Status: OneShot
White Lies
Lies....
Another couple walked in holding hands, probably very much in love.
I was having a really hard time lately; working at the diner and seeing people embrace each other or start kissing at seven o’clock in the morning. I hadn’t even gotten enough coffee in me, and people were kissing.
I hated my job sometimes. Walking up to a table where a couple was holding hands, repeating that same line I said about fifty times a day: Hey, I’m Tessa and I’ll be your waitress today, can I get you something?
If anyone would ask me that I would say I needed a pound of chocolate and a drink. I hadn’t always been so cynical about love and couples, but when seven of you closest friends had boyfriends, it was more than enough reason for me to be bitter. I would hang out with my friends, and I loved spending time with them, but sooner or later during our time together the pity party would begin.
They would say things like: You’ll find Mr. Right soon, love comes knocking when you least expect it, or my personal favorite: You have to be patient and he will appear. It almost sounded like if I took a deep breath Mr. Right would suddenly appear out of thin air and land at my feet.
…
I got off work at two that day, and decided to visit the library. My internet connection at my apartment was contemporary out of order, and I had to check my mails and some other random things.
It felt odd entering the building, knowing I wasn’t about to read books, but surf the internet instead. There were about ten computers in the library, because the library itself wasn’t that big. All the computers were busy, just my luck.
I sat down in one of the cozy chairs by the huge windows and opened a magazine they had laying on the table next to my chair. I needed to use the computer, so I had no other choice than to wait. Thirty minutes later, just as it felt like I was about to fall asleep in the comfortable chair, a woman, probably in her thirties stood up from one of the computers and left the library.
I quickly got to my feet and sat down. The woman who’d used the computer before me had forgotten to close the tab she was using, and out of sheer curiosity I looked at what the woman had been doing. Nosy much?
It was a web page and it looked like the front page to an online dating service. I let out a little laugh and thought, boy that woman must be desperate or in a hurry if she needs to use this kinds of services.
Then a thought appeared. Why not use it yourself?
So it wasn’t the best idea I’d had so far in my life, but these days I was feeling low, and maybe, just maybe this would give me a little laugh. I left the page open while I took care of the matters I needed to, the ones I’d come here for. During that time I continued thinking about that page. I mean, earlier I’d thought only desperate people went onto those kind of sights, but at the age of 25 and no good relationships to show for, I was kind of desperate.
I had really tried to find someone, my friends could vouch for that, and after being on several blind dates, I really wanted to find someone I matched with. I wanted information on the guy beforehand, and really, could there be a better way than a site like that to get it all written down?
So when I’d finished with the urgent matters, I looked at the site again. It didn’t say something corny like find your soul mate, it simply said: meet your match. I liked that, it was kind of catchy. It was now or never, and so I entered the site.
The front page had pictures of happy couples and the slogan: meet your match, was written with capital letters in the middle of the page. I clicked the link to the right and started the sign in.
Name: Tessa
Age: 20-25, I would lie and say I was 23 if someone asked. I would say my friends put me up to this, because if I wanted, I would find a guy on my own too. Then I wouldn’t sound so desperate.
Marital status: What the…? Do they want me to make it that clear to the world, I’m single!
Tell us about yourself: Well, hmm… I have blond, shoulder length hair, green, almond shaped eyes – why was almond shaped important? I am 5 feet 4 inches (I’m really 5, 3, but no one needs to know.) Better to be a bit taller, I’m not short.
What else? I truly suck at this. How do I make myself sound more interesting?
I finally wrote: long, blond hair, green eyes, fair skinned and 5 ft 5 tall. Simple and true to the most part, because my hair had been longer sometime, and in heels I was almost 5 ft 5.
Interests: Well I should probably write long walks on the beach and watching the sunset, but since it was several miles to the closest beach and I usually fell asleep before ten I didn’t really have the energy to watch any sunsets.
What do I like to do? I don’t want to mention that I study public law, because that’s too boring. I could say I like to read books by the fireplace, except I don’t own a fireplace, and nobody reads books anymore. I liked swimming, maybe I could pretend I do it still. I would sound a little athletic if I did, and every guy likes that.
