ChapterOne
Sick ofswiping?
Tired of endlesssurveys?
Hoping to find that specialsomeone?
Let the Date Maker help you find yoursoulmate!
Morgan hurried through campus,careful not to bump anyone on the sidewalk. She'd spent the entire morning working on the giant stack of pink flyers she carried. Everything had been overanalyzed to the point of exhaustion, from the wording to the font choice. One small detail could mean the difference between success andfailure.
Case in point: all the memos at work, written by her middle-aged manager, always used Comic Sans. No one at work ever took the notes seriously, and they were the butt of countless Snapchat jokes sent betweenemployees.
Morgan couldn't afford to make the same mistake. She'd given her Date Maker idea plenty of thought and knew it would work. She just needed a way to get people's attention. The pink paper was cheery and shouted romance. She hoped it would catch the eye of her fellow collegestudents.
As she approached her dorm room at Florida Southern College, she couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the central Florida campus. From the unique architecture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to the beautiful rose gardens, this was the most beautiful place in Lakeland. At least it was toMorgan.
The hall that she had called home for the past three years was much older than the dorms overlooking the nearby lake, but the old brick building that housed a substantial portion of the female population was charming. You had to walk along tree-lined sidewalks to get to it, giving it a hidden, off the beatenpathfeel.
She was just approaching the dorms when she bumped into her best friend and roommate, Lacey—literally. Morgan managed to hold on to most of the stack she carried, but a few stray papers fell to the ground. Lacey picked one up and began to read italoud.
Morgan held her breath, but her heart sank when Lacey's voice lacked the enthusiasm Morgan had hoped to convey in theadvertisement.
Lacey remained silent for a full minute once she’d stopped reading. About to explode from nerves, Morgan finally asked, “So, what do youthink?”
“What is this?” Lacey's voice carried a hint ofexasperation.
Morgan's shoulders slumped at her friend's reaction, but she put on a bright smile and continued. “It's a dating flyer. I went down to the copy place and had them print up a hundred copies. I thought I'd put them up around campus.” Morgan paused and bit her nail. “Unless you think that's too old school. Maybe I should put something on Instagram?” Her brows furrowed as she started mentally accumulating a list of hashtags that people wouldsearch.
#LakelandLove
#LoveinLakeland
#Looking4LoveinLakeland
Yeesh, Morgan thought. The last one seemed too much like a creeper looking to lure someone to his unmarked van filled with candy. The Date Maker was intended for a specialized clientele: college students looking for lastingrelationships.
“No, Morgan.” Lacey interrupted her train of thought and handed the bright sheet of paper back to her. “Why are youdoingthis?”
Morgan took the paper and let out a short laugh. “Well, private college ain't cheap, and people are always telling me how good I am at putting people together. I thought, why not? I can make a little money doing something Ienjoy.”
“But you already have a job.” Lacey rolledhereyes.
“Yeah.” Morgan snorted, thinking about the clunker she drove. "But my car is way past due for an oil change, and the tread on the tires is non-existent. If I don't find a way to get some extra cash soon, I'm afraid I might end up stranded on the side of the road, or without a way to gettowork."
“If that happened, I would give youaride.”
Morgan arched her brows. “Oh, yeah? At six a.m.? Saturdaymorning?”
"Then I'd just give you my keys." Laceyshrugged.
“And I love you for that, but you wouldn't want to be without a car.” Morgan smiled. “Besides, I’m good at settingpeopleup.”
Morgan was known as the Date Maker in high school. Everyone wanted her opinion on who to ask to Homecoming or Prom. Even in her first two years at college, she'd been known to set up a classmate or two. She loved seeing the moment when two peopleclicked.
She tucked a strand of long blond hair behind her ear and sighed before looking up at Lacey. “I know you don't get it. But I need you to be happy for me.Please.”
Lacey shook her head and shifted her weight as they stood outside the dorms. “It's not that I'm not happy. I'm just concerned. You have a full class load and a part-time job. When exactly are you going to find time to do this and not letanythingslip?”
