“Why would I be here at night? It’s work. I don’t even want to be here in the daytime.”
I pull open the heavy stairwell door and whisper, “Shhh. Be quiet just in case,” then walk us both through.
The entire office is dark, lit only by the muted city’s lights that lay outside the office windows. I secretly love staying late here to write, long after everyone else had gone home for the night. It’s not like I ever had anything or anyone to rush home to, my career was my significant other, longer than any other human relationship I ever had.
The door clicks closed behind us and Julia shrieks and spins around, her flashlight sending rays of light everywhere.
“Well, that totally blows our cover,” I laugh.
“What was that noise?” she asks, breathlessly couching down to the floor.
“The door closing,” I laugh.
“Oh,” she says, straightening up and smiling at me. “Why do I feel like this isn’t your first time breaking and entering? And why am I doing this sober?”
I speed past her shaking my head and walk through the workstations toward the hallway that leads to Gail’s office. “Shush. Come on, let’s go.”
She jogs behind me to keep up.
Gail’s door is open, her silver nameplate sparkling reflectively from the bright glow of our lights. I storm right to her desk and the piles of messy papers strewn across its surface. Julia sighs and sits in Gail’s chair, tilting her head back. “One day this will be my chair.”
“Uh huh,” I reply.
Julia snorts a laugh and pulls open the drawers to the desk.
I flick through all the papers I can get my hands on. “Look for anything like a list or notes that have me and Dex’s names on it.”
“I still don’t understand what you’re going to do with it,” she says, offering me a sympathetic smile.
“I just think that maybe if I know all the singles’ activities she signed us up for I can better prepare myself for the heartbreak.”
“The speed date was that bad today?” she asks.
I slump down onto one of Gail’s chairs and rake my hands through my hair. “It was horrible, not only sitting across from Dex and fighting with him, but the other men there were just…let’s just say it was uncomfortable.”
In the front pocket of my hoodie, my phone blares out a notification, startling the both of us.
“What the hell was that?” she spits.
I shove my hand into my pocket and yank out the wailing device.
“Ugh, it’s another notification for some crazy new dating app Gail registered me for and forced me to download,” I growl. Across my screen, emoji bombs bounce and explode into flames.
“A new dating app?” Julia asks, leaning over the desk.
I hand my phone to her, too annoyed to even look.
“Yep. The minute the Date-in-a-Dash was over, I got a text about setting up my profile on it. It’s called, get this,Misanthrope.”
“Misanthrope? Like a person who hates other people?” she asks, staring stupidly at me.
“Exactly. And you know what the kicker is? It would be hilarious if it wasn’t being forced on me.”
She looks down at the phone and back up to me. “What kind of dating app is called Misanthrope?”
I shake my head and roll my eyes. “It’s more like a hating app.” I lean back in the chair. “It’s actually a pretty funny premise. It matches people through mutual dislikes. Rather than being paired up over shared interests or mutual physical attraction, the app is supposed to match you with people who hate the same things as you.”
Julia still stares at me blankly. “Wait.” She points her finger at me. “You’re not joking? That’s a real thing?”
