Behind the Screen

Chapter 5

Chloe grinned at me before turning towards her car. I was ready to disagree with her, but she honestly wasn't wrong.

"Thanks...kind of," I said.

At least she'd given me somewhat of a compliment.

"Have a good weekend Katelyn," she said as she got into her car.

I awkwardly put my hand up and waved as I watched her drive off.

Yeah...that hadn't exactly gone how I wanted it to.

                                        ***

Once I was back home, I slumped down on to my couch with my phone in hand. I had a text from Emily and a message on the dating app.

"Damn it, I'll call you sometime tomorrow," Emily had sent.

I flipped over to my other message, and saw that it had come through not too long ago.

"Hey, how happy of a Friday did it turn out to be?"

"Does it count as it being happy if it's because I'm happy it's over?" I asked in response.

"Ha, I'm not sure about that," she sent back.

I got up and changed my clothes and ordered something for dinner before I went back and responded.

"Well it wasn't super happy, but it wasn't terrible so I shouldn't complain too much. How was yours?"

My food was delivered a few minutes later and I settled in on the couch as another message came through.

"Pretty uneventful I guess, which isn't always a bad thing. Glad it's the weekend though."

"Agree, have anything fun planned?" I asked.

"Not really this weekend, looking forward to just being able to relax," she responded.

Before I sent anything back, another message from her came through.

"Hey, can I ask you a kind of personal question?"

I felt a nervous feeling form in my stomach as I debated what to tell her.

"Go for it," I hesitantly sent.

I might regret saying that, but the verdict was still out. I continued to eat my dinner as I watched my phone for a few minutes, seeing how personal this question would end up being.

"Why'd you decide to try this app out?" She sent back.

I stared at the question she'd just asked and thought about how to answer. I still really wasn't sure myself.

I typed and then deleted, typed and deleted, trying to figure out how much information I wanted to share with this stranger on my phone.

"I'm honestly not 100% sure, I just went through a bad breakup...guess it made me want to try something new."

I cringed to myself after I pushed send, immediately wondering if I had shared too much. I guess she didn't know me and I didn't know her, so what would it hurt?

I tried to keep telling myself that as I waited for her to respond.

I finished my dinner as I continued to watch my phone.

About half an hour had passed, and there was still nothing. Shit, did I over share already? She asked me the question, but maybe my answer wasn't what she expected.

Just as I laid back on the couch and turned the TV on for a distraction, my phone went off. I breathed a sigh of relief when I grabbed it and saw another message notification.

"Understandable, never bad to try a different approach...or look for a rebound."

"I guess not, what about you though?" I asked in response.

Her message back was faster this time, thankfully it didn't give me any time to worry.

"Also something new, I needed a change. And I like the idea of talking to someone who knows nothing about me...feels mysterious. :)"

I smiled as I read her response, she did have a good point.

"I agree, I don't think I ever would've said I felt mysterious before this," I sent.

My eyes were glued to my phone for the rest of the night as we messaged back and forth. I'm not sure what I was expecting to get out of this app when I signed up, but it definitely wasn't this.

I couldn't fully explain it, but talking to someone like this, when it was almost completely anonymous, it was nice.

Neither of us knew much of anything about the other. The only thing that we could go off of to paint a picture of each other was the minimal information on our profiles, and the messages that we were sharing now.

It sounded weird, but it was almost like pretending to be someone else, getting a completely fresh start.

I didn't have to talk about the problems I was having with my ex or my boss, but she was there if I wanted to.

I lost track of how long we'd been talking, but I knew it went on for a while. The last thing I remembered discussing was where we both wanted to travel to.

The next thing I knew I was being jolted awake by my phone that was sitting on my chest starting to ring.

I blinked my eyes and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. I realized I had fallen asleep on the couch last night before I could make it to my bed.

I squinted at my phone and saw Emily's name on the screen.

"Hello?" I said groggily.

"Oh sorry, sounds like I woke you up," Emily said on the other end, "but it is almost 9:30...lazy."

"Whatever," I mumbled, "it's fine though, I fell asleep on the couch last night, apparently I was up too late."

"Well I'm sorry I woke you up, sleeping beauty," Emily said with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?" I asked her as I grinned.

"I did tell you I'd call today, just keeping my word, you know," Emily said, "and seeing what we're going to do tonight."

"Oh right, I'm still trying to wake up," I said.

"Yeah I can tell, you want to just come over here and hang out? Luke is making dinner," she said.

"Say no more, I'll be there, what time?" I asked her.

Luke was a chef at a pretty fancy restaurant, so an offer for him to make dinner was one that I wasn't about to refuse.

"Come around 5:30-6:00," she said.

"Perfect," I responded, "see you in a while."

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