I also helped Mom make the stuffing to the turkey at thanksgiving last weekend, I could say that I cook; every guy needs to eat right?
So under interests I wrote: Student, working part time during the holidays, enjoys cooking and swimming. Sounds perfect!
I was lucky enough to find a picture of me with long hair on one of my friends’ blogs, so I put that as my profile picture. I was smiling in the picture, not too silly either, so it was perfect or it would have to do.
Thank you for registering, and welcome to “Meet your Match”. What would you like to do first?
The site was welcoming me and suddenly I felt so stupid. What was I hoping to achieve with this. You never met your soul mate through the internet. Stupid, stupid Tessa! I quickly closed the site and left the library. This had been a big mistake.
…
For the week to come I worked every day. Thanksgiving was over, but the Christmas season was just around the corner. There was more people in town, and therefore more people at the Diner. Joe allowed me to work double shifts because he was heavily reliant on me and he knew I needed the money.
More customers and double shifts meant a lot of work, but it also meant more tips, so I didn’t complain, I just kept working, waiting tables, cleaning tables and listening to stupid jokes from the regulars.
I sighed in relief at Friday afternoon the week after. It was the beginning of December and I had the weekend off. Joe had insisted that I take it easy so that I was ready to jump in the saddle again on Monday. So I got dressed and went outside to challenge the cold weather.
I was walking home when a thought passed through my head. The library wasn’t far away, and since I don’t have anything better to do, why not visit the computers again. My internet was still not working in my apartment, so I thought why not? I hadn’t been on the internet I quite some time now, not since the day I posted myself on a dating site.
At the library a couple of computers were available this time; maybe people didn’t visit the library on Fridays as much as during the beginning of the week. I sat down by the same computer as before, and opened my mail first of all.
You have 43 new messages.
What? I skimmed through them and found two messages from school, the rest were from that darn dating site. I had to write in my e-mail when I entered, but I hadn’t realized it would look like this afterwards, probably just ads and junk mail anyways.
I opened the first letter and found an invitation to join a chat with a guy called Harold. What?
I decided to sign in to meet my match and find out what was going on. On my home page I saw I truly had 40 requests from different users. 40 different persons had looked me up and found me interesting. I felt my lips creak into a smile. This is going to be fun.
After a workweek like I’d just experienced, this was exactly something I needed. To skim through page after page of creepy people that wanted to chat with me. I opened the first page, to the page of the guy named Harold. After quickly looking at the age box 35-40, I deleted his request and continued. Not looking for a new father figure.
The next five were also in their thirties, and even though one looked quite hot, I wasn’t ready to chat with anyone that old. The next one seemed promising; at least his age box was 25-29. His name was Kevin and he worked with computers, I can look past that I thought.
I skimmed through the other requests and finally I had three candidates, Kevin the computer guy, Nathan the artist and Peter the carpenter. They had all checked the age box 25-29 and they all looked normal. I’d actually denied a request from a woman too; because that was a relationship I wasn’t ready for.
I steadied myself and sent all of them a message saying it would be nice to talk to them. I felt like I wanted to giggle, I had never been this brave with real guys, and now I was sending messages to strangers over the internet.
I was tired, so I left the library after sending the messages, not having the energy to wait for a reply, if I would even get one. I mean, does anyone take these things seriously? I bet many get placed on these sites as a practical joke.
…
I went to work as usual on Monday, excited for the day to be over as soon as possible. I’d gotten a message earlier that my internet connection was working again, and I was actually looking forward to checking my profile on the dating site. I didn’t care how pathetic I seemed, but I still hadn’t revealed my secret to my friends. I felt they would just laugh at me if I did.
I got of work at two, as usual, and hurried home. Twice I almost slipped on the icy pavement, that’s how excited I was. Finally at home I threw of my shoes and jacket and put on the computer. I calmed myself while it was loading; if no one answered it’s not the end of the world I kept repeating to myself.
