Algorithms

2

"Have you tried the new Bond experience, Erin?" Finn asked me eagerly. He had taken my coffee cup from me and filled it to the brim. Now he handed it back to me, smiling.

"Nope," I said. To be polite, I added, "How was it?"

"It was fantastic! The most exciting thing I've ever done. You can feel everything, it's like you really are James Bond, and YOU are doing all the stunts and everything." He smiled and waited for me to say something to show I was impressed.

I finally came up with, "Sounds fun."

"I could take you to it this weekend, if you like." Finn was becoming less shy about asking me out. I was having to try a lot harder to come up with excuses.

"I'm visiting my sister this weekend." I said, stirring sugar into my cup.

"Well, maybe another time then. See you later." Marc entered as Finn was leaving and held the door open for him. Finn stood there awkwardly, motioning for Marc to go first. Marc finally gave up on holding the door. Marc passed Finn with an annoyed look as he let the door nearly hit him.

But he smiled at me. "So what was your excuse this time?"

"I'm visiting my sister." I smiled and sipped my coffee.

"But you don't have a sister."

"Well apparently the man who wants to spend the rest of his life with me doesn't know that."

"He's an idiot." Marc said, and I felt the smile drain from my face. The algorithms had matched me up with Finn more than once. I knew he liked me, and if things didn't work out soon on one of my other algorithm-matchmaker dates I might give in and date Finn—marry him, even, as he'd joked about before, in that awkward way that said he really wasn't joking. And maybe he was right. Can a 98% match be wrong? It might be better to be with Finn than to be alone... And so it hurt me a little that Marc hated him so much.

"You okay there, Erin?" Marc could always tell how I was feeling.

"It's just... I know he's an idiot... but he's nice to me and... well you know how my last dates have been..." He didn't respond, making me uncomfortable. "I was considering giving it a try—just a date, you know. Not the whole marriage-proposal thing."

"You're better than him, Erin. You're better than everyone. That's your curse." He smiled crookedly. That is what I liked about him. When I had trouble with relationships, he didn't tell me that I just hadn't met the "right one" or that I needed to be more honest when I fill out the tests for the dating algorithms. Instead he would make me smile, or give me a compliment, or assure me I'm better off being free, without a partner to hold me back.

But I still wanted to find someone, so I filled out my profiles and the tests again and again, trying to be more honest about myself. Did I even know myself? I thought I did, but nothing was working, not the way things worked out for other people.

Fear had been growing inside me for a while now. Maybe the algorithms didn't work on me. Or maybe they didn't actually work on anyone. I never said that, though. This was one of those things that you thought, maybe even knew, but were not supposed to say.