They met on a dating app. She was looking for a real connection; he was just looking for a casual fling on the side. From the very first “Hello,” the vibes were off. He was throwing shade, and she was firing back with sharp, biting sarcasm.
“High maintenance,” he thought. “I should swipe left and keep moving.” Then, he asked her out anyway.
“What a total jerk,” she told herself. “I’ll send him one last nasty text and ghost him.” But for some reason, when the invite for coffee popped up, she said yes.
She spent the whole day trying to talk herself out of it. She almost texted a “work emergency” excuse, but nothing felt convincing. He also had half a mind to bail and make up a story about being stuck at the office, but he had an hour to kill before a business meeting. He figured a cup of coffee couldn’t hurt—even in bad company.
The coffee was decent; the tension was thick.
“She’s alright. Good for a few hookups, I guess,” he thought, offering her a ride home since it was on his way.
“I’m deleting my account tonight. I’m done with these clowns. I’d rather walk for the rest of my life than see him again,” she decided, as she climbed into his car.
That night, she logged back in to actually delete her profile and saw he was online too.
“Of course, he’s already chatting up someone else. I guess I wasn’t his type,” she thought, letting out a sigh.
“Checking the market again. I knew I shouldn’t have bothered,” he noted, seeing her active status… and then he messaged her to ask for a second date, “to actually talk this time.”
She agreed. They set a time at the same spot. During the day, he called a few times to cancel, but she didn’t pick up, and eventually, her phone went dead.
“This is high school drama. If she doesn’t want to talk, why did she agree?” he muttered, annoyed, deciding he was done calling.
When she left work, she realized her battery had died. Time was running out, and they hadn’t even locked in a final time. She rushed home, plugged in her phone, and called him back. The line was busy. She finally got through twenty minutes later. He sounded beyond frustrated, telling her he’d been sitting there for a while and if she wasn’t there in ten minutes, he was out.
“Grown man acting like a moody teenager! Fine, I’ll go just to spite him,” she thought, running for the subway station right outside her door.
She arrived thirty minutes late. He was still there. They talked for hours.
“He’s actually interesting. Not my usual type, but good for coffee and a chat,” she decided.
“Never again with this scattered girl, not even for a one-night stand,” he promised himself… and then invited her to a movie the next night.
A week later, after a round of bowling, he drove her home, and she invited him up to see her place.
“She’s amazing! Glad she reached out first. You’d never guess she was this cool based on that boring profile,” he thought the next morning, inviting her on a weekend getaway.
“I need to end this before I get too attached. I’ll tell him I’m late for work and get him out of here,” she decided while making breakfast.
A month later, he invited her to move in.
“Great apartment, and the host isn’t half bad either. He makes coffee so good I could move in right now,” she thought with a smile.
“What a disaster! She’s so messy. Dinner dishes in the sink, bed unmade. But I’m still going to ask her to move in,” he decided, promising to drive her to work every morning.
A year later, they decided to celebrate their anniversary.
“It’s been a while since we had a real fight. It’s almost weird how well we’re doing,” she thought, pulling her signature dish out of the oven—the one he obsessed over.
“Who invented all this ‘romance’ stuff anyway? Can’t we just grab a beer and watch the game?” he thought, lighting the candles and checking for the hundredth time if the ring was hidden under her napkin.
They’ve been together for 15 years now.Â