I logged in, and fair enough, I had one message in my inbox.
I opened it. It was a message from the third guy, Peter the carpenter. The message said: Well, well, I almost thought you were too good to be true when it took so long for you to answer. I’m glad you did though. My name is Peter, like you probably already know, and I signed up to this site because I work really changing hours and didn’t have time meeting anyone the regular way. I hope you’re real and want to continue message me, because I would like to. I hope you don’t think I’m some kind of desperado or lonely guy who has troubles dating. This was probably already too much. Sorry.
I actually found myself laughing at Peter’s message, because I felt just the same. I felt clumsy and out of place doing something like this, and apparently so did Peter.
Hi Peter, and sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Yes I’m real, but my internet connection’s been out of order lately so it’s been tough coping without. Your message made me laugh, because I feel the same way. I’ve never done anything like this, and I haven’t had the guts to even tell my friends what I’m up to. I don’t really know what to write as I’ve never done this before.
I sent the message, knowing that it sounded odd. To get my mind off it I started going through his profile, to get to know him you might say. He was 25-29 years old, lived in the same area as me, nice surprise if he was a keeper, not so nice if Peter turned out to be a bad person. Luckily I hadn’t posted my home town.
Peter was a carpenter and owned his own business, guess that’s why he has changing work hours, I thought as I continued reading. He was 6 ft 2 and according to his picture, he had blond hair and dark brown eyes. His skin looked tanned, probably due to his work. He was smiling on the picture and he had dimples. He looked really handsome, and I quickly found myself dreaming about this guy.
A beep from the computer hoisted me back to reality. “What..?” The match site was telling me that Peter was online and that he wanted to chat with me. My first reaction was to look at myself, like he could see how I looked right now.
I accepted the request and a new window opened.
Hey there!
Peter was texting me.
Hi. Didn’t realize you could be online as well.
P: You were checking out my profile, weren’t you? J
T: Nooo… well you caught me, just wanted to make sure you weren’t a creep.
P: That makes me feel special, so what’s the verdict?
T: I guess you’re alright, on paper anyway.
P: Thanks, well I’m known for being honest.
T: I hope so.
P: So your connection is working again I assume?
T: Yes, stupid landlord can’t do anything on time…
We continued chatting for a few hours, just getting to know each other and getting a feel of how the other person was. I found out Peter was 27, just two years older than me, perfect. He’d never been married and he’d had a couple of more serious relationships, but they hadn’t lasted because at that time in his life he was just setting up his company and much of his time went to that.
After his company had taken off he’d had more time on his hands but by then he’d forgotten how to be the perfect date. He also told me that it was his friends who set up the profile for him, but he’d gotten stuck to the sight after a while. He hadn’t found many that he thought were interesting, but when he found my page apparently something was right.
He found my story funny on how I’d come across the page, just going to the library to find my match.
We continued chatting several times a week, and for the first time I was actually thinking that maybe there was something to this dating online. I mean it wasn’t the same as talking to your date, or actually seeing the person, but it felt comforting talking trough a portal, like all you flaws were easier to hide.
I told him things about me, like the fact that my profile wasn’t quite true. He wasn’t offended, but instead glad that I was honest with him. Honesty was important to him, because he thought that his past relationships would have succeeded better had they both been more honest. So Peter’s new goal in life was to be more honest. I like that and so I tried to open up more.
…
Two months into our conversations, Peter posted his phone number in our chat. He said he wanted to hear my voice, because by our talks he really liked me and wanted to move past the internet and make it more real. At first I felt my stomach twist. It was a Saturday evening and I was at home, talking to a guy through my computer. Somehow I guess I haven’t seen it moving past that stage, but now. I didn’t answer him at first.
I sat up from the couch where I was sitting and did some stretches. I usually did that when I didn’t want to face the situation at hand. What to do, what to do?
I took a deep breath and picked up my phone. It was now or never, I really liked Peter and I wasn’t going to lie to myself any longer. If I wanted to be happy I had to be the one to make it happen. I dialed his number and I could hear my heart beating faster.
