No. I don’t think she can lie to my face,” I say with absolute certainty. I truly believe it. I just have to talk to her, and everything will make sense. I feel it. I can’t explain it; I just know.
And with that, it hits me that I may be more like her than I thought possible.