Only with white sauce and jalapenos!
As much fun as I was having with the wildly disparate questions, I figured I should wrap it up and get ready for my next walk. So, one more question then.
And what a question it was.
Do you believe in the supernatural?Complete with a sparkle emoji.
I laughed out loud. What were the chances of that? I supposed the app’s name was more apropos than it knew. Once I was done chuckling, I answered with a very firm:
No.
Ha!
With that done, I exited out of the matching questionnaire, but not before triple-checking that my results were saved, then looked at the very first picture in my match list. A little animation popped up, asking if I wanted to swipe right or left, but instead of doing either, my nerves got the better of me, and I closed the app.
I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it. I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that I would likely be alone forever—at least romantically. But I had my lovely clients and their doggos, Tweety, and who knew how many friends to find in the future. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be a spinster. It wasn’t like I was going to turn into a crazy cat lady.
I lay there for a bit longer before getting up and going through my usual to-do list before my afternoon crew. Just as I was about to leave, my phone buzzed in a pattern I didn’t recognize. Confused, I tapped the screen to see a notification from the dating app. Huh. I didn’t remember enabling push notifications for that…
Nevertheless, I opened it, and there was another animation of some fireworks across the screen before a bold message announced that justByChance, it had theperfectmatch to start me off. I couldn’t help but huff a dry laugh.
“I very much doubt that!”
Nevertheless, I clicked on the blurry photo, and it suddenly clarified in a wave of sparkles. I didn’t know how to feel as I looked at a photo of a drop-dead gorgeous, but definitely human guy.Thatwas my perfect match?
He had hair that was somewhere between brown and russet, styled impeccably in a way that made me wonder if he was fresh out of the salon when someone took the photo. It had to have been from a while ago, considering he was wearing a peacoat.His dark blue eyes were crinkled at the corners from him smiling at whoever was taking the photo.
Although I could only see his upper half, I could tell he was tall, not quite slender but not chiseled with muscles either. If I had to guess, he was probably a swimmer. There was a kindness to him I hadn’t expected. It was almost disarming, in a way.
And this guy was my perfect match?
I stared at his photo a moment longer, my mind zooming off in directions it didn’t need to yet. He was ahumanafter all, and I was just doing this on a lark. I was sure once I checked his profile, I would be turned right off.
Greetings! My name is Rowan, and I’m a bit of an old soul in what feels like an even older body. I prefer live music over bar hopping, and a good vinyl over a flashy car. Creature comforts are my middle name!
Actually, that’s a lie. But you’ll have to earn my trust to find out my real middle name.
I’ve never done anything like this, but it seems ever harder to find a genuine connection despite the world having more ways to connect than ever. It’s a bit lonely, sometimes. Even if nothing romantic is on the table, companionship and adventure is more than welcome!
I stared at the bio. I’d have to redo mine—it was far too generic. Maybe when I was back from my walk? My afternoon crew was a long one. I did an hour and a half for group A, which included forty-five minutes at the dog park, and then only an hour for my short-legged buddies in group B.
But, despite me telling myself that nothing would come from the app and it was just a distraction, I swiped right on my “perfect match”.
Only time would tell.
FOUR
ROWAN
What Makes a Vamp Man?
Hello there! Not sure what I’m looking for here-
Rowan’s the name and cardigans are my game!
I don’t know what I’m doing so I hope you do…
I groaned and put my arm over my eyes, which appreciated the break from the bright screen. I didn’t have the same exceptional night vision as most vampires, but I also had even worse light vision than the average undead being—an unfortunate side effect of my pinkish, purplish irises that lacked almost all their melanin.
