A Little More Personal

I shut the door behind me and exhaled sharply. It was near three a.m., and I needed sleep desperately. I quickly slipped out of my clothes, heading to the bathroom for a shower. The hot water relaxed my tense, seemingly over-worked muscles, and all the day's events disappeared. I stayed under the steady stream until the temperature began to drop; after toweling dry, I dressed in a pair of old sweats and a t-shirt, and went back to the main room. The alarm clock said it was now 3:51. I sighed again and decided to check my emails before I crawled into bed.

You have twenty unread messages!

"Delete, delete, keep, delete, delete, delete, delete, keep, delete - do I really look like I need Viagra? - delete, delete, keep, keep, keep, keep, delete, keep - I'll reply to you in the morning, Mom - delete, delete, oh, keep."

I read through the messages from my parents and sister before clicking on the very last email. It was from the dating site my friends had dared me to join.

Dear Jack Hoff,
You have a new match! After reviewing and comparing, you and Taresa Barton have a lot in common. Click here to view her page.

Yours,
the team at truelove.com

I rolled my eyes and shut down the laptop. Sleep was sound pretty damn good to me. I closed my eyes and almost immediately was asleep.

A few hours later, the phone rang; I reached out through the darkness and fumbled with the receiver. I finally managed to bring it to my ear.

"M'ello?"

"Hey, man. Today's all ours."

"What do you mean?"

"No plans."

"Great. I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait. Were there any matches on that site?"

"Good-bye."