Page 48 of Swiped
The next morning, Nat was curled up on the sofa in what she had officially dubbed her pink sweater of sadness.
She imagined that she would be wearing it often now.
Pixel purred on her chest. She’d barely slept all night between the many long and terrifying legal calls with her lawyers, her financiers, her landlords, and all of the other numerous people who made it clear that they thought she was out of her mind and wanted their money.
She wasn’t thrilled with how things had turned out, but she stood by her decision. She was stepping down from BeTwo. The only question was what she would do next.
Sara entered holding the coffee pot. “Warm up?”
Nat held out her mug. “Good Lord, yes.”
Sara maneuvered around the stacks of boxes to pour Nat a cup and take a seat next to her.
“You’re my hero.” Nat sighed as she took a hot sip. “And I’m the terrible friend who can’t even help you move because I blew up my life last night.”
Sara snorted in approval. “You sure did. I was worried when I knew I was going to miss the interview, but I think I saw the main event.” She stretched her feet out on a moving box and rubbed Nat’s shoulder.
“And I’m sure you don’t want a bunch of movers in your space today. This timing is truly the worst.”
“Really, it’s fine.” Nat waved her concern away. “Nowhere to go but up.”
“Well, you know that I’m still coming over all the time, right?”
“You better.” Nat gave her a sly glance. “Just don’t try and move back in because your room is now my office for my as-yet-undetermined new job.”
Sara grinned. “You’re welcome for leaving you all my good juju.” She shifted to face Nat and rubbed Pixel’s back. “So, you promise that you’re OK?”
“Everything I said about the app was true.” Nat scratched Pixel’s tiny chin. “Besides, the board has to buy me out so I’ll be OK for a while.”
Sara nodded and decided to broach the more sensitive subject. “Any word from Rami?”
“Nope.” Nat’s face dropped. “Wouldn’t have been the full BeTwo experience if I didn’t get ghosted, right?”
Sara set down her mug and wrapped her friend in a huge, crushing hug. Pixel dove for his life and scampered away.
Nat giggled, squirming. “I still need to breathe!”
“No breathe. Only happy.” Sara squeezed tighter.
Nat laughed and wriggled free. “I just need to say again that I’m sorry.”
Sara waved her hand in front of her face in dismissal. “Dude, I get it. You were just trying to protect yourself.”
“Yes, and also I was clinging to you and then punishing you for having your own life, and it wasn’t fair.”
“Well, that’s accurate.”
Nat felt a smile curl into her lips. “It is. And I don’t know what I did to deserve the kind of friend who would stick with me, anyway, but I’m damn glad you’re in my life.”
Sara’s normally cool eyes misted over. “Same. And I’m not going anywhere.” She gestured to the towering boxes around them. “I mean, not literally, but you get it.”
“OK, OK! Get out of here!” Nat laughed. “I’ve got to go clean out the office and tell the twins they’re about to get fat raises from their new bosses as part of my exit package.”
* * *
Nat unlocked the doors to the BeTwo office for the last time. The twins were on their way over from Oakland. That meant she had at least an hour to soak it all up before this place was closed to her forever. It still didn’t seem like enough time to say goodbye.
She flipped on the lights and pulled a chair up to the bright blue sky in the window. Maybe she could still come by to toss some bread to the seagulls from the rooftops sometimes.
She heard the door open behind her. It seemed like the twins had gotten there sooner than she expected. She turned around.
Rami stood in the sunlight.
“Your roommate said you’d be here.” A shy smile crept onto his face.
Nat sprang up from the chair and rushed to him.
He took her hands.
“You first,” she said.
“No, you.”
“One sentence at a time?”
“In alphabetical order.” His eyes sparkled with the witty mischief she’d first swooned over, way back on that ugly couch. “Go.”
Her voice came out soft but strong. “I was so convinced that I’d be rejected that I didn’t let anyone see me.”
Rami nodded. His face was open and fixed on Nat. “I figured that if I just dated women who seemed perfect on paper, nothing could go wrong.”
“But you saw me, even my bad parts, and you liked me in spite of them.”
A knowing smile curled into his face. “And you showed me how unsatisfying the so-called perfect match can be.”
Nat narrowed her eyes with a memory. “I fought harder for the data inside my app than I did for the people who use it.” The ghosts of her online dates flickered in her mind. “Using my app was pretty awful, actually.”
Rami’s dark brows angled with a thoughtful frown. “But people don’t need technology to make them act like jerks. I proved that we can still do that the old-fashioned way.”
She squeezed his hand. “So, I don’t want to be scared of being seen anymore.”
He squeezed back. “Because being scared is kind of supposed to be part of it.”
“Yeah.” She watched his full lips move with his breath. “That’s how you know it matters.”
He leaned closer to her with a dreamy expression. “That’s how you know it’s worth fighting for.”
Nat hooked her arms around his shoulders. “Was that a good speech?” she whispered.
“I have some notes, but . . .” He wrapped a hand behind her head and kissed her.
When they came up for air a few moments later, Rami leaned back with an urgent look. “Wait, you’re not losing this sweet office, are you?”
Nat cringed. “I have definitely left BeTwo.”
“No!”
“It’s fine, really.” She smoothed one of his curls. “I still own my algorithm.” She shrugged inside his arms. “And I have other ideas. Probably.”
“But I really do have some notes,” he said. “On the app! On how to make it better,” he hedged. “Or, I mean, less bad.”
“Yeah, I have some ideas, too.” She nudged him with her elbow. “Because some of your thoughts weren’t half-bad.”
“I can surprise myself sometimes.” He sighed. “I just thought we could version something with broader efficacy if we combined our approaches.”
The deeply nerdy way he’d phrased that pinged in Nat’s heart. “Well, then I guess this is a very inappropriate way of announcing that you’re hired.” She ran a hand over his chest. “For whatever we make next,” she whispered, locking back onto his lips.
A few moments later, Rami came up for air again. “Wait.” He searched her shining eyes and elfin smirk. “We’re not making a dating app though, right?”
“Oh, hell no.”
Then they smiled at each other and kissed again, and for a long, long time.