Next To Me

Chapter One

Rose

Left. Left. Left.

All there ever is on Tinder is half-made profiles with no biographies and boys who are desperate for hook-ups. I honestly don't even know why I kept my profile up after I taught my friend how to step one up. I guess I had an irrational belief that the people on Tinder have changed since I was last on. I was wrong.

I look over at Kelly. She's glued to her phone. I look over at Jen, but she's in the same boat; catching up on the day's social media after being at the track all day.

We're in Yuma, Arizona for the two day Thanksgiving racing event at Cocopah Speedway. We just finished day one and we're relaxing at our hotel room. It was a good day at the track. Kelly, Jen, and I score the races for the kids. We don't have fancy transponders that electronically record a car's position, so we score them by hand; which isn't that hard anyway. There were a few cautions thrown, but luckily there were no crashes or cars flipping.

I turn my attention back to Tinder. I had bought the one month subscription of Tinder-Gold a couple days ago. I was tired of swiping and wondering if it was going to be a match or not. This is it. He's cute, his bio is great. I'm swiping right. Maybe I should super like him. Fuck it, I'm doing it. *swipes right* - nothing happens. You can't help but feel a little twing of sadness. Why didn't we match? Is my profile not put together enough? Do I sound like I'm not myself? Or too clingy? Or too overbearing? So I bought Tinder-Gold so I could see who actually liked me. It's so much easier going through the profiles of guys who have liked you; however the same problem comes up. The profiles are half-made and the guys are desperate as hell. I sigh internally.

I go to shut the app down when someone catches my eye. I click on the profile. He is standing on what I assume is a ship. He's wearing blue NWUs (Navy Work Uniform) and a USS Somerset- LPD 25 baseball hat on. The selfie captures the genuineness of his smile and the glimmer in his eye. His name is Michael. His bio didn't really tell me anything about hi, but I knew that he had a good sense of humor. There's just something about his smile, though... Don't let him go away. Swipe right. So, I did.

"It's a match! You and Michael have liked each other!"