Evelyn had been sceptic when Achilles had presented the idea of a dating app. But now, as she was sitting with Amelia in the cafe their publicists had chosen, every vibration of the phone in her bag made her fingers itch. She'd purposely put it on silent. The ZING tone of Appracadabra was too distinctive. If anybody heard that, they'd surely know what was going on. Or maybe she was just being paranoid. Nevertheless, better safe than sorry.
"You don't have to go on any actual dates. I use it for...well." Achilles paused. "Nevermind."
That was when she'd gotten really curious. But in the end she hadn't pestered him, instead relying on him to show her the ropes. His words, not hers.
The app's layout was rather simple; showing pictures and the beginnings of the bio on the homescreen, one's matches at the bottom and a little icon for the own profile in the top left corner. This was their first stop.
"You don't think I should use my real name, do you?"
"Not if you don't want a scandal. You're supposed to date Amelia right now, remember?"
"Right. So maybe..." Evelyn massaged her temples. "What about this?" She typed in her idea, showing him the screen. He raised a dark eyebrow at her, smirking. She hated it when he got on his high horse.
"Those are literally the first three letters of your name. They're gonna know."
"It's pronounced differently. And I'm not going to post actual pictures of myself. At least not ones that show my face. How would they know?"
Speaking of that, she quickly took a photo of the red roses on the table and selected it as her profile picture. Achilles sighed.
"Alright. Just don't blame me, if anything goes wrong."
"It was your idea though." She smirked. He rolled his eyes.
"Just do what feels right and keep going. I don't have all day."
"It's a friday morning. What could you possibly have to do." At his silence she inquired further. "Is it another date? Oh, is it from this app?"
"Not exactly."
"Curious and curiouser," she hummed. Achilles groaned.
"Can we just- I have to leave in half an hour. And I still need to get back to my apartment and-"
"And make yourself look pretty." Evelyn nodded. He flashed his fangs at her; she hissed right back. He rolled his eyes again and she stuck her tongue out at him in answer.
"But in all honesty, if you have somewhere to be, you can go. I should be able to do this by myself, it doesn't seem too hard."
Achilles stopped making silly faces at her. "You sure?" She nodded and he shrugged. "Alright. Just don't do anything stupid, Eve."
With that he was in the elevator and she could see how he checked his hair just before the doors closed.
Curious and curiouser.
"Wow, I still can't believe we're actually here. When all this slipped in the live stream I wouldn't have dreamed of this ending in an actual date. I am ever so embarrassed about that, I can be such a klutz sometimes."
Evelyn stirred in her tea, which wasn't half as good as her usual at TEA AMO and nodded along. She should probably feel bad, not paying attention to Amelia. Even if it was just faking it for her, the fae seemed to genuinely like her. Maybe she really had a slight crush on her.
Another vibration in Evelyn's purse. The itch got stronger.
"Is everything alright?"
Evelyn looked up. Amelia's big blue eyes stared at her with concern. She'd probably nodded along silently for too long.
"Yes, everything is fine. I apologize, I might still be a bit tired from the premiere."
Amelia searched her face for a moment longer but sunk back in her chair and didn't seem too offended or hurt.
"Of course. I understand. You must've had a thousand other appointments since then, the ever so busy Evelyn Estrées." Something in her tone put Evelyn off but before she could dwell on it, Amelia continued.
"I would love to hear more and possibly learn from you. I've admired you ever since your first role on the silver screen." She put a strand of hair behind her pointy ear and took a sip from her cappuccino. Her eyes never left the vampire's face. Evelyn swallowed.
"Yes, absolutely. If you would excuse me for just a minute. I need to use the restroom."
"Most certainly." Amelia smiled at her from over the edge of her cup. Evelyn excused herself again before grabbing her purse and standing up. She could feel Amelia's gaze on the back of her head all the way to the restroom.
Fortunately, she was the only one inside and when she closed the stall door a sigh of relief left her lips. This was going to be her most exhausting "relationship" yet. She pulled her phone out of the bag.
Appracadabra had a few new notifications. More matches, but she ignored them for now and clicked on the one profile she'd already interacted with. Ruby had sent her three new messages. They had been texting non-stop since yesterday.
After Achilles had left, Evelyn did the dishes, trying not to think too much about the darn app. Finishing that, she checked her schedule but it seemed that Natasha hadn't come up with anything new yet. And the day after a premiere were usually off. Nothing to do, nowhere to be.
Of course she could head back down to the gym but her last workout had only been three hours ago; even she had to admit that starting another one now would be excessive.
So with nothing else to do, she curled up in her arm chair by the window and tried to get lost in a book. She hadn't done that in a while, even though her bedroom walls were mostly covered in bookshelves and the ones in the living room were getting close to that as well.
Yet she couldn't concentrate at all, her thoughts and gaze sliding to the phone lying upside down beside her. After reading the same sentence for the 5th time, she finally caved in. Bookmarking her page, she put it aside and grabbed her phone instead.
Appracadabra greeted her with zing zing zing and sparkles, just like the first time. She clicked on the little icon that sent her to the bio. It was empty except for her name.
Eve.
Nobody would know. It was going to be fine. And besides, this was just for fun. She didn't actually look for a serious relationship. Achilles' words rang through her head.
You're not exactly a relationship person. At least not real ones.
Well, she didn't have time for one anyway. And Achilles was the last person she wanted to hear that from.
Age. Should she lie? No. There were plenty of 27-year-old vampires. They wouldn't know.
Age
27
Pronouns and species were easy as well.
Pronouns
She/Her
Species
Vampire.
While her preference for gender was easy as well . Even though it had never been explicitly made public to make her seem more approachable – Geralt's words -- , she hesitated at preferred species.
