“Have fun,” he whispered before turning and walking away into the crowd.
I found the speed dating area and looked around hoping to see Jake again. “Okay we’ll need everyone to take a seat at one of the small tables you see. Once you’re seated, the person in the blue chair will stay at the table while the person in the red chair will move on to the next table. Everyone understand?” another man asked.
I was relieved to see there were no women in our group, not that I didn’t like women, I loved them. But I was looking for a relationship, and for me that included another man. It was nice to see I wasn’t the only one who’d filled out their application the way I had. All of us moved into the area that had been set up to look like a café with small tables that were only big enough for two.
“Hello,” an attractive man said as I took a seat at the table he’d just sat at. He had dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes and wore a red tux that fit him like a glove.Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“Hello, I’m Spencer,” I said and forced myself not to look around again for Jake.
Two
Jake Raines
“I go for monthsnever meeting a guy I want to date, and I meet Mr. Hot as Hell who is perfect for me before I set foot inside the door,” I grumbled to myself while walking over to the emoji whatever-it-was-called area.
“Jake, how’ve you been?” Arlo, my ex, asked from where he stood in line for the same fucking section.
“Great, Arlo, how are you?” Not that I actually cared. We’d dated last year for less than a month and as soon as I found out he was more into dating—and fucking—everyone, I didn’t call him back. I used to sleep around too, but now, I was tired of that. I really wanted to meet someone I could plan a future with.
“I haven’t seen you around in a while,” he said, and narrowed his eyes at me probably hoping for more information.
“Yeah, I’ve been working a lot at the restaurant, and I haven’t really been going out.” Which was true, but mostly I didn’t want to be part of his routine.
“Okay, well maybe I’ll see you around,” he said, and this time he didn’t hold back from ogling me. I forced myself not to roll my eyes before focusing on the front of the line where a cute guy in a silver sequined jacket with immaculate hair, was explaining this section.
“Hi, everyone, I’m Ian. This is Emoji Icebreaker.” He was so excited and happy I couldn’t help but smile back while he spoke. “You’ll all choose an emoji then you’ll break up in groups and chat for seven minutes. I know it’s not a lot of time but that’s the point. You can’t waste time being shy so get ready to choose your emoji.” There was a whiteboard behind him with seven different emojis on it, and everyone stepped forward and chose one before splitting into smaller groups.
I had to admit it was fun. There were lots of different men here, and all of them were willing to go along with the game, so as we broke into smaller groups it led to very rousing interactions because we had no time to waste. Some of them asked what we liked about the emoji we’d chosen, others asked what job we did, and still others asked what we wanted in a partner. We were about halfway through it when there was a tap on my shoulder.
“Excuse me, you’re in the wrong group,” Ian said and again that smile made me smile back.
“I thought this was group seventy to one hundred?” I asked and looked again at the number on my badge.
“It is, but your number is sixteen. See the tiny little line under it?” he said and grumbled something under his breath about the stupid font. “You should be at speed dating.” He pointed to the same area Spencer had gone. I nodded and without looking back made my way over there while flipping my number right-side-up.
“Hi, I’m supposed to be here,” I told the person who was in charge. They nodded after glancing at my number and took a quick look at their phone which was counting down a timer.
“They’re about to switch, go ahead and slip in,” she said and walked me over to where the tables were. “Time’s up, everyone, please move to the next table.”
I stepped in and immediately made my way to a table. Spencer was there looking nervous but friendly. He was so distracted hedidn’t notice who I was at first. “Hi, I’m Jake,” I said. He finally turned and smiled wide when his eyes met mine.
“Hi, Jake, I’m Spencer. Tell me about yourself.” He rested his chin on his hand as he braced his elbow on the table and tried to control his grin. His eyes were bright and completely focused on me. Right at that moment, a thought crossed my mind, I wanted someone to look at me like that for the rest of my life.
“Well, I live and work in Sacramento. I’m thirty-five years old but I know I don’t look a day over twenty,” I said and batted my lashes, making him laugh.
“Why are you here? I thought you were at the Emoji Icebreaker; did you sneak out?” he whispered and leaned in closer.
“My number was upside-down. I’m actually number sixteen,” I said, and we both laughed while he reached for my number badge.
“Oh, I never noticed the little line,” he said and glanced at his own. “But I have to admit I’m happy it was there. I was hoping we’d get to spend more time together.”
“Me too. Now it’s your turn, tell me about yourself,” I said and took the same position he had with my chin resting on my hand.
“Well, I’ve lived in Sacramento since I was seven years old. I’m thirty-three, single, and I have a dog named Toby,” Spencer said with that same amused twinkle in his eye. “What do you do in Sacramento?”
“I work at—”
“Okay, everyone, time to move to the next table,” the person in charge said. Everyone got out of their chairs and lingered for a moment. I stood, never taking my eyes off Spencer.
