“Oh right! Pics!” Now that was a good idea. Sometimes it was so easy for me to get caught up in the rush of getting things done that I forgot to cherish the little moments. And I definitely wanted some selfies with my bestie before dancing and eating undid all the work I’d done.
“Here, let’s do some selfies first.”
We had our own little mini photoshoot. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes, so I don’t know what I was soworried about. Once we were done, Carolina excused herself to the bathroom for a quick pee, then we were on the road.
When we arrived, Daniella’s truck was already there, and so was Chuck’s bike, the man dressed entirely in leathers. However, judging by the stuffed backpack he had behind him, he had a change of clothes with him.
“Hey everyone! Ready to have one hell of a party?”
“Let’s do this,” came Chuck’s monotone.
“We both are!” Daniella said, opening the door of her truck to allow her two dogs, Hertie and Gertie, to jump out. I nearly lost my mind when I saw they were wearing doggie prom outfits coordinated to match Daniella’s dress. Her cat was no doubt safe at her place, as I knew that chalupa was more of a homebody than Carolina.
“That is too cute!” I said, chuckling as I did. While some dogs clearly hated any form of clothing, and some dogs simply tolerated it because it was chill, Daniella’s dogs belonged in the rare group of pups who enjoyed being little fashionistas. I didn’t know if it was because they liked the extra attention, friendly things that they were, or because they liked the extra warmth with their short coats, but they looked freaking adorable.
“Aren’t they?” Daniella said. “My little fashionistas!”
“Your dogs are more stylish than I was in high school,” Chuck murmured, leaning against the wall by the door. “Granted, that was probably ’cause they kept sticking me in dresses no matter how much I said I hated them.”
I gave the man a bit of a scan, trying to envision that in my head, and I just couldn’t. “The thought of you in a dress seems fundamentally against the universe.”
“That’s just about what I told them back then.”
We shared a laugh as I unlocked the door and let ourselves into the community center. Although it was our third year of throwing the event, it was only our second year of all of usdoing it together, which meant nothing was really old hat by now. However, we all had our own checklists we’d come up with during the month before the event. Which probably seemed like a lot, but we were prepared for quite the crowd. We’d put the mixer into the community events tab ofMis-Matched.And as of the completion of our first year, we already had around five thousand users across the world, with most of them being in either the US or Canada.
Incredible.
It was more than we had ever hoped for. We were still only barely breaking even, and some months not, but the fact that we were nearly out of the red so soon was a blessing. Rowan and Iko were both willing to bankroll whatever we needed, but it was nice not to have to rely on them as endless moneybags and more like emergency lifelines when things went wonky.
As usual, if it was possible to have a usual, the time between our arrival and Rowan’s flew by in a flash. Naturally, even with a few things left to do and some quick, last-minute conversations to be had with the caterers, we took the time to greet each other and share a kiss. And, as usual, my heartbeat sped up whenever we touched, and I felt a contentment I never knew was possible.
However, unlike other times, Carolina was there the second our lip lock ended, holding up an actual camera. Did she smuggle that in with her suit?
“Pics?” she asked happily.
I was always down for documenting some behind the scenes stuff for posterity sake. However, Carolina’s sudden insistence on it struck me as a bit strange. Oh well, maybe it was a new coping mechanism for her. A way for her to observe and separate from hectic events, or a New Year’s resolution to document more of her successes and joys.
“Of course,” I agreed, not about to rain on her parade. Besides, since cameras were one of the few ways that Rowancould see himself, it was nice to get documentation of us all dressed up and on the town.
This round took a little longer than the mini-shoot we had in my apartment, but I didn’t even realize it until the lead caterer stepped into the hall and asked if I minded an interruption.
I hurried off, and before I knew it, our first guests had arrived. Iko, Carolina, and Orthallow greeted them. I’d been prepared to have a larger crowd this year, but it was another thing entirely to see about twenty people saunter in right at opening and a steady stream continued after. Some familiar faces, some I thought Imightrecognize, but the vast majority were total strangers.
It waswonderful.
My life had seriously changed since that first date in the park with Rowan, and I never could have imagined that it would spread out to affect so many other people. So many souls connecting, experiencing things we thought were never supposed to be ours. While there was still the occasional drama, a bad egg every now and then, on the whole everyone was benefiting.
It really was a dream come true.
“Neigh-neigh-naaayooomi!”
I was pulled from my internal wonder by Reggie’s voice. Suddenly, I was yanked into a tight hug, and I was afraid he would lift me up off my feet, but thankfully, he didn’t.
“You look great!” he said, with one of the biggest smiles I’d received from him in all my life. “The prettiest belle at the ball.”
“So do you,” I said. He cut a handsome figure in his perfectly white suit and the blue accents in his vest, tie, and shoes. “Where’s your date?”
Reggie and I had grown even closer since the app had launched, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he was happy to see me succeed, or because he signed up for it himself and startedgenuinely matching with other supernatural ‘rejects’. At first I was cautious, because I was very protective of our users, but he’d approached each match with sincere interest and learning a whole lot about what it meant to be othered. After that, I’d been a lot less nervous, and it’d been amazing to watch him flourish.
