Set Me Up

Chapter 1. Swipe

"That's it!" I yelled as I slammed the door behind me, slapping my purse on the side table, and kicking my heels halfway down the hall. "I'm sick of it!" I strolled down the hallway, turning into the kitchen and instantly pulling out the bottle of wine. I pulled the cork hard and flung it into the distance before taking a deep swallow of alcohol. It burned, washing away the sour taste I'd had since leaving the restaurant.

For his part, Sebastian hadn't even glanced up from his laptop. "That bad?"

I rolled my eyes as I took another swig. "I swear on all that is holy, I'm never looking for another date on Swipe again."

Sebastian chuckled as he glanced at me over the rim of his glasses, "You said that last time." His fingers flew over the keyboard.

"This time, I mean it," I huffed as I flopped on the couch.

With a small shake of his head, Sebastian closed his laptop. "You said that too. I've told you a million times, you aren't going to find the love of your life on Swipe."

"Where else am I supposed to find him!?"

"You know my views on this."

I gave a dramatic sigh before taking another huge swallow of wine. With a smirk, Sebastian stood, taking the three steps from his desk to the couch. He picked up my feet, which were stretched out across his spot, and set them on his lap as he sat down. "Let me see him." He held out his hand.

Rolling my eyes again I opened up the Swipe app and handed the device to my best friend.

He frowned down at the screen, reading over the details listed on the profile. He barely glanced at the photo of the muscular blonde with a jaw so sharp it could cut glass. I'd gazed at the picture, trying to imagine what type of man he was, what kind of conversations we'd have, what our children would look like. My lips turned down in a frown. "Let me guess, couldn't hold a conversation that didn't center around his workout regime?" Bash didn't even glance up from the phone.

I lifted the arm I'd draped across my eyes to give him an incredulous look. "How do you do that?!" I'd never expected my weekend nights to end up wine drunk on my best friend's couch but it seemed to be an even more common occurrence as of late. Grumbling to myself I grabbed the remote, flipping through movies on Netflix like I hadn't already seen most of them. God I'm pathetic, I thought.

"This is what? Date number 5?"

I rolled my eyes as I snatched the phone back, turning it off and setting it on the floor next to me. I nudged Sebastian's hand with my toe. Instantly he began messaging and I felt my shoulders sink into the couch, remote resting on my belly, forgotten. "Yeah. I was hoping it would go better than the last one, but obviously that's asking too much." I shuddered at the memory of my previous dating app match. He'd seemed so normal at first, asking me all the normal first date questions. It wasn't until he'd asked about what color underwear I was wearing and if he could have them after the date that I'd decided he was a creep.

"You can't really expect to find love on a dating site Fin. It's so impersonal. And you know guys on those sites only want one thing."

"Tell me how you really feel Bash."

"Maybe it's time to give up on the sites for a while." I sighed loudly but didn't argue. Sebastian continued to rub my foot as he stared, unseeing, at the TV. I had quit scrolling and landed right on To All The Boys I've Loved Before. "Love's out there somewhere Fin, just stop looking so hard."

"No, it's out there for everyone but me."

"Not everyone can be your parents." I'd admit to that. My parents had met senior year of high school at a football game. They'd gone to rival schools but there was something about each other that trumped the idea of not going over to the other side. They'd dated the rest of the year, gone to college together, got married their sophomore year and began having kids. They were still happily married forty five years later.