I click on the PDF and scroll through the pages upon pages he put together.
“Why that look on your face?” Jana asks, pointing her finger up and down and in circles around my face.
I turn my laptop toward her. “Check out this presentation David put together. How could he possibly do all of this in such a short amount of time?”
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Don’t you know he has some fancy degree? That’s why Christina loves him so much. He might not be the best when it comes to artistic shit, but he has the other stuff down.”
I let out a breath and turn the computer toward myself, closing his presentation and moving on to my other emails, not wanting to give him any more space in my head for the day—especially if that space is some kind of praise, which he absolutely does not deserve.
When my workday is over, I grab a bite to eat from the little Italian place around the corner and take it to go. As I enter my apartment, I hear a distinctive ding from my phone, knowing right away that it’s the app. I set everything down and pull it up, instantly smiling when I see it’s a message from David.
How was your day?
I think about my morning and wonder if I should say anything about my stupid coworker, but decide against it, not wanting to come off as whiny, and I don’t want him to think that way about me, so I just keep it neutral.
Just a normal day. Pretty uneventful. How about you?
Same. Just going over last-minute details for a big presentation.
Fun. How do you feel about it? Are you ready?
Yeah, I’m ready.
Then I notice he’s typing again, so I wait to see what he has to say.
Do you ever just have this little doubt in the back of your head, wondering if you’ve done enough?
All the time. I think it’s normal. Don’t stress.
I smile at the way he just showed his vulnerability to me. I don’t think a guy has ever really questioned things or showed worry like this, especially with him barely knowing me. The thought makes me wonder if this is how he would act if we were in person on an actual date and not hiding behind the screen.
Can I ask you a personal question?
Shoot.
Do you think you would have asked me that if we were in person, face-to-face, on a real date?
Hmm … probably not. I’m not sure why I texted it at all, to be honest. Just needed some reassurance, I guess.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked that you felt you could ask something like that. It just made me wonder if that’s part of the appeal of this app. It’s easier to say things like that when you don’t have to face the person. It’s like you can be a little more yourself in the comfort of your own home.
You’re totally right.
The point is to get to know the person on the inside and not just the outside.
Yeah, but I won’t lie and say I’m not curious as hell about what you look like on the outside.
I laugh out loud at this.
Yeah. Me too. But it also makes me think maybethis app has some more reasoning behind itthan just introducing people. It’s like you’re gettingan inside edge on someone you just met.
Inside edge?
Yeah, like who they really are. Normally, people hide that kind of thing. For example, I think the best way to get to know someone is to look at their social media feed. See what kind of algorithms they’ve tripped. That will tell you a lotabout a person!
Never thought about it that way, but again, you’re right. You can go deeper though by checking out the memes or videos they sent to their friends and which friends they sent those to.
Like how?
