Alba POV
Left. Left. Left.
'Ugh'.
Left. Left.
'Oh, not bad.'
Right.
It's been two months since my best friend Rosa encouraged me to download Tinder, a mobile app for meeting people. If you like someone, you just swipe their photo to the right and, if they like you back, you can start a conversation. Easy and effective. Apparently she was very worried to see me so lonely and absorbed by work for such a long time, and she's right. I've been single for almost 5 years and my love life up to that point wasn't great either.
I gave my first kiss when I was 16 years old at the school leaving party. Sara, the rebellious girl in class, stole my first kiss. Until that day I wasn't sure that I also liked girls and she cleared up all my doubts. The following years I had some minor flings until I had my first long-term relationship in my second year of University. At that time I wanted it to be the last one, but as time went by, everything cooled down and in the end I realized that it wasn't the same. I've never been in a stable relationship again.
Since then 5 years have passed and all I have done is to study and work. Not that I haven't been with anyone during this time, I' ve had some affairs, but nothing serious, time flew by and I didn't even realize I was wasting the best years of my life until Rosa opened my eyes. Problem? I'm pretty rusty and I don't know how to flirt. Besides, according to Rosa, now things have changed and people use mobile apps to meet and fall in love. All these stories are overwhelming for me and I'm not very good at it. I just want to meet a girl, or a guy, to like each other, to have fun, and then things progress on their own. I suppose that Tinder actually makes it simpler. I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical at first, but in the end here I am, swiping left and right for hours looking for someone who catches my eye.
Since I was on Tinder, I've had two terrible dates. The first, a woman who used photos from when she was 20 years younger. When I met her I was in shock, she could be my mother and she was trying to seduce me in an awkward way. It was my first experience so I didn't want to be rude so I let it go, of course as soon as I left the bar I blocked her and didn't see or hear from her again. The second one was a girl who didn't look like her pictures either and she was also very weird. I had a beer with her, laughed at her jokes, said goodbye politely to her and headed home.
If there is one thing that bothers me in particular, it is lies. Sincerity for me is the pillar on which everything stands. I need people to be honest with me and I always try to be sincere. I'm starting to get tired of people using photos that don't correspond to what you find and I'm also getting tired of not saying anything and acting polite. I want to keep looking because I don't want to be alone and because now I think it's a good time to meet someone, but I do know that if someone else tries to cheat on me again I'm not going to keep quiet.
Myria POV
MYRIA: Elena! Join me for lunch.
I've just finished cooking up my signature dish: macaroni and tomato. With Michelin star chef accuracy I've cooked it and then poured the entire jar of tomato over it. So that my mother says she doesn't know how I survive without her. My best friend (and flatmate) Elena is in her bedroom finishing a match of League of Legends, a super geeky game. But I'm not going to criticise her because I've been living off it for three months now.
I mean, Elena, she's my best friend since I was 12 years old, I had just arrived with my family from Thailand and one day, at school, I saved her from some bullies (but that's a story I don't feel like bragging about today), and also she is one of the most famous streamers in Spain. Her job is to play video games and eat fried chicken in front of thousands of people. I can understand the video game part, because she is very good at it and her stream is instructive, she explains very well how to become better at the game and she gives advice that apparently has helped a lot of kids. But the eating part? Thousands and thousands of people gather in front of their computer screens to watch Elena eat chicken, or my macaroni, or noodles, or whatever, with the microphone glued to her mouth. It's really horrifying, honestly. They sometimes donate money to her or ask her to eat a particular food, I don't know, it's disturbing. But I'm not complaining because as I said, I've been living off it for three months since I finished my Master's degree and I'm looking for a job.
Oh, here comes Elena.
ELENA: Macaroni? Nice.
She made an excited face that cracked me up. It's nice to cook for such an easy audience.
MYRIA: Today you're eating with me and not with the cam, I feel lucky.
ELENA: Idiot. I'm ravenously hungry, leave me alone.
I serve her a plate and I take a seat at her side.
MYRIA: I've been making some changes to my curriculum, I think I' d get more attention if I put the experience first and then the studies, because at the end of the day that's what they're going to value.
ELENA: I think your studies are more impressive than your experience as an apprentice...
Ouch.
MYRIA: You think so?
ELENA: Don't worry, you're great, and if you haven't found a job yet it's because life is setting you up for a very good one..
MYRIA: Yeah, I hope so....
ELENA: Changing the subject... I have something to tell you.
MYRIA: Tell me.
ELENA: I've re-downloaded Tinder...
I know what that means and I'm panicking.
MYRIA: No. Please tell me you're not using my pictures again, please, I'm embarrassed, I get weird looks from women in the street and I don't know if it's because you're flirting with them or because my fringes look gross.
ELENA: Myriaaaa....
I'm trying to be serious. The problem is that she doesn't really take it seriously.
MYRIA: You know I don't want you to do that, we talked about it.
ELENA: This is the last time. Listen, I've got three days, if in those three days I don't meet the love of my life, I'll delete it and that's it. I'll assume I'm meant to die alone and you'll have to get me a cat.
MYRIA: Another one? I remind you that we have four?
ELENA: But they're yours, I want one of my own... Well no, I want a girlfriend, the cat is the consolation prize. Three days, that's all.
She looks at me pleadingly, even pouting, and I'm a softy.
MYRIA: All right... three days. Not even one more.
It was the third time she's done this. She gets overwhelmed because she can't get her relationships to last more than a weekend, she downloads Tinder to meet the love of her life, but she's scared of getting recognized by her internet fans and uses my photos. I don't see the point, but it usually works for her. She introduces herself to the dates clarifying the situation and girls find it funny, some of them even recognize her from the stream (these are the ones that scare me the most), she hooks up with them, they last two days because her lifestyle is incompatible with having a serious relationship (well, that's the excuse she gives to herself, the reality is that she's afraid of commitment and she gets cold feet on the third day), and so it goes on and on in a loop.