Passion's Killing Floor

We were currently at the mall, my friend Danni and I. She called me up earlier claiming she needed to get away from her boyfriend for a bit. They’d had yet another fight and whenever they had a fight she had to go shopping- had to- or so she insisted. She always ended up spending way too much at the shops- which was a main cause of their fights.

“And he was just so mad, and I didn’t do anything, y’know? I mean, I know I spend money on things he finds useless, but that’s why it’s my money, not ‘is. I swear, he jus’ has to find something’ to argue with me about,” she was saying to me. But I was hardly paying attention. I was too busy thinking about my own, failing, love life. At least Danni had a boyfriend, I had no one.

“Mary, are you listening?” she sighed, waving a hand in front of my face. “God, I know this is boring, but spare me please. Anyway, you know you shoul’ sign up on a datin’ site. You’re almost what? Thirty? I know the perfect one for you, you need to look for someone.”

“Like I haven’t bee looking. You know how hard it is? Almost thirty, yes. Most people by now are married and starting families.”

“That’s why this dating site is perfect for you. Lots of people around your age are on, just try it, you never know. You could find your match.”

“I don’t know. I’m not so keen on the idea.”

“Oh, please,” she said, grabbing onto my arm. “Let me come home with you, we’ll set you up an account and get you talkin’ to someone, please.”

“If I do this, will you stop bugging me about getting a boyfriend?” If I did this, I had to get something out of it -because the likely-hood of me getting a guy is slim to none. The least I can get is a bug off my shoulder.

“Promise, come on, let’s go right now!” she yelled, grasping my arm tightly and pulling me through the mall towards the exit.

* * *

“Okay, so here we have this all up. Now we just need your picture,” she moved the mouse pointer towards the upload button but I stopped her.

“If I’m doing this the guy has to earn his right to see my face. I don’t want someone talking to me just because of looks.”

“Well, alright, so here, take this survey and it will bring up a list of people who have similar answers and that you could be compatible with.”

“I’m sure, but I’ll do anything for you to shut up about me and men.”

I pushed her and her chair aside and rolled mine in front of the screen. The questions were typical ones but soon got more personal; what you wanted in a relationship, what kind, etc. At last I got to the end and clicked the ‘finish’ button. It took a few minutes, but eventually ten men popped up on my screen. I looked at all of their profiles, trying to know a bit more about them, even though I felt the need to reject some because they looked bad. They all seemed like nice men, but only one of them stood out the most to me.

He had no profile picture, like me, so I had no idea what to expect- should we ever meet. He was two years older than myself and his job was marked as musician. His ‘about me’ seemed funny, but sweet, he didn’t let on too much, which peaked my interest- as man of the other men wrote out their entire life story. This man even lied in the same district as me.

“Dan, what do you do when you think you’ve found a person you’d like to talk to?” I asked her.

“Send ‘em a message, sooner or later they’ll do the same because you’ve popped up in ‘heir matches as well. So jus’ say ‘hi’ or somethin’.”

“Mm, seems simple enough. He says he’s a musician but there’s no specified band or artist name. I’ve got the urge to just bluntly as about it.”

“Well what’s ‘is name?” she asked, rolling her chair up beside mine to look at the screen. “We could search ‘im.”

“It just says Ville, no specific last name. I guess we’ll just have to learn by talking. What a bugger,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, get to talkin’. Send a message, maybe you’ll ge’ lucky and he’ll be online.”

“With my luck, I doubt it,” I told her, as I typed up my message to this man.

“Stop bein’ so negative. It might come back to bite you in the arse one day.”

“Good for it, just another to go with the collection starting there.”

She slapped me on the back of the head, causing a mini slapping fight to go on while I sent the message. I clicked the ‘send’ button, erasing all chances for second thoughts and backing out.

“I get to say I told ya so when he’s on,” she said, dramatically crossing her arms across her chest.

“Well, just because he might be, doesn’t mean I will be. I’m not going to sit and wait for a reply from a man I’ve never met. Besides, if he is interested in starting anything, he’ll wait patiently for my reply.”

I logged out of the site and shut the browser, turning around in my chair. I stared at Danni going through my things, like she didn’t already know what I owned.

“So are you staying here tonight or do you need me to drive you back home?”

“Well, I’d like to stay, but I nee’ to talk to ‘im. But we can hang out a little longar, ’m not that eager to go home.”

“Good then, you’ll not mind going to get something to eat. I’m starving.”

I got up and retrieved my jacket from the chair and grabbing the car keys from the table.

“Since when are ya never starvin’?” she joked, but followed anyway. I was already hoping to get her to leave so I could talk to this mystery man without her breathing over my shoulder.