The Mysterious Tinder Girl

There is hope

They decided to meet around 7 pm at a nearby coffee place that was coincidently close to Manuel's apartment, so he decided to go on foot 30 minutes earlier to arrive either on time or having a few minutes to spare so he doesn't have his date waiting for him.

As the clock is striking close to 7, he gets up from where he sat while making time and headed to the coffee place to meet Sandra.

Checking his phone several times, he notices he hasn't received any messages from her since the night before; starting to get worried and thinking he might be stood up, he started to get agitated and nervous. To calm himself, he went to the cashier to order a soda while he waited either for a response or a signal from his would-be date.

Losing hope, as he was finishing his drink and prepping to leave; he hears a soothing, soft voice calling his name. He turns and sees a pretty brunette matching the description of the girl in the pictures he had on his phone. As he approached her, he takes off his mask to make his presence known and greets her with a calm demeanor but quickly putting it back on; she glances at him and after recognizing him, she does the same. She seemed friendly and outgoing while Manuel, being the opposite, was nervous as he tried to regain his composure after believing his date wasn't coming.

As the hour passes, the couple seems to hit it off pretty well, being comfortable and finding a lot of common ground on interests, and having a pleasant time with each other's company. His thoughts were dwindling between how much of a good time he was having and how this seems all so unreal. Feeling utterly foolish for not listening to his friends all the times they brought up this famous dating app.

As they were heading their separate ways, it would seem as if both were a perfect match. Making a woman laugh was never one of his strong attributes but on this night it looks like there was a change to that norm. The sensation of her voice and laughter had an intoxicating yet strange sensation on him, a feeling he had never felt before either on previous dates or relationships to a point of confusion. "Is this what love at first sight feels like?" he wondered while walking home.

The effects a person can have on another can have significant alterations to one's usual habits and even discarding personal safety if obsession-type sentiments kick in. Let's not forget that the authorities have placed a mandatory curfew and a set of warnings for citizens not to venture at night due to risking their personal safety.

This became too real when a couple of police officers stopped Manuel nearly a block from his building. All of the sudden, he snapped out of what felt like a trance-like state and noticed one of the officers was starring right at him asking again why was he out at such late hours.

Having no excuse to say, he just went with the truth; he simply was finishing date with a girl he met and lost track of time. The officers laid the terms pretty simple to Manuel, explaining that by violating the curfew, they have no choice but to arrest him and hold him for said violation... unless he could make it up for them. Facing jail time was the last thing he wanted, so he reluctantly "collaborated" with the officers discreetly and he was sent on his way. After arriving at his apartment, shaking in anger by having such a nice evening ending with a bitter note, he simply went to bed to shake it off until morning.

As he woke up and checked his phone, he noticed he didn't get a text from Sandra. Wanting to send her a message but at the same time not wanting to sound desperate or needy, he decided to do it at a later point during the day, noticing the hour, he thought she might be working and it would be rude to disturb her.

Around 8 pm, his phone rang; to his surprise it was Sandra. He greeted her fondly, and so did her, thanking him for the lovely time they spent and apologizing for the late hours on which the date ended. Stating that she wanted to see him again and promising that the next time around they would try to stay within the hours before the mandatory curfew and avoid unwanted trouble.

A few days have passed and as expected from two people who show such chemistry towards each other, the texts keep going back and forth. Every time she wrote it gave him a reason to smile and it was a nice distraction as well as a change of pace for the young man.

Dating while the quarantine was in effect or even general socialization was hard, especially for younger folk who are driven to reach out and spend time with their significant others or friends. But many over the passage of time have found new ways to work around the government's strict rules. For Manuel it was no exception, he wanted to see Sandra again, and has thought of ways to make it work in spite of current circumstances.

The weeks have passed and they have been on several dates without incident; more to their advantage came in the form of lighter restrictions and reduction of strictness regarding the rule on which citizens can go by on their daily lives; this made socializing much easier for everyone either for job purposes or to reconnect with their friends and families.

As things were starting to move quickly between the two lovebirds, it became obvious that both showed interest in each other physically. Sandra, wanting to spend more time with Manuel suggested they spend the weekend at her apartment, an option that he never considered or thought was an option seeing they've been dating for a short while; none the less he agreed. Sandra overjoyed by Manuel's acceptance of her proposal she reached to him and hugged him tightly, to Manuel's surprise, she had a tight squeeze in spite of having a thin figure; heeding no mind to it he responded in kind.

As he returned, he got texts from some of his friends in their group chat asking about him. It has been some time since he went to any of the gatherings hosted by his regular companions and noticing his absence. Manuel simply told them what he has been up to lately besides his daily activities from his job. Asking what were his plans for the weekend they were surprised to hear his answer; that he was going to spend the entire weekend at the house of a girl he barely knew. Not taking the responsibility to kindly from the very same friends who boasted on the many girls they were picking up, but they responded by commenting that they knew they were dealing with total strangers and the safest way is to either go to a hotel or somewhere of the sort if the interaction was going to be physical. Manuel again sounding defensive he stayed by his actions and assured his friends that he knows what he's doing. Avoiding wanting to continue the argument, they still left the invitation open for him if he wanted to stop by and even bring this mysterious tinder girl of his. But his mind was made up and he would stick to his original plan.