Magickals.
Humans.
All.
Everybody's looking for something, Evelyn, so our family only associates with the most elite magickals.
They may dull our magick, but they can't blunt our fangs. So bite onto power and always strive for excellence, Evelyn.
She'd only ever dated magickals. It would be foolish for her to date humans. That wasn't an option for Evelyn Estrées.
But she wouldn't be Evelyn Estrées on this app, would she? She would be Eve. So maybe she could...No. She couldn't. Even if this wasn't serious. Even if it was just for fun, she couldn't. Unless...
Preferences
Gender: Women.
Species: All.
She exhaled a shaky breath. Everything was fine. No one would ever know. Besides, if Evelyn Estrées was known for exclusively dating magickals, no one would suspect her, if she also put humans in her preferences.
Her interests proved one more hurdle. Acting, obviously. But if she didn't want to raise suspicion, she should refrain from putting that in her bio. So, what else? Books. She loved to read. Her guilty pleasure were trashy romance novels, even more so, because Achilles turned up his nose at the mere sight of them.
Interests
Reading
But she couldn't let that stand alone. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything else. Maybe she should get another work out in after all-
Interests
Reading, Sports (running)
She had invested a lot of her time into track and been the star of the team back in high school. So she could count running to her interests, right? Right.
The buzzing feeling came back.
She couldn't change into her sports gear fast enough. On the way out, her gaze stuck to the little cup on the dresser again.
When she'd seen the little smiling tea bag saying you're gonna be tea-rrific the first time, she'd almost sorted out loud. She loved puns. They were the highest form of humor.
But Everyone's Darling Evelyn didn't ugly laugh at puns in public. So Evelyn had just smiled at Rubina when she'd handed her the cup, wishing her Congratuluck. The blush on her cheeks had been exquisit.
No. No thinking about Rubina. Rubina, the human. No matter how sweet she seemed and what amazing tea she served- Was tea an interest? Probably not. Nothing would come off it. Still...
Interests
Reading, Sports (running), Tea
RUBY 14: 26
These are gonna bloom soon
Hayden said they wouldn't
But I believed in them
*Ruby sent an image*
Evelyn flinched as someone else entered the restroom. She quickly checked the time. Only five minutes had passed. Still perfectly explainable to her...date.
ME 14:31
I've never seen those before. Can you make tea out of them as well?
Also I apologize but I will be in a meeting now, so I won't be able to reply.
She still couldn't believe that of all her listed interests the app would suggest a profile that also had tea in it. Ruby's profile. But here she was, hiding in the restroom to chat with a woman who also loved tea.
RUBY 14:32
Oh gosh
I am so sorry for disturbing you
I forget that not all people work in shifts
Me 14:32
No worries.
I'll text you again when it's over
After quickly typing her response, she excited the stall and washed her hands. Returning to her table she found Amelia chatting with what seemed to be an adoring group of fans. Evelyn held back a sigh. It was bad enough that they had to pretend not to notice all the paparazzi sneakily taking photos of their date. But fans meant actual interaction and active pretending. Although Geralt had told her to be unspecific.
Let the people guess a bit longer. Uncertainty is what keeps the gossip and publicity flowing, Evelyn.
Amelia was so busy taking pictures and signing napkins, that she almost didn't notice Eveyn's return. The fans however did, swarming her as soon as she'd taken her seat. Now it was her turn to sign and smile. Meanwhile Amelia's dazzling smile froze.
"So is it true? What Glam & Goss said about Amelia and you."
"Well, it's-"
"What do you think? Don't flowers and coffee sound like a date?"
All eyes were back on the fae. Evelyn cast a glance at her as well. She wasn't sure what Amelia's publicist had instructed her with, but it seemed to work all the same; the group began to whisper with excitement even before they were out of the cafe.
The vampire and fae were alone again. This time, she had Evelyn's full attention.
"What was that?"
"Whatever do you mean." Amelia lowered her lashes and looked at her through them.
"I'm starting to think you know exactly what I mean. I believe we were both told to keep a low profile, or do I have the wrong information on that?"
"But that's so boring. Don't you want to stir the pot a bit?" She took another sip from her cup, before signing for a waiter to bring the check. Evelyn looked at her wordlessly. Amelia sighed.
"Ok, fine. Yes, I was told the same thing as you. Not confirm anything, let the paparazzi do all the dirty work, blah blah blah. But it worked, didn't it?"
Evelyn kept silent. She needed to process this. Apparently, Amelia wasn't as sweet and naive as she seemed. Achilles had been right once again. She could already imagine his I-told-you-so-smirk when she'd call later. Their waiter brought the check. The fae smiled at him and he blushed, tripping over his own feet when leaving.
"Listen." Blue eyes came back to Evelyn, cold and calculating. "I can have everyone I want wrapped around my little finger," she showed off her perfectly manicured hand, "And the public already loves their Darling oh so much. Just think about what we could accomplish together, as a couple." The tone in her voice dropped. Evelyn kept her face as neutral as possible.
"Not a real one though."
Amelia rolled her eyes.
"Really, Evelyn? You've been around a bit longer than I have. You should know that when it comes down to everything, it's just glitter and falsehood."
Just like her.
Evelyn sighed. It wasn't like she had much of a choice. The game had already begun. Now all she could do was roll the dice and hope for the best.
"Alright."
"Great!" Amelia's smile was back full force, as if their whole conversation had never occured in the first place.
Now," she passed the check over to Evelyn. "You wouldn't want your junior and future girlfriend to pay for the first date, would you."
Evelyn got her wallet without another word. Everybody's looking for something.
Chapter title: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" by Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart
H E L L O B E A U T I F U L P E O P L E
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