Alternate Reality Ramble 001

Intro

[Skip this if you don't care, the story's somewhere down below.]

Recently, I joined this popular hook up/dating app called Tinder because I was super bored and wanted to anonymously troll people. Then I realized that you have to link your account to Facebook, which sort of defeated my basic purpose for joining the app.

Regardless, I DID join the app and posted a picture of me in a mask...a lame attempt at anonymity in an age where it's annoyingly easy to find out information about almost anyone at any time.

For the record, the text underneath basically says that I left swiped (aka rejected) so many people that they couldn't find anyone else for me to match with. Apparently I'm a picky troll-er (I decree that that's a word even if I don't know anyone who uses it-yet)?

*facepalm*

Oh shut up, internet. You all know that you either come online to troll people or laugh at the trolls or the people being trolled!

Anyway, so I met a surprisingly interesting guy who actually did only want a friend and nothing else. He seemed moderately smart and hey, Potterhead! (I'm a fandom snob so I'm going to tell you that he was a real Potterhead aka One Who read the Books and no, I keep being Sorted into Gryffindor. I was a beta tester on Pottermore and got Sorted into Gryffindor twice so shush.)

We spoke, we got to know each other and we became friends! It was an unlikely path to friendship but it worked out pretty well (so far, anyway. Fingers crossed, guys!)

The story I'm posting this intro to is an alternate version of our first meeting IRL (in real life). Romanticized, of course, but blame it on the rom com binging I've participated in (and still do, which, let's face it, we all do, albeit some of us do it in secret.)

[Of course, this is the internet and this entire introduction could be a complete lie so really, treat it as a prologue or feel free to ignore it.]

Here goes:

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The Story

He texted her, "Where are you?"

Butterflies fluttering in her empty stomach, she texted back, "In the Smoking Room."

He replied, "I'm coming. You'd better recognize me, okay?"

She smiled to herself and replied, "But how? I don't even know what you look like yet."

He texted before entering the stuffy smoke-filled entirety of the tiny cramped room, "I'll be the one in shorts."

She laughed at their similarities before sending back a quick, "So am I" and pressing the power button quickly in anticipation. Her vanity wondered about his appearance but the power of platitudes reminded her that it didn't matter ANYWAY.

As her confused mind continued to present her with an annoyingly silly conundrum, a cute guy with a drink walked in but he was soon followed by a girl. She took a long puff to calm her nerves that really shouldn't have been behaving like she was a fifteen year old teenager anyway. She wondered, yet again, if this had been a good idea and if it wasn't too late to abandon the ship.

He entered, looking around with a whisky in his hand.

She hid a smile and said, "So. Where have you been?"

He looked so nervous that it was almost adorable. If only he knew what she was feeling-no, she was glad he didn't. The thought of him knowing how she struggled with the idea of meeting him today and wondered about whether it was a good idea-if only to check him out-made her shake her head at herself (mentally, of course, she wasn't a total idiot even if it seemed like she was on the fast lane to becoming one).

At the end of the night, he looked sheepishly at his phone and said, almost apologetically, "World of Warcraft servers are up again!...sorry."

She laughed-out loud, this time- and told him to hurry back home to his small rented apartment in the vibrant new city he was still a stranger to, so he could play his favourite game.

She did it because she understood, but for him, that's when he started to fall in love with her-even if it was only for a split moment- and knew he felt something he didn't really want to label-not yet, if ever. He put his phone back in his pocket and asked to walk with her for a bit so he wouldn't miss an opportunity to spend a few more moments with the girl he had only just met.

-x-

PS. Leave your comments or a bump if you've read this. Or a reaction, or your own stories of Tinder or literally anything-I'm not too picky XD Thanks for reading!