Mayor Me

Matched

Pete sat and stared at the young man's photo for a moment, captured by his smiling clear blue eyes. They looked so...kind. The more he looked into them the more he knew he had to meet their owner. He read the profile.

Chasten? Interesting name. A middle school teacher who obviously loved his job. 

And animals. The caption read, Baby raccoons are EVERYTHING.

And his ideal date night included a roaring fire and a long game of Monopoly. Yes!  

Chasten was a graduate student in Chicago. A little far, but not too far. Definitely out of the reach of South Bend local news. 

Pete clicked on the little red heart to let Chasten know he liked his profile. Now he just had to wait and see if Mr. Glezman liked him back.

He didn't even want to look at anyone else. Chasten's smiling face would give him sweet dreams tonight. He put his phone away and got ready for bed. He was having surgery first thing in the morning to repair an old back injury. He would have time to look in on his dating app while he recovered.

---

Chasten waited for the plane to roll to a stop so he could turn his phone back on. He wanted to see if he had any new matches on Hinge while he'd been out of town. As the passengers all fought their way off the plane, he sat patiently and thumbed through his notifications.

Stefan in Milwaukee was cute, but he didn't like dogs. Sorry, Stefan. Must love dogs. He quickly added that important tidbit to his own profile and went back to the search option. Another set of choices came up without the dog hater. 

Ben in Chicago looked sweet, but something about his photo came across as inauthentic. Like it was staged on a film set. Aha! Ben was an actor. Chasten had nothing against actors. He, himself, was very involved in local theatre. But he wanted a quiet simple life with someone already settled in a good career. Maybe another teacher. Or a doctor. Someone else who cared about people.

Chasten slung his carry-on bag over his shoulder and headed off the plane, enjoying the quiet, now that everyone else had gone. He paused behind the gate when he saw the next photo.

Peter was a sexy soldier from South Bend. Yikes, that was a bit far. He did not want another long distance relationship, but something about the guy's friendly smile made him keep reading.

The next photo was of the cutie petting an equally cute dog. Not his, as the caption explained. I hope to have a dog of my own one day. "Me too, Peter. Maybe we can raise one together?" Chasten leaned against the wall and sighed. He was getting way ahead of himself.

Then there was Peter playing a board game with two old people. "Oh, no. Please tell me he doesn't still live with his parents." 

I love classic board games. Family get-togethers often include a challenging game of RISK. 

"Thank God!" A man in his thirties should not still be living at home. But family was very important to Chasten as well. He would probably be playing board games with his own mom and dad on a weekly basis if he didn't have to hop a plane every time he wanted to see them. 

He was about to click on the LIKE button, but the next picture made Chasten hesitate. 

Peter was at a podium surrounded by cheering people. Chasten quickly googled his name.

"Holy shit! He's the freakin' mayor?"

Politics was not something Chasten was into at all. And weren't politicians all a bunch of smooth-talking liars? He stared at Peter's beautiful face and saw nothing but honesty and kindness.

He could sure use a little kindness in his life. He gave Peter a LIKE and waited to see if he replied.