A Match Made In Hell (LGBTQ Romance Short Story)

The Merge

The first stage of a relationship is the Merge or what I like to call the Honeymoon phase. It's the beginning point in a relationship where you feel you found the perfect match. Well...that's before the hell sets in and you're stuck sleeping next to a snoring narcissist that drives you to drink. But that's a stage in the process we'll get to a little later on, some people are lucky to get to that stage in a relationship. Often you're ghosted during your first date, that person would rather be anywhere else than sitting right across from you at some candle-lit dinner. Sometimes you find a good match or sometimes you find a match made in hell. Either way, you're in for a wonderful ride filled with anger, sadness, and a host of other emotions. Take it from me, I reached a pivotal moment in my life where I've mastered the art of not giving a fuck about whether I had a guy to lay next to me at night. I mean don't get me wrong, I'd fucking enjoy it, but it's 2023....will it ever happen? I guess we'll see.

January 2023

Where do I begin? Oh right from the beginning, I did the impossible today. I came out to my family, it didn't go the way I expected it...fuck it went better. They were so supportive of me and my newfound bi-sexuality. At least they thought it was newfound, but I mean what bi-curious didn't download and delete Grindr every 30 minutes? But It was a new year I was searching for real love. The biggest part was out of the way, now I just needed to find that boyfriend I could write home about. Someone who I could build with, trust in my life, and of course do cute TikTok trends with right? So now was the time to download Tinder, I was ready for real love. Noah Beck or Nico Greetham wasn't answering my DM's so I had to go to Tinder. But My DM's are always open if Noah or Nico are reading this. Creating a Tinder with so much riding on it should be a major in college. Deciding what to put in the tiny space for bio, 200 characters to convince someone to swipe right on you. Only 9 photos that took me 9 weeks to curate outfits for. Stuffy prompts that really didn't speak to the full me.  How could someone know me enough to want to pursue a relationship with me? But Tinder also wasn't answering my DMs and emails, so I went along with it. I swiped until my fingers hurt, hoping my guy was out there, hoping he was working out his fingers to find me too. But cheers to hoping, it keeps you young.

Almost the entire month had gone by with little to no hope on this platform. Like a normal human I was laying in bed at 3 a.m. watching my favorite comfort show Supernatural when a Tinder notification popped up on my phone, before I could process it, there was another. Let's call him Jake, it said you received a new match. The second message read "Jake sent you a new message". My phone hit the floor and I wasn't sure I knew who this person was but someone who took the initiative to message me first I was already in love. I opened the message "Hey how's it going?" I froze, and I pondered on my response, I mean this guy looks like he fell off of a Calvin Klein catalog. The only thing I could muster up was "Pretty good hbu?" That response haunted me for 30 minutes, I thought he'd never respond to me. But my phone rang again. "I'm doing alright I guess just excited to be going to work tomorrow. Helps keep my mind off things," he replied. My heart sank, I was so happy he got back to me and actively wanted to continue the conversation. I thought he was something I needed to breathe life into me, to give me purpose. I didn't tell him that, but boy was I thinking it. In the back of my mind, I knew I was going to Las Vegas for business but I wanted to see him, put a face to a name, and such a beautiful conversation. I didn't know what things you could ask, it was my first time attempting to be in a relationship with a guy. I was terrified to ask him on a date. But I was motivated to be consistent, it was one of the things I wanted in a guy so I needed to take the first step. By this time, I was practically in love with Jake I'm not delusional, I wasn't in love with him after two weeks.* he knew when school or work was bothering me. When life was rough, he was smart even though he'd never admit it. He was charming, and a great conversationalist, something I thought I'd never find in a man. He was a lot like me, and weirdly, I found it soothing. My fear of airplanes rattled me with anxiety the day I left for Vegas, but Jake was there virtually the entire way, we had only been talking for two weeks and it felt like I had known him my entire life.  I was becoming attached when in hindsight, should have been my alert to take a step back, but my brain and my heart went full speed ahead, not knowing of the fiery crash and death ahead.