Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
I need to get my shit together. As much as I’m glad I’m a butterfly coming out of the cocoon of sexual stagnation, I probably shouldn’t fly directly to the first flower I see. Especially if that flower’s professional goal is finding me a soulmate.
“Well,” he says after our odd, lengthy showdown, “let’s start easy.”
I stretch, pretending to crack my neck.
“Tell me what you look for in a guy.”
Taking a deep breath, I look out at the waves in the distance, thinking. “Have you ever gone to the grocery store hungry?”
Connor laughs in understanding. “Yes.”
“Cheese plate, carrots, chips, salsa, Cocoa Pebbles, and sugar cookies. Whatever sounds good at the time.”
“Right.”
“I’d describe my dating energy a little like that. I don’t have a type, exactly, but maybe that’s part of the problem.”
He nods but doesn’t take this opportunity to speak. Again: hot.
“I initially did the DNADuo for fun,” I say. “You know, to try out the technology from a romance research perspective. I got matches and went out with everyone. I wanted to see if a Base Match felt different from a Silver.”
“Did it?” he asks.
“It did, but in romance, love is often about getting past our core assumptions. So if someone told me I had a Titanium Match, wouldn’t I subconsciously work harder to make it successful than I would with a Base Match? That’s always the question with this technology.”
He hums, nodding. “That makes sense.”
“I think doing this show is the perfect way for me to get back into the dating scene. I won’t know what kind of matches I have. I won’t overthink it. I’ll just have to go on how we vibe and let the audience worry about the rest. I mean, I’m not having any luck on my own, why not let a bunch of strangers give it a shot?”
“And you never went back to the app? You haven’t used it at all in the past couple years?”
“Oh, I haven’t had much interest in dating for a while. My desire to find a partner crashed and burned entirely around the same time I was doing my DNADuo dating spree—unrelated to the app, I should add.”
He seems to chew on his next words before finally asking, “What’s the unrelated bit?” Connor smiles. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Ah. Well…” There are very few things I hate discussing, but high on the list are the word moist spoken aloud, people who use FML or LOL in actual conversation, and my tumultuous yet brief relationship with a man named Rob. “Around the time the DNADuo was launching, I went to a party with a friend and met this guy. We were together for a little while and I thought things were really going well until I found out he had a wife.”
His expression crashes. “Oh.”
“It was awful. I was devastated, all of the expected things from a situation like that. But then a little over a year ago, she confronted me.”
Connor winces. “What happened?”
“It wasn’t on purpose—or, well, she didn’t intentionally seek me out. I was on a date and we happened to be in the same place. She recognized me from some photos that had been on Rob’s phone, I guess, walked over to my table, and said she’d divorced him and that I was free to have him if I still wanted him.”
“Fuck,” he mutters.
“In any other situation I would have clarified that no, I absolutely did not want him—that I hadn’t even known Rob was married when we started dating—but I was totally frozen. It’s one thing to have made a mistake and live with it in an abstract way. It was totally different to see the fallout right there in front of me.”
“That must have been awful. I’m sorry that happened, Fizzy.”
“I had spent so much time wondering what happened to them. Did she forgive him? Did they split up? So it answered those questions, at least. Anyway…” I pick up my drink and the ice rattles against the Styrofoam as I raise it in a toast. “My therapist was able to remodel her kitchen with the money I paid to work through it, so I guess there’s a silver lining.”
Connor smiles a little at this. “I get why you were scared off dating for a bit, then. But what about now? Are you ready to be in a relationship?”
A long stretch of silence follows his words as I run into this question like it’s a brick wall. I’ve known that finding me a match is the entire goal of the show, but I haven’t internalized it at all. If Connor and I are successful, it will be more than just entertainment for my target audience. I could end up with a lover, a boyfriend, a soulmate. A chill climbs up the back of my neck, and Connor sees the shiver pass through me.