Tinder, Love and Care

1. Boredom

EDITED

I was cataclysmically bored. I know it's dramatic, and I know I'm probably blowing it out of proportion, but it's true. I was desperately looking for anything fun to do.

Here I was, in college, with one year left to finally get a grip on that "college experience" thing that people keep telling me about. I mean I lost a year to covid-19 (a big screw you from the world, I think) and to top it all off, I'm an introvert. In college.

I could literally count on my one hand how many friends I've made in the past three years, and all of them had some reason they didn't have the college experiences from the movies. Which are total and utter fucking shit.

At least for me. I thought I'd walk on campus, meet an exotic stranger that noticed how lost I was and instantly became my friend, and some sort of cute boy that gave meaning to my main character arc.

Well, jokes on me because main character syndrome must've been handed out at a freshmen orientation that I missed. Along with that "lifelong friend" bullshit.

I hummed in thought with my feet straight against the wall as my roommate made popping noises from her gum. We were both scrolling through TikTok and had entered into its time vacuum.

"You ever feel like there's something we should be doing instead of just staying in our apartment?" I pondered aloud, and Olivia looked up from her phone in relative disinterest.

"Not really."

"It's a Saturday night." I deadpanned.

Olivia wasn't the party-ing type. Not that I could argue that I was, considering I was often her movie night partner.

"What's this really about, Hyacinthe?" Always Hyacinthe, never just Cinthe. No matter how many times I begged and pleaded (metaphorically, of course), literally no one ever called me Cinthe.

"It's our senior year, and we just finished watching a Rush Hour marathon."

"You love Rush Hour."

"That's not the point, Liv. Don't you want to just do something? Have a movie-worthy experience?" Olivia sighed and set her phone down on my desk.

"You want to get wine-drunk and play truth or dare?" I sighed, dramatically before sitting up.

"Yes." I said with the gravest tone I could muster. Olivia giggled before heading off into the kitchen to gather the materials.

An hour later, we were sprawled out on our living room floor, exhausted from an epic dance battle that I definitely won. Not that Liv would ever admit it.

"Truth or dare?" She sang before getting up to take another sip from her next-to-empty wine glass.

"Dare!" I yelled from the floor as she stumbled into the kitchen to refill both of our glasses. I'm not entirely sure how she even got ahold of mine, but she passed it back to me with enough wine in it that it almost sloshed over the top.

"I dare you to... go on a date!"

"Are you trying to make me more depressed than I already am?"

"Ugh, you're right. I dare you to... make a Tinder!" My frown deepened at her words.

"You already know how I feel about dating apps, Liv."

"Yeah, yeah, you've only told me a thousand times. You want to be hit by a car and the guy driving gets out and instantly falls in love with you and blah blah blah--" I sat up as she talked with her hands and wine whirled around in her glass.

"I want a story to tell my kids, Liv. Something romantic, something that'll make you want to write a romance novel."

"I'm saying this as your friend, Hyacinthe. All those books you read have turned you into a hopeless romantic. All caps on the word 'hopeless.' Besides, you don't have to find the love of your life on there, just meet someone. You always complain you wish you knew more people."

While I was an introvert at heart, Olivia was boisterous and made friends easy. It probably helped that she was literally stunning with her 5'9 model-like frame and flawless mocha skin. Only she's hated parties ever since her idiot of a boyfriend cheated on her at one. Now, she just claims she's too "grown"—and boujee, but I think that part was silent—to even be bothered.

"Don't people get on Tinder to fuck? I'm not exactly looking for a sneaky link." Olivia groaned in frustration.

"Fuck, don't fuck. It doesn't matter, just do something so you can't say you didn't try. You're the one that said you didn't want regrets this year."

I facepalmed as I remembered the goal I set for myself this year: no regrets or I'd have to streak across campus.

It made me shudder just thinking about it, and I knew that Liv would hold me to it because I'd sworn her to hold me accountable. Fuck me for thinking of everything.

"I'll think about it." I said, instead. She nodded before bidding me goodnight as the familiar tones of FaceTime rang out on her phone. Idiot boyfriend was on the line.

🦋

As I laid in bed, I couldn't get Olivia's dare off my mind. I mean, what harm could it do? It's just a Tinder profile, it's not like it's any different from making a Twitter or Instagram page, right? What did I have to be afraid of?

No regrets. My mind reminded me.

A Tinder profile wasn't going to be the reason I streaked across campus. Absolutely not.

All I had to do was put on my big girl panties and download a damn app. Simple.

Only my finger wouldn't press the damn download button.

"Stop being a baby back bitch, Cinthe. You are not giving the whole campus a look at your who-ha." I nodded my head in determination and finally clicked the button.

Honestly, it was pretty slow moving at first, and it probably took me an hour just to put up pictures that I liked even after I stared at them for a little while. But before I knew it, it was 3am, and I'd practically made a game out of swiping left and right. I was having so much fun that I didn't even pay any attention to the matches that I made or the messages that I was getting.

This wouldn't be so bad after all.

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Writing this because I have horrible writer's block from crippling college assignments and I suddenly got inspiration <3.

I'm also an Aries, so you should see all the books I've started and put down only to pick them right back up again. But, I'm super excited for this one because I can finally vent about college.

Feel free to share your stories too! You're not alone, I promise.