“Not really. But I wouldn’t meet people until we’d been speaking for a while.”
“Anyone turn out not to look like their pictures?”
Lily shook her head. “Have you been watchingCatfish?”
“…Maybe.”
“I’m sure it’ll turn out fine.”
“I hope so. My ex was a cheating asshole, so I feel like I’m due for some good karma.” Behind Mei’s head, the door opened, and Lily waved as Alisha and Andrew walked through it, pausing at the bar to get their drinks. “Did dating apps work out for you?”
“Uh, no. My last ex was also a cheating asshole.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. Cheers, I guess?” Mei clinked her glass against Lily’s. “Have you been thinking about getting back out there?”
Lily tapped her fingers against the stem of her glass. “Sometimes.” Lily didn’t know if she was ready, but she wasn’t used to living on her own. It’d be nice to have someone to talk to, even if it didn’t go anywhere. Lily wondered how likely finding a woman who just wanted to be friends would be. “Aren’t dating apps something of a minefield, being a teacher?”
Lily wasn’t sure she could handle the mortification of a student or one of their parents examining her dating profile.
“It can be. It’s why I used the one I did. It’s called CuteMeet. It lets you stay anonymous until you exchange digits. You use usernames, no identifying photos if you don’t want to. You can put as much or as little on your profile as you want.”
“Huh.” It was an interesting prospect.
“Of course, it means the likelihood of meeting a murderer is increased, but…”
Lily laughed. “Well, I might check it out. Anything to get my sister off my back. She keeps trying to set me up with people.”
“I hate when people do that. Like, if I wanted a date I could get one myself, thank you.”
“Exactly! Plus she has terrible taste in women.” Lily froze as soon as she said it—she hadn’t intended on casually coming out over drinks in her first month of the job, but it was too late to take it back now.
To her credit, Mei was unfazed. “Well, if you ever need a fake date to get them off your back, let me know.”
Alisha was the first of the other two to join them, sitting with a glass of white wine. “Good to see you here again, Lily. Although I would like to point out it’s not mandatory.”
“Please say it is, somewhere in Eva’s vicinity.” Mei smiled at the thought, and Andrew chuckled when he perched beside her with a bottle of Corona. “I’d love to see her face.”
“You are free to say it, but I will not.”
“Boring. Could Brandon not make it this week?”
“It’s his wedding anniversary so he went straight home,” Alisha said. “They’ve made it to thirty years.”
“Why do you sound impressed?” Mei asked. “Aren’t you and Darius closing in on that?”
“We’ve managed twenty-two. Although we’ve been together for almost thirty.” Alisha glanced at Lily. “It took him eight years to propose.”
“You did meet when you were like twelve.”
Lily listened to them bicker with a smile. “You were high school sweethearts?”
“We were. Andrew, you must be thinking about proposing soon, no? You and Kerry have been together for ages.”
“I feel like I’m at my mom’s.” Andrew grinned around the rim of his bottle. “We’re waiting until we’ve bought a house—which will hopefully be soon—but then, yeah.”
“Here’s to being single,” Mei said, tilting her glass toward Lily’s and clinking them together. “At least it’s not just me anymore.”
“You never know, this guy you’re meeting tomorrow might be the one.”
