Submission

Chapter 2

Lorelei forgot to set an alarm before passing out in bed. She knew by the way that the sun was shining through the window that she slept in. She looked at her phone and saw that she only had thirty minutes until she had to meet Molly. She scrambled to get out of the bed, got stuck on the blankets, and rushed to the bathroom.

She washed her face and struggled to remove the smeared eyeliner. She brushed her teeth before tying her hair up in a ponytail. She ran back to her bedroom, stepping over the clothes littering the floor, and pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from her closet. She got changed and then grabbed her purse and phone. She put her headphones in her ears as she exited the apartment.

Molly was already waiting at their usual spot in the corner of the cafe. She rolled her eyes when she saw Lorelei enter. Lorelei checked her phone to see that she was five minutes late. She ordered an iced coffee before sitting down across from Molly. She flashed her a smile.

"You're only excused for being late if you give me some juicy details about last night," Molly said.

Lorelei sighed and leaned back in the chair.

"There are no juicy details," she said.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked.

"It was over too quickly for there to be any details."

Molly chuckled and shook her head. Lorelei took a sip of her coffee.

"So no other date?" Molly asked. "Please, tell me you're not going to ghost him. He's Anthony's friend. You will see him at the wedding."

Lorelei bit down on the straw as she tried to suppress a smile. Molly had known her since they were in diapers, so she knew exactly what Lorelei was planning on doing.

"Lorelei, you can't do that," Molly said. "It's so rude."

"I don't owe him anything," Lorelei said.

"You can still be a decent human being."

Molly smirked as she took a drink of her tea. Lorelei felt like she could sink into the chair. Molly's stare was intense, and Lorelei wanted to get the topic off of her love life.

"Have you and Anthony decided on bachelor and bachelorette parties?" Lorelei asked.

"The boys are going up to Muskoka," she said.

"And where are we going?"

"Montreal."

Lorelei raised a brow.

"None of us speak French," she said.

"Who cares?" Molly asked. "Their accents are sexy and I heard that their strip clubs are absolutely wild."

Lorelei chuckled. She could already see a drunk Molly screaming before shoving bills into a stripper's G-string. Molly made Lorelei promise that she would not tell Anthony about Molly's partying days in university. While Lorelei struggled to study and finish her papers on time, Molly was out at the bar. She ended that when she met Anthony in their final year. Good Christian boys don't date wild childs.

"Tomorrow morning we have our dress tailoring, remember?" Molly asked.

"What time?" Lorelei asked.

"Eleven o'clock."

"Molly, what were you thinking? We work tonight."

"Saturday morning was the only time Katrina, Katelyn, and Jenna could go."

Lorelei pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head. This was the first of many coffees she would be drinking to get through the night. Caffeine was her saviour during the midnight shift.

"We get off at seven," Lorelei. "Couldn't you have scheduled something earlier?"

"This was the only time slot they had available," Molly said. "Now, don't complain."

Lorelei finished another coffee as Molly gushed about wedding details.

--

Lorelei had lost count of how many coffees she had drunk when the clock hit midnight. She sighed as she listened to the multiple beeps of the ICU. Molly sat beside her and yawned. Lorelei prayed that none of her patients would crash during the night. When she first started, she would be anxious all shift but after a year she felt more comfortable as a nurse.

"I've been thinking," Molly said. "You are probably looking for love in the wrong place."

"And what's the wrong place?" Lorelei asked. "Starbucks?"

"You know where there are a plethora of guys waiting for a good time?" She paused, and Lorelei knew that she was not going to like the answer. "Online."

Lorelei scoffed and leaned back in her chair.

"There's no way I'm going on a dating app," Lorelei said.

"Just humor me," Molly said. "Download one for tonight. We can go on it for the night."

"We?"

"Yes, we. I never got to have the online dating experience."

Lorelei sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Fine," she said. "I'm only doing this for you."

Lorelei opened her phone and searched for a dating app. She was surprised by how many options there were and had no clue which one to pick. She chose the one with the most downloads. Molly craned her neck to look at Lorelei's screen. She coached Lorelei on what to write in her profile and which pictures to choose.

Lorelei swiped her finger across the screen. She matched with a few people, but she did not bother sending messages. She liked collecting boys like trophies. If Matthew saw how many men wanted her, she predicted that things would have ended differently.

She did not mind that Molly was looking at the screen as she swiped through the boys. She had sent Molly countless screenshots of messages men had sent her before. Her thumb swiped across the screen fast as she only bothered to look at the men's first pictures.
"Slow down," Molly said. "You're not assessing your options carefully."

Lorelei giggled. She tapped her finger on the phone, looked at each photo, and read the bios. Most photos included men holding fish, posing with women, or holding a baby. The bios were minimum. Men would include their height if they were over six feet tall, and many mentioned that they were looking for friends with benefits.

"Not a good selection tonight," Molly said.

"All fuck boys," Lorelei muttered.

She did not mind hookups, but she always found them disappointing. She could not remember the last time a man successfully gave her an orgasm. She had taken to the habit of faking them to not offend her partners.

"There has to be something good," Molly said.

"There never is," Lorelei said.

Her thumb stopped and hovered over the screen when something caught her eyes. It was a picture of an open case. Inside were vibrators, ropes, and toys that Lorelei did not recognize. Molly let out a whistle.

"You have to match with that," she said.

Lorelei's core clenched as she stared at the screen. She had always had fantasies. Molly was the only one she had confided in. Molly knew that she had always had an interest in BDSM.

She scrolled down to read the bio.

Kink friendly. Looking for pleasure.

It was such a simple biography, but it was causing Lorelei's heart to race. She tapped on the screen to see that all of the pictures were of toys. There were no pictures of the person behind the profile.

"What if he's ugly?" Lorelei asked.

"He could be gorgeous," Molly said. "Take the chance."

Lorelei let out a deep breath, swiped, and matched with the profile.