After two signals I heard a surprised voice utter: “Tessa?”
I was having a really hard time lately; working at the diner and seeing people embrace each other or start kissing at seven o’clock in the morning. I hadn’t even gotten enough coffee in me, and people were kissing.
I hated my job sometimes. Walking up to a table where a couple was holding hands, repeating that same line I said about fifty times a day: Hey, I’m Tessa and I’ll be your waitress today, can I get you something?
If anyone would ask me that I would say I needed a pound of chocolate and a drink. I hadn’t always been so cynical about love and couples, but when seven of you closest friends had boyfriends, it was more than enough reason for me to be bitter. I would hang out with my friends, and I loved spending time with them, but sooner or later during our time together the pity party would begin.
They would say things like: You’ll find Mr. Right soon, love comes knocking when you least expect it, or my personal favorite: You have to be patient and he will appear. It almost sounded like if I took a deep breath Mr. Right would suddenly appear out of thin air and land at my feet.
…
I got off work at two that day, and decided to visit the library. My internet connection at my apartment was contemporary out of order, and I had to check my mails and some other random things.
It felt odd entering the building, knowing I wasn’t about to read books, but surf the internet instead. There were about ten computers in the library, because the library itself wasn’t that big. All the computers were busy, just my luck.
I sat down in one of the cozy chairs by the huge windows and opened a magazine they had laying on the table next to my chair. I needed to use the computer, so I had no other choice than to wait. Thirty minutes later, just as it felt like I was about to fall asleep in the comfortable chair, a woman, probably in her thirties stood up from one of the computers and left the library.
I quickly got to my feet and sat down. The woman who’d used the computer before me had forgotten to close the tab she was using, and out of sheer curiosity I looked at what the woman had been doing. Nosy much?
It was a web page and it looked like the front page to an online dating service. I let out a little laugh and thought, boy that woman must be desperate or in a hurry if she needs to use this kinds of services.
Then a thought appeared. Why not use it yourself?
So it wasn’t the best idea I’d had so far in my life, but these days I was feeling low, and maybe, just maybe this would give me a little laugh. I left the page open while I took care of the matters I needed to, the ones I’d come here for. During that time I continued thinking about that page. I mean, earlier I’d thought only desperate people went onto those kind of sights, but at the age of 25 and no good relationships to show for, I was kind of desperate.
I had really tried to find someone, my friends could vouch for that, and after being on several blind dates, I really wanted to find someone I matched with. I wanted information on the guy beforehand, and really, could there be a better way than a site like that to get it all written down?
So when I’d finished with the urgent matters, I looked at the site again. It didn’t say something corny like find your soul mate, it simply said: meet your match. I liked that, it was kind of catchy. It was now or never, and so I entered the site.
The front page had pictures of happy couples and the slogan: meet your match, was written with capital letters in the middle of the page. I clicked the link to the right and started the sign in.
Name: Tessa
Age: 20-25, I would lie and say I was 23 if someone asked. I would say my friends put me up to this, because if I wanted, I would find a guy on my own too. Then I wouldn’t sound so desperate.
Marital status: What the…? Do they want me to make it that clear to the world, I’m single!
Tell us about yourself: Well, hmm… I have blond, shoulder length hair, green, almond shaped eyes – why was almond shaped important? I am 5 feet 4 inches (I’m really 5, 3, but no one needs to know.) Better to be a bit taller, I’m not short.
What else? I truly suck at this. How do I make myself sound more interesting?
I finally wrote: long, blond hair, green eyes, fair skinned and 5 ft 5 tall. Simple and true to the most part, because my hair had been longer sometime, and in heels I was almost 5 ft 5.
Interests: Well I should probably write long walks on the beach and watching the sunset, but since it was several miles to the closest beach and I usually fell asleep before ten I didn’t really have the energy to watch any sunsets.
What do I like to do? I don’t want to mention that I study public law, because that’s too boring. I could say I like to read books by the fireplace, except I don’t own a fireplace, and nobody reads books anymore. I liked swimming, maybe I could pretend I do it still. I would sound a little athletic if I did, and every guy likes that.
