I was home alone on a Friday night for the first time in 10 years. The ink was still wet on the divorce papers and my husbands footprints were still visible in the dirt. He moved out that Monday and it was his first weekend with the kids at his new place. I was only 27 years old and felt like I had lived a whole life. I didn't know who I was anymore, but I had hoped to change that soon.
Over the course of those 10 years I went from straight, to bi, to totally gay, to pan. Still I thought I favored women and was looking forward to another experience with one. So when I opened my tinder app to start swiping, I was surprised to see I had matched with a man. Not just any man. It was an old high school crush!
In high school I was nothing to look at and really great at embarrassing myself. I wanted to be liked and noticed, but any attempt at being social only dug a deeper hole. This crush was, of course, one of the well-known and well-liked. The tables may have turned a little. I was still no elite socialist, but braces, boobs, and shedding a few extra pounds certainly helped. Matt gained a few himself and was already balding, but when I saw him on tinder I couldn't resist swiping right. I never expected he would do the same.
Normally I would wait for matches to message me (remember the social akward-ness?), but I was feeling confident today.
"Interesting seeing you here, after 20 years you are on my mind again." I should've mentioned that Matt gave me a valentine in the fourth grade. He put two hearts in place of the eyes and then we were "dating." I think we said all of 10 words to each other before a tragic break up 2 weeks later.
With this history, I figured his swipe had been a mistake and started planning my lonely evening. But just a few minutes later I heard a ding.
"Interesting it is. I was wondering if I'd ever get another shot." the text read.
What? This had to be a silly dream. I never really thought I would be on anyone's mind. I sure wasn't ever on my ex husbands. But here we were.