AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I feel myself lean in, curious. “That’s comforting for you? Knowing science can help you findsomeone?”
He considers. “It’s comforting knowing maybe there is someone out there for me. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day shit, and after a while—by which I mean thirty—you start towonder.”
I’m hooked on what he’s saying, though it’s not because of him. It’s his words, hisideas.
I’m going to have to tell Wes about this. He’s either going to find it as fascinating as I do or, more likely, stare back at me with a blanklook.
I swallow the laugh because you couldn’t find a less likely person to start a dating app. I’m not sure Wes is into his own interpersonal interactions, not to mention otherpeoples’.
I’d have a hard time picturing him with a girlfriend. Asking about her day. Buying her flowers. Saying mushythings.
Dirty ones, on the otherhand…
Yeah. I can totally picture Wes talking dirty. Like everything else he does, there’d be a moment’s consideration. But once he committed, he’d be allin.
And there’s a thought I shouldn’t be having—how it would sound to hear Wes say the wordfuck.
Under hisbreath.
While he’s inside ofme.
“Do you want to go out again sometime?” my date ventures, a hopeful glint in hiseye.
I force my attention back, ignoring the way my thighs are rubbing together. “I really enjoyed meeting you, and you’re a great guy.” Ugh. I’m feeding him the same platitudes everyone in the history of the world fed someone they didn’t want to see again, and I start over. “I’m not sure it’s the right time for me to be doing this. I’m still figuring out if I want to believe what you believe. That there’s someone for me, I mean. But thanks for sharing your evening with me, and your ideas. And goodluck.”
He puts me in a cab, and I wave as he turnsaway.
As the city rolls by my window, I think about the things he said. There are probably a lot of people like him. People who are serious about their work but know they’re going to lift their head one day and realize they’re lonely. If this app helps people look beyond the swipe apps that turn human beings into meat, helps them look at things from a newperspective?
That would be a seriously goodthing.
My phone buzzes in my bag. The name on the screen makes mesmile.
“Hi. It’s a little early to be calling to check up on my date, don’t you think?” I tease. “Or we could’ve had a total love connection and been halfway to Bali rightnow.”
When Wes finally responds, his voice is low and perplexed. “Didyou?”
“Well, I’m on the phone with you instead of on an airplane. So, you tellme.”
“What’d you talk about?” he asks, and I force myself tofocus.
“We talked about life.Dating.”
“JohnHughes?”
“What?”
“Nevermind.”
“He was reallynice.”
“I’m sure he was equallycharmed.”
The old-fashioned description, uttered in a startlingly sincere tone, shouldn’t send tingles running through me. But when I hold my date up against Wes, it’s hard to compare. Wes is brilliant and funny and serious andsexy.
Maybe the reason I’ve never wanted to date is that I never found the right guy todate.
And there’s a thought that’s never occurred to me before. Maybe it’s not me or them—it’s just a compatibilitything.
