Tinder

I have never been one to search for a significant other online. I have also never been one to go out to bars or parties much. As adults it’s harder to meet new people. When you’re a teenager you meet people at school, go to roller rinks, skate parks, arcades, all kinds of places. As an adult you mainly meet new people at work, a bar, a party, or online. I try my best to keep my love life and work life separate, so I turned to tinder. Setting up my profile was super easy. For my name I wrote “Penny Rose”, short for Penelope Rose. I allowed my profile to show that I'm 24 years old, and live in a town called Willow Falls. For the little description of me I wrote "I'm here because I don't get out much. Trying to meet new people and explore new things." Than I uploaded three selfies that I thought best showed off my hazel eyes and short, curly, red hair. The concept of the app seemed pretty simple. Swipe left if you're not interested in the person it shows you, swipe right if you are. The first couple of guys shown to me seemed pretty basic, not really my type. Than I swiped onto a profile that showed a picture of a mans chest. The name on the profile was SM. The description said "The SM stands for Squirt Master. Get ready to squirt like you never have before. If you've never squirted before, I'll make you squirt 10 times. I don't do relationships. Only swipe right if you're looking for a satisfying night." My eyes started watering, and I laughed uncontrollably for about five minutes. A couple swipes to the left later, I seen a guy flexing so hard in his photo that it looked like he was trying to take a hard poop. The uncontrollable laughter started again. Finally, a guy who caught my attention popped up. His name was Mason. Mason was 26 years old, has bright blue eyes, a cute smile, short light brown hair, and lives about 20 minutes away in a town called Huckleberry. I swiped right, it was a match. What seemed like only seconds later, I received a message from Mason saying “Hello there beautiful! What are you doing on here?” I replied “Just meeting new people, how about you?” “I’m doing the same thing. How is someone as beautiful as you single?” “I guess I just haven’t found someone that I connect with.” Mason and I spent the rest of the night talking about our dreams, goals, and priorities. Right before falling asleep, we added each other on Snapchat. I didn’t notice Mason had sent me a selfie on Snapchat that said “goodnight beautiful” until I woke up the next day. Waking up to that made me smile, and even blush a little. I sent a selfie back that said “good morning handsome.” Three minutes later I received another picture from Mason. This time it was a selfie of a woman that said “this is his wife.” Mixed emotions of embarrassment, anger, and a little bit of sadness flowed through me. Than I explained to his wife how I had met Mason on tinder, and that I had no idea he was married. Apparently I wasn’t the only person she had caught Mason flirting with.

 Tinder is much more complicated than I thought. It never crossed my mind that some of these people are probably already in a relationship, and are using tinder to cheat on their significant other. Not to mention the fact that there's probably also plenty of fake accounts. There’s even accounts that couples made together in attempt to find a third person to add to their relationship. Tinder didn’t seem much better than bringing someone home from the bar, but I figured I would keep it anyways for when I’m bored and have time to kill. After a couple days I had a few different matches, but nobody kept my interest very long. One man named Markus sent me a message saying "If your left leg was Christmas and your right leg was thanksgiving, could I visit in-between the holidays?" I asked him if that line actually works for him. He replied saying "Sometimes." I replied with "Not this time." A man named Daniel asked me how my day was, and than asked me to send him a picture of me in my favorite panties. He stopped talking to me after I sent him a picture I found on google of an old lady wearing a thong. Another man named Justin asked me if I blow snow. I didn't reply to him at all. Than there was Lucas. Lucas had to of been the most handsome man that I seen on tinder. Looking through his profile I found myself wondering why he's even single. Than I thought, maybe he's not. This is tinder after all. My mind wondered through all the possibilities. Maybe he's mean, way shorter than me, married, looking for a sugar mama, or maybe it's a fake account. Something had to be wrong here. I swiped right anyways, and it was a match. Normally I waited for the men to message me first, but I messaged Lucas instantly saying "Hey handsome." Over the next two days I learned a lot about Lucas. He knows how to fly planes, build houses, he's a vehicle enthusiast, he loves to drive, travel, window shop, and so much more. Lucas seemed perfect, to good to be real. I asked him what someone like him is doing on a dating app. Apparently Lucas was married, but about a year ago he woke up and his wife was gone. All she left behind was a note saying "I'm so sorry. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you, but this just isn't what I want anymore. You deserve someone who can return the love you give." He's been single since. Lucas lived two hours away in a town called Bear Lake. The thought of meeting him honestly never crossed my mind, until he told me he was going to be driving through Willow Falls and asked if he could meet me. Anxiety took over. I wasn't ready, so I told Lucas that I was busy and couldn't meet him that day. The next day he asked again. Again, I made an excuse to not meet him. Honestly I didn't know why I was so nervous. I guess I built this whole idea of how Lucas would be, and I wasn't ready for that to be ruined. I wanted to stay in the fantasy. Lucas waited a couple days, and than asked again. He said "Even if it's only for 10 minutes. I just want to meet you." Finally I gave in and agreed to meet Lucas at the park. He said he would be in a black car with tinted windows. The whole way to the park I thought of that show called catfish. I thought of the episodes where the person they were meeting turned out to be a completely different person, sometimes even a different gender. Anxiety flowed through me as I arrived at the park, and sat on a swing to wait. Five minutes later I watched a black car with tinted windows pull into the lot. I waited as the car parked, and the drivers door opened. The man who stepped out of the car was definitely not the same person that was in the photos on the tinder account.

To be continued…….