Page 12 of Reverse Pass

“Oliver?” I questioned, not recognizing the name.

“The guy you talked to the other night. Well, the guy you said did more looking than talking.”

“Oh, um…” I hesitate.

Oliver, if that was his name then, was all right. Attractive. Nice enough based on what I knew from our brief shouted conversations over the table. I’d just assumed I hadn’t even registered on his radar beyond that evening, and I was surprised he remembered me at all.

“I don’t know,” I say at last.

“Well, think about it. I mean… if you’re not going to go after the hot guy who obviously wants you, or the cute one from the bar asking about you, then what’s your plan? Whatever happened to the dating profile we set up for you on that app?”

“My plan? Can’t I just be single and work on my dissertation? I feel like that’s a lot on its own. I don’t really know that I have time or space for a boyfriend.”

“Again, I’m not talking about a boyfriend, Violet. I’m talking about getting under someone new so you can forget about someone old. You’re still moping and frankly, you probably need to get rid of the bad vibes he left behind up here and down there.” She waves her hand over me, and her face screws up in disgust at the thought of Cam. “He’s getting fucked, so why not you? Get some dick, girl.”

“Yes, that’s what I need, a good dicking,” I say tartly. Annoyed she can still tell I’m moping, only a little, and that I’ve become the single friend charity case that now needs her friend to hook her up with new guys.

“Try it,” she challenges.

“I’ll look into the app tonight,” I agree half-heartedly.

“Good.” She smirks briefly before she bursts out into uncalled for laughter.

“Now what?” I say the irritation rife in my voice as I take another sip of my Frappuccino.

“Just thinking about how awkward it would be to swipe right on someone and have the app tell you he’s five feet away from your bedroom.”

“Joss!!” I cry, elbowing her side as she erupts into another peal of laughter at my annoyance.

* * *

That eveningI’m sitting at the table, attempting to grade papers while intermittently stopping to look at social media on my phone. My phone pings with an alert and I pick it up to see it’s the dating app I’d reopened this afternoon after Joss’s lecture. I figured if she was suggesting I date my friend’s little brother and desperately trying to set me up with guys who made no sense for me, I’d be better off trying to find someone on my own.

I open up the message from a guy I’ve matched with and it’s a dull one liner asking what I’m doing followed by a ”what are you looking for?”

“Sir, if I knew I wouldn’t be on here,” I mutter.

“What?”

My heart skips a beat at the voice I don’t expect, and I look up to see Ben standing there. The shirt he has on stretches over his chest and arms and my eyes wander for a second before my brain clicks in to tell me I’m being weird.

“Um, nothing. Just Joss has me on this dating app and it’s awful.”

“Yeah, I tried one a while back. I don’t recommend it.”

“You tried a dating app?”

He shrugs and nods as if it’s not strange.

“God help the rest of us if you need dating help.” I sigh and pull out another one of my student’s papers to grade.

Ben sits down next to me at the table, pulling out a tablet and a book to start studying.

“Do you mind?” He looks at me carefully.

“No, go ahead.”

“I didn’tneeda dating app. I just thought it might help me find someone different.”