I also helped Mom make the stuffing to the turkey at thanksgiving last weekend, I could say that I cook; every guy needs to eat right?
So under interests I wrote: Student, working part time during the holidays, enjoys cooking and swimming. Sounds perfect!
I was lucky enough to find a picture of me with long hair on one of my friends’ blogs, so I put that as my profile picture. I was smiling in the picture, not too silly either, so it was perfect or it would have to do.
Thank you for registering, and welcome to “Meet your Match”. What would you like to do first?
The site was welcoming me and suddenly I felt so stupid. What was I hoping to achieve with this. You never met your soul mate through the internet. Stupid, stupid Tessa! I quickly closed the site and left the library. This had been a big mistake.
…
For the week to come I worked every day. Thanksgiving was over, but the Christmas season was just around the corner. There was more people in town, and therefore more people at the Diner. Joe allowed me to work double shifts because he was heavily reliant on me and he knew I needed the money.
More customers and double shifts meant a lot of work, but it also meant more tips, so I didn’t complain, I just kept working, waiting tables, cleaning tables and listening to stupid jokes from the regulars.
I sighed in relief at Friday afternoon the week after. It was the beginning of December and I had the weekend off. Joe had insisted that I take it easy so that I was ready to jump in the saddle again on Monday. So I got dressed and went outside to challenge the cold weather.
I was walking home when a thought passed through my head. The library wasn’t far away, and since I don’t have anything better to do, why not visit the computers again. My internet was still not working in my apartment, so I thought why not? I hadn’t been on the internet I quite some time now, not since the day I posted myself on a dating site.
At the library a couple of computers were available this time; maybe people didn’t visit the library on Fridays as much as during the beginning of the week. I sat down by the same computer as before, and opened my mail first of all.
You have 43 new messages.
What? I skimmed through them and found two messages from school, the rest were from that darn dating site. I had to write in my e-mail when I entered, but I hadn’t realized it would look like this afterwards, probably just ads and junk mail anyways.
I opened the first letter and found an invitation to join a chat with a guy called Harold. What?
I decided to sign in to meet my match and find out what was going on. On my home page I saw I truly had 40 requests from different users. 40 different persons had looked me up and found me interesting. I felt my lips creak into a smile. This is going to be fun.
After a workweek like I’d just experienced, this was exactly something I needed. To skim through page after page of creepy people that wanted to chat with me. I opened the first page, to the page of the guy named Harold. After quickly looking at the age box 35-40, I deleted his request and continued. Not looking for a new father figure.
The next five were also in their thirties, and even though one looked quite hot, I wasn’t ready to chat with anyone that old. The next one seemed promising; at least his age box was 25-29. His name was Kevin and he worked with computers, I can look past that I thought.
I skimmed through the other requests and finally I had three candidates, Kevin the computer guy, Nathan the artist and Peter the carpenter. They had all checked the age box 25-29 and they all looked normal. I’d actually denied a request from a woman too; because that was a relationship I wasn’t ready for.
I steadied myself and sent all of them a message saying it would be nice to talk to them. I felt like I wanted to giggle, I had never been this brave with real guys, and now I was sending messages to strangers over the internet.
I was tired, so I left the library after sending the messages, not having the energy to wait for a reply, if I would even get one. I mean, does anyone take these things seriously? I bet many get placed on these sites as a practical joke.
…
I went to work as usual on Monday, excited for the day to be over as soon as possible. I’d gotten a message earlier that my internet connection was working again, and I was actually looking forward to checking my profile on the dating site. I didn’t care how pathetic I seemed, but I still hadn’t revealed my secret to my friends. I felt they would just laugh at me if I did.
I got of work at two, as usual, and hurried home. Twice I almost slipped on the icy pavement, that’s how excited I was. Finally at home I threw of my shoes and jacket and put on the computer. I calmed myself while it was loading; if no one answered it’s not the end of the world I kept repeating to myself.
I logged in, and fair enough, I had one message in my inbox.
