Is It Wrong to "Date" Online?

1

A local mall is packed with people, mostly teens and young adults who hover around the clothing stores.  Gossip and small talk filled every store and kiosk. They clustered together and often stood near the walls or in the middle of walkways, not caring (or noticing) about being in the way of other shoppers. As you'd walk by, you would get snippets of their conversations;

"Did you hear that Thomas dumped Maria for Shelly?"

"Omg, no way! Does Maria know he went with Shelly?"

"Geez, Xandra is such a..."

"Oh my gosh, Jayden, I think the cutie from the Subway is looking at you~"

Typical female chatter, no?

Amongst the groups that stuck in the walkways like blood clots in an artery,  a faint, and highly repressed, passive-aggressive aura emanated from a single dark-ginger as she walked with her three friends. She perfectly held a series of fake, entertained expressions as she laughed and participated in the conversations to the best of her abilities.

"... And then he drove me out to the State land just east of where he took me to dinner and showed the most beautiful view of Lake Mira I've ever seen!" A dirty blonde, 5'1" girl dressed in a white shirt, faded blue jeans and an oversized hoodie with an underground band logo on the back and a patch on the front excitedly told the group about her date last night with her prince charming.

"The fireflies over the lake matched up with the stars in the sky- Omg, the sky. It was so clear! I could see all the different colored stars and Daniel pointed out the visible constellations for me."

She let out a hopeless romantic sigh, with some eyelash fluttering and a longing look into space.

The ginger held back her eye roll and cringe shivers.

"He's an astronomy major, right?" Second girl, brunette, 6'0" with a light blue-green dress, hoop earrings, multicolored jelly bracelets, and white sandals with a two-inch sole asked to see if her information on her friend's man was correct, though they all knew it was by this point in time, as it had been solidified by the third week of their relationship.

"Yep! He already has started his search into applying for NASA and such," the blonde promptly answered.

"Well, Daniel is a very organized man, especially compared to others from our school..." Light brown, 6'2" guy wearing a solid blue t-shirt, pristine pair of dark bootcut jeans, and black Nike sneakers while carrying a small backpack chipped in.

"Sure is. He already made time for a night out in the next city over amongst his classwork and activities with track and field," the blonde casually shoved the plans for their next date in with no regrets.

"Wow, really?" the ginger piped up. "Where are you two going, a nightclub or something?"

In reality, she truly didn't actually want to know, and only did it to keep her act up.

Ah yes, Daniel. The man of the conversation.

Daniel is a senior in the local university, where he is majoring in Astronomy and minoring in Music, Chemistry, and Physics. This lanky lad of 5'7" hails from an out-of-area middle-class family and is living with his cousin while he attends college. Dan works a part-time job as a clerk for the storefront of a local, popular photography business, and is a paid assistant for the coach of the school's track and field team. He started dating Stacie (ie. the blonde chick) about two months ago, and treats her the best way he can, always taking her out on his dime.