Matchmaker

Matchmaker 1

Prologue

Swipe.

Swipe.

Swipe.

Swipe.

Oooh!

Swipe right!

My thumb hurts.

My attention span is that of a squirrel.

I'm on a carousel that I can't hop off.

It's easy to play dress up

Until you wake up in your costume.

And you're addicted to the feeling of letting go.

The ride height limit gets knocked down to the floor

just like my standards.

Swipe right.

He's okay.

Swipe right.

I should at least give him a chance.

Swipe right.

Hey, we matched.

We're still playing pretend right?

—

      "I exist. I'm here" . It was hard for you to wrap your mind around this concept as you lay sprawled like a starfish atop of your twin bed. The only source of light coming from the cracks that escaped the blinds of you and your roommates bedroom you mindlessly traced the shapes that were projected onto your cream colored comforter. Turning to your side you began to contemplate the reason behind the boredom that seemed to shadow you wherever you went.

     Summer was your least favorite season of the year. Whoever said summer was the best time of the year definitely has some screws missing because it was an endless period of time which seems like heaven to every student in the world, until they realize there's only so much you can do on the internet. Stare at your phone, eat, watch Netflix, eat, and repeat the cycle until class is in session once again. It was especially hard on people like you, who had no friends to begin with, given the exception of Jade, the only person who was always down for well, anything. And frankly she's the reason you were encouraged to download the superficial online dating app that was Tinder.

     If someone had asked you to describe her in one word it would be eccentric. She was untameable by her parents up north, and decided to go to college down here where they had no way to control her expenses, whereabouts or most of all, her sexual life.

     You'd routinely ask yourself why or how the universe brought such polar opposites to join forces. The two of you were so unlike each other that it was almost laughable. Those that happen to meet the both of you in the same room would most likely question your motivations for having someone as rebellious as Jade around. What was even more mind boggling was trying to figure out the root of Jade's motivations in having a goody-two-shoes like you to call "best friend".

     What would a prude like yourself have to gain from being associated with someone as indifferent as Jade? Maybe it was just how you wanted to rebel against popular belief that you were a simple minded girl, with simple minded interests and goals. Your roommate once told you, after trying to grasp the fact that you had a close friend like Jade, that perhaps it was your way of living vicariously through someone like her. Knowing you would never have it in you to pull off some of the stunts she did, just being able to have her near was enough to feel like you had gone through the same experiences she had. All you could do was listen like a child during story time in grade school, dying to hear what adventure protagonist will encounter next.

      You had always watched Jade from the sidelines, going on dates every week with complete strangers she only knew from a set of images and a small bio stating everything the person on the other end wanted you to know about them. Was it dangerous and completely reckless given that half the guys on there were only looking for a hookup? Certain. Did she care? Not in the least bit. on whether a guy was cute or not while you never even had a boyfriend. And maybe you hit your limit on how much loafing around you could ta

       This was where your story began, staring at the download screen of Tinder, an app you never imagined yourself going anywhere near. If you were to tell your fifteen year old self that you'd be this desperate you'd probably look carefully at your life choices in the next years to come in attempt to fix the point where you went wrong.

       Clicking auto-fill the personal information option, the only steps left to set up an account were to upload a few pictures of yourself and you were back on the market. You squealed once you uploaded your best selfies onto your profile and made it public. You smiled devilishly as you thought of this secret identity you had just crafted. Giggling to quietly, you began your search for the prince charming that fit your ideal type thought you weren't even sure if he would be enough. Hah. "Over your dead body" you thought. You wouldn't actually go through with meeting the freak. You reminded yourself that this would be your own little playground where you would flirt with desperate men without actually wanting to go further with any of it.

       Before you knew it you spent weeks- months on the wretched site. It was a never ending cycle of window shopping for the perfect guy that you knew could never meet your standards. But why did you feel so heartbroken when the strangers ceased to maintain the shallow relationship that made your heart skip a beat? That perhaps he could be interested in something beyond a good time.

You swiped on, progressively lowering your standards as a part of your heart died every time a series of messages made it clear to you that most men- if not all were scum.

You sat up from your couch potato position to get a closer look at a profile that stood out from the rest.

"Jae" you pronounced his name aloud grinning at how easily the sound escaped your lips.

---

     You'd always come back to them. Those that hurt you in the past, because they put your tiny universe at a tilt for just a mere second. They who allowed you to encounter sites you wouldn't have chosen for yourself given your predetermined course. The pain they brought sadness, and ironically excitement to your otherwise tame existence. Looking back at it now, they exist in mere everyday occurrences. When you shifted your gaze from your phone, sketchbook, or some sort of crumbling pastry at a bustling coffee shop, only to have your tired eyes land on another's absent-minded gaze.. Or when you're dashing to class and briefly stop to catch your breath only to identify a figure from your past, both of you opting to look the other direction not wanting to resurface the sensations of another era that has come to a close.

You'd see him, her, or them in plain sight. You'd instinctively turn a blind eye to your current reality, and retrace your steps, back to the exact point you left off. The day our paths intertwined was a glitch in the system. And you were almost certain that you both knew you should have never met.