Chapter 37
ONE YEAR LATER
I swipe. And swipe. And swipe.
App dating never seems any less bleak, does it?
Men holding fish. Men posing with cars. Men in the gym. Bios that say things like ‘no drama queens’ and ‘I hate kids’.
I sigh dramatically. This is why getting back on the apps feels so demoralising. There’s just so much to swipe through in the hope of finding someone decent enough to go for a drink with.
I swipe again. Then again. Then – oh, we’ve got something.
I notice a profile that has been flagged for aggressive messages by no less than three users. I’m delighted to hit the ban button – in fact, I stare into his beady eyes and grin back at the photo of his smug smile as I watch his profile disappear.
‘Ugh. Another one,’ I say, shaking my head.
‘Really?’
‘Yep, third one today,’ I reply.
‘At least we’re weeding them out,’ Jordan says, spinning in his chair to look at me.
I lean back and stretch my arms over my head with a sigh.
‘It is weirdly satisfying,’ I reply. ‘I feel like a superhero, doing my bit to protect people.’
‘Oh, yeah, you’re basically Batman,’ he jokes.
‘Batwoman,’ I reply.
‘Why not?’ he says, laughing to himself.
Flagd, our new app, is doing well. Better than well, actually.
It turns out that safety is something that a lot of people value so we’ve had loads of sign-ups.
Yes, we’ve got bad eggs, but it’s early days, and we’re weeding them out really quickly.
It’s my favourite part of my job, checking who has red flags, banning users for bad behaviour.
‘Speaking of dates…’ Jordan says, wheeling over to me on his desk chair, ‘I’m taking you out tonight, buying you dinner. And when we get home, I’m going to give you the massage of your dreams – it’s stressful work, being Batwoman. I’m going to relax you.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ I raise an eyebrow, standing slowly and circling around the back of his chair. ‘That’s very generous of you.’
‘I’m a very generous man,’ he replies, leaning back against me.
‘Thing is,’ I whisper, wrapping my arms around him from behind, pressing a kiss to his neck, ‘I don’t want to relax.’
‘That,’ he says, standing and turning to face me, ‘can definitely be arranged.’
I smile as he pulls me in and kisses me.
Living with Jordan is just so easy in all the ways that matter but still so exciting – I’m somehow relaxed but at the same time it’s like I never know what’s going to happen next. Only that it’s always all going to be okay.
We work really well together too. Who knew building a dating app with someone you’re actually dating would be the recipe for success? Well, that and teaming up with RedFlags, to make sure no one is getting dick pics they don’t want.
I know that I should probably still hate Matcher (I think it was more that I hated how people used it, to be honest with you) but it’s hard to hate the app that, technically, brought me and Jordan together.
And people say app dating never leads to true love.
I guess sometimes, if you’re lucky, and you’re keeping your eyes (and I guess your heart) open, then true love will be easy to spot when it does happen to cross your path.
It’s like I always say, finding someone isn’t the end of the story. It’s the beginning.
And I can’t wait to see what happens next.