Girlfriends

1

Emmie was staring at her phone, alone on a Friday night because apparently that was who she had become. If she was still in college, she would be out at a bar with Jess and the rest of their friends. If she still lived at home, her mom and dad would have whipped out Scrabble or Yahtzee.

Instead, Emmie was by herself in her new apartment in Philadelphia. She had been so excited to get a job in the city and finally live on her own, but now that she was doing it, reality looked a little different from her fantasy. She liked her recruiting job at a big finance firm, but the business bros she worked with didn't make for the best company outside of the office.

How was she supposed to make friends at this age anyway? People complained that dating was hard, but finding friendships in a new city could be just as bad.

If downloading Tinder helped her meet men, maybe Bumble could help her make friends. Emmie downloaded the app and got to work on her profile.

For Ash, swiping through dating apps had become a mindless pastime. She wasn't proud of that, but it was who she had become. She would spend a night swiping, looking at picture after picture of beautiful women, reading witty or unimaginative bios, hearing girls' favorite fun fact or two truths and a lie. Then, she would spend the rest of the week trying to chat with the women she matched with. Sometimes it went well, and other times the conversation was doomed before it even started.

It was all a game of narrowing down the many, many options. She only swiped right on some ladies; a few became matches; even fewer led to a conversation; even fewer were willing to go out on a date; even fewer followed through on that date. By the time Ash found someone she wanted to go on a second date with, she felt like she left dozens of women in her wake.

Still, that was how it was done. She wanted to put herself out there, so this was how she was doing it.

Ash swiped left (AKA said "no thanks") on a girl whose perfect first date was "cutting right to the chase" and swiped right on an artsy looking lady who offered to give tarot readings. They did not match.

Then, Ash found herself looking at a photo of a girl named Emmie. She had long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a super cute nose ring. There was a photo of her sipping a bright pink drink, one of her and a dog, and one with a group of girls dressed up in a park.

"I'm the kind of person you want around on the weekends," her bio read. "Weekdays...well, hit me up and we'll find out."

Ash could use a little more fun in her weekends. The fact that she was spending her Friday night on Bumble, half watching a Marvel movie with her roommates only proved that. She swiped right and was excited to see that they matched. She knew the odds of talking to Emmie at all were better if she made the first move so she got to work figuring out what to say.

Emmie had done some swiping and found some BFF matches, but her first message was from a girl named Ashley.

"hey Emmie, I'm Ash! how's your week going??"

Ash. Emmie made a mental note of that as she clicked on her profile. Ash was cute with a super short, kind of androgynous haircut and brown glasses sitting on top of round cheeks. Emmie scrolled through her profile and was reminded why she swiped right. She had pictures of her with friends, pictures of her being outdoorsy, but what really took the cake was her prompt that read, "I will never shut up about...12 time Grammy winner, 2019 Woman of the Decade Taylor Alison Swift."

Emmie was always down to chat with another Swiftie, especially to speculate which album the artist would rerecord next. There would be time to discuss that later, though. For now, Emmie just answered the question at hand.

"Hey Ash! Nice to meet you! My week has been good so far. I just started a new job so I've been settling in there and am finally finding time to try and meet new people. How's your week been?"

The conversation took off from there. Emmie told Ash about her worst interviews as a recruiter and Ash told Emmie what classes she was taking while getting her master's degree in architecture. They kept chatting throughout Friday and Saturday, talking about the city and pop culture and anything else that came to mind.

"Any plans for the rest of the weekend?" Emmie asked at one point, knowing full well she didn't have any besides buying groceries and doing laundry.

"I'm trying to coax my roommates into getting Sunday brunch with me. so far no takers but I'm not giving up until I have pancakes and mimosas in me!"

It honestly felt to Emmie like they knew each other forever. The conversation flowed so easily, and meanwhile she could barely get more than a two word reply from anyone else, let alone a thoughtful question.

On Saturday night, after they had talked all day, Emmie asked, "Did you ever get your roommates to agree to go to brunch with you?"

"no :( they're 'not morning people' apparently. laaaaame," Ash replied.

"I know it's last minute, but I'd love to go to brunch with you tomorrow if you're down."

"for real?? I'd love that! I know this great place--I'll send you the details!"

And that was how Emmie suddenly had a friend date scheduled for Sunday morning. After spending the rest of the weekend on her own, she couldn't pretend she wasn't excited to hang out with anyone, especially someone as cool as Ash.