I opened it. It was a message from the third guy, Peter the carpenter. The message said: Well, well, I almost thought you were too good to be true when it took so long for you to answer. I’m glad you did though. My name is Peter, like you probably already know, and I signed up to this site because I work really changing hours and didn’t have time meeting anyone the regular way. I hope you’re real and want to continue message me, because I would like to. I hope you don’t think I’m some kind of desperado or lonely guy who has troubles dating. This was probably already too much. Sorry.
I actually found myself laughing at Peter’s message, because I felt just the same. I felt clumsy and out of place doing something like this, and apparently so did Peter.
Hi Peter, and sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Yes I’m real, but my internet connection’s been out of order lately so it’s been tough coping without. Your message made me laugh, because I feel the same way. I’ve never done anything like this, and I haven’t had the guts to even tell my friends what I’m up to. I don’t really know what to write as I’ve never done this before.
I sent the message, knowing that it sounded odd. To get my mind off it I started going through his profile, to get to know him you might say. He was 25-29 years old, lived in the same area as me, nice surprise if he was a keeper, not so nice if Peter turned out to be a bad person. Luckily I hadn’t posted my home town.
Peter was a carpenter and owned his own business, guess that’s why he has changing work hours, I thought as I continued reading. He was 6 ft 2 and according to his picture, he had blond hair and dark brown eyes. His skin looked tanned, probably due to his work. He was smiling on the picture and he had dimples. He looked really handsome, and I quickly found myself dreaming about this guy.
A beep from the computer hoisted me back to reality. “What..?” The match site was telling me that Peter was online and that he wanted to chat with me. My first reaction was to look at myself, like he could see how I looked right now.
I accepted the request and a new window opened.
Hey there!
Peter was texting me.
Hi. Didn’t realize you could be online as well.
P: You were checking out my profile, weren’t you? J
T: Nooo… well you caught me, just wanted to make sure you weren’t a creep.
P: That makes me feel special, so what’s the verdict?
T: I guess you’re alright, on paper anyway.
P: Thanks, well I’m known for being honest.
T: I hope so.
P: So your connection is working again I assume?
T: Yes, stupid landlord can’t do anything on time…
We continued chatting for a few hours, just getting to know each other and getting a feel of how the other person was. I found out Peter was 27, just two years older than me, perfect. He’d never been married and he’d had a couple of more serious relationships, but they hadn’t lasted because at that time in his life he was just setting up his company and much of his time went to that.
After his company had taken off he’d had more time on his hands but by then he’d forgotten how to be the perfect date. He also told me that it was his friends who set up the profile for him, but he’d gotten stuck to the sight after a while. He hadn’t found many that he thought were interesting, but when he found my page apparently something was right.
He found my story funny on how I’d come across the page, just going to the library to find my match.
We continued chatting several times a week, and for the first time I was actually thinking that maybe there was something to this dating online. I mean it wasn’t the same as talking to your date, or actually seeing the person, but it felt comforting talking trough a portal, like all you flaws were easier to hide.
I told him things about me, like the fact that my profile wasn’t quite true. He wasn’t offended, but instead glad that I was honest with him. Honesty was important to him, because he thought that his past relationships would have succeeded better had they both been more honest. So Peter’s new goal in life was to be more honest. I like that and so I tried to open up more.
…
Two months into our conversations, Peter posted his phone number in our chat. He said he wanted to hear my voice, because by our talks he really liked me and wanted to move past the internet and make it more real. At first I felt my stomach twist. It was a Saturday evening and I was at home, talking to a guy through my computer. Somehow I guess I haven’t seen it moving past that stage, but now. I didn’t answer him at first.
I sat up from the couch where I was sitting and did some stretches. I usually did that when I didn’t want to face the situation at hand. What to do, what to do?
I took a deep breath and picked up my phone. It was now or never, I really liked Peter and I wasn’t going to lie to myself any longer. If I wanted to be happy I had to be the one to make it happen. I dialed his number and I could hear my heart beating faster.
After two signals I heard a surprised voice utter: “Tessa?”