Page 49 of Swiped
Nat and Rami searched for their booth on the floor of the Tech-Talk Expo. They were in the airplane hangar-sized General Exposition Hall, stuffed with other people debuting their new app or database or cloud service or what-have-you across hundreds and hundreds of small tables.
“I think it’s back there,” said Nat, pointing to a dark corner by some restrooms.
Rami consulted their map. “Yep, section Triple-Z. That’s us.”
They hauled their boxes over to their designated rickety folding table.
“Is there a section Quadruple-Z?” Nat asked as she laid out their brochures and promotional enamel pins.
“I think that would technically be the toilets,” said Rami, booting up their demo machines.
Nat laughed and reached for another box to set up.
For a while, they worked in silence, handing each other binders and locating dongles and unfurling their banner in orchestral precision.
“Should we go say hi to Tracy?” asked Rami. “She’s probably around here somewhere, right?”
“Are you kidding? She’s an influencer now. She’s probably skydiving with hedgehogs or something as we speak.” Nat adjusted their QR code placard.
“Oh, yeah! I just saw her TikTok recipe for vegetable soup.” He nodded and set out the final stack of brochures. “Looked pretty tasty, honestly. We should try it.”
“Sounds good.”
They stood back and admired their booth. In big blue letters, their banner read: Perfect Catch: A Weather and Fishing Optimization App.
She tucked her hand into his back pocket. “I love it,” she said.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I still think Data Streams was a better name.”
Nat heard a familiar voice calling through the maze of booths. “Nat? Are you . . . anywhere?”
“Oh no, I think Sara is lost.” She stood up on a chair and waved her friend over. “Follow my voice!”
Sara appeared from behind a life-size cut-out of a cartoon gopher riding a cloud in the iconic pose from Dr. Strangelove . “I feel like I’m in a humans-versus-aliens movie right now, and I’m rooting for the aliens,” she said, giving Nat a hug.
“Hello, hello!” said Ian, stepping up behind her.
Rami sputtered. “Wait. Did you two arrive together?” He staggered back like he had just made an exciting discovery in the chemistry lab. “Like, together -together?”
Sara scoffed through a creeping blush. “No! We just both exited the labyrinth at the same time.”
“Good morning, Sara,” said Ian, with a cordial bow.
“Yeah, hi, anyway, you guys. You’re at Tech-Talk!” Sara raised her eyebrows and wiggled her fingers. “Where it all began just one year ago . . .”
Happiness swirled inside Nat as Rami winked at her. “Yeah, we know.”
Sara elbowed Rami. “Wanna go make some outrageous bets on a livestream, for old times’ sake?”
Rami raised his hands. “Well, a romantic might say I won that bet, so . . . maybe.”
Sara tilted her head. “Yeah, not sure there were any winners in that epic crash-and-burn.” She wrapped an arm around Nat’s shoulder. “The memes are still pretty popular, you know.”
“Yes, I know.” Nat sighed. “My mom keeps sending them to me because she doesn’t understand that they’re making fun of me.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Well, anytime love prevails is a ‘W’ in my book,” he intoned.
Nat frowned at Sara. “Where’s Jax?”
“They swore they could get bagels and still come find us in this mess.” She shrugged and checked her phone.
Ian cleared his throat and made a show of inspecting the booth. “I happened to run into Sara, and was it Jax you said? I ran into them on the way in, and so they will be bringing me a bagel, as well.” He put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. “Coincidence. That’s why.”
Rami squinted at him. “You’re being weird. Weirder.”
Ian shrugged and scooped up a handful of their free buttons.
Sara rushed to fill the silence. “I don’t see what the big deal was about the app, anyway. Meet how you meet. Date how you date, right?”
Ian nodded as he fastened an enamel catfish to his lapel. “Of course. Different approaches are all just part of life’s rich pageant . . . the spice of it, etcetera.”
Sara picked up a brochure and tapped it against Ian’s shoulder. “Totally. Keep it safe and people-focused, but then, yeah, let’s have some fun.”
Ian and Sara smiled at each other through the hum of the expo center.
“OK,” said Rami, squinting at them. “Is there . . . ? Never mind.”
Nat sighed and checked the time. “We only have fifteen minutes before Jo’s talk about her start-up consultancy and I promised her I’d be in the front row.
” She held out a demo phone. “Do you guys wanna see what lures to use, to catch the most fish, given the most likely weather at your precise location, indexed against historical fish migration patterns — or what?”
“Hell yeah, we do!” said Sara.
“Don’t keep us in suspense!” said Ian.
“Well, you might be the only people in the world who care about this besides my mom’s fishing group . . .” said Nat, loading the demo.
“The Bass Betties are my girls,” said Rami.
“But here we go!” Nat turned the screen to her friends. “I think it just might be my favorite thing that I’ve ever made.” She winked at Rami. “For now.”
THE END