Author's Note:
Trying a little something different. This is a Love Story. Hopefully you enjoy the character development and the struggles they go through searching for a happy ending.
I was scrolling through Twitter and a retweet from someone I was following caught my eye. Not the words of the tweet, I can't even tell you what they were, but the tiny circle with the profile picture. In that small picture was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. With all the possible Photoshop touchups and filters, I didn't even think it was real. I quickly clicked on her name and used my fingers to pinch the screen to zoom out and enlarge the picture. Staring back at me was a smoking hot woman with Dark Black Hair. She had Big Blue Eyes that sparkled. They looked like blue marbles, almost like I was staring at the earth from a distance. I could tell she was a natural beauty, but the makeup she didn't need was done perfectly anyway. She had Long Eyelashes with a touch of Pink Eye Shadow above them, cute Rosy Cheeks, complete with a wonderful smile and lips applied with the perfect color of Red Lipstick. The grin on her face was complete with the most adorable dimples you've ever seen. Her name was Jessica, she lived in Indiana, and she seemed to be in her late 20s-early 30s.
I had been successful in business, but unlucky in love. I tried all the common techniques: going out to bars and clubs, having friends trying to set me up and the last ditch resort was the dating apps. I was a handsome guy that made good money and couldn't find a woman to share it with. Here I was on Twitter and I've found love at first sight. Now what? How do I meet a girl from Twitter? Is that a thing? I knew I had to do something.
My first step was to click "Follow" on her profile. I wasn't a Twitter expert, but I knew that sometimes when you followed someone they would follow you back. This was not one of those times. As she would Tweet, I would reply every once in a while, always trying to be clever so she would notice. I went about my life and about a month later a heart popped up in my phone notifications. I scrolled down to check it and she had clicked 'like' on one of my Tweets! It was literally a nothing, but I was so excited that she noticed me. I spent the rest of the day wondering if she had clicked on my profile and checked me out. I was at 33 years old and I was acting like a kid in high school.
Another month had gone by and the 'likes' continued to mount. Virtually every Tweet I would reply to would receive a like from Jessica. The only problem is that the engagement only went one way. She would post something and I would reply. She never commented on anything I posted.
The one way street continued until she posted about Notre Dame's upcoming football season. No way! Not only was she a college football fan, but she was a Notre Dame fan. I was too! Being from New York City there were no college football teams here and growing up Notre Dame was the only team that was on TV every week. She lived in Indiana so it made sense that she would root for them. I was starting to think this girl was a unicorn. She was gorgeous and liked sports?! I didn't think a girl like this existed.
I quickly replied to the Tweet, commenting that I was excited about the upcoming season and had always wanted to go to a game there. Only a few minutes went by and my Notification Icon on the app displayed the number 3. I clicked it faster than I've ever clicked something in my life. I was met with the three most exciting items:
Jessica Liked your Tweet
Jessica Replied to your Tweet: "You totally should come to a game, they're so much fun!"
Jessica Followed You Back
I was so ecstatic I almost dropped the phone. After months of trying to get her to notice me I finally got some type of engagement from her. But now what? She was in Indiana and I was in New York. Even if I had the balls to ask her out, I was a minimum of two hours away by plane or twelve hours by car.
I was getting busy at work, so I continued my pattern. I would reply to her tweets and we found ourselves having conversations in public through the app. I turned up the charm and her replies started to have cute emojis with them. I was flirting with her heavily and in the meantime I had no idea what was really in her mind.
We had become friends, at least I considered us to be. She started to comment on my posts, we wish each other Happy Birthday, and I helped her when she had some tech problems. Six months had gone by and in my mind it was the longest relationship I've ever had. Forget about the fact that we've never spoken and every communication was visible to anyone who had the Twitter app.
I had a long day and work so I hadn't had a chance to check Twitter that day. I opened the app to see if she had posted anything and everything came crashing down.
Jessica posted: I'M MARRIED!
What The Fuck! I screamed out loud to myself. I knew I had to reply, but had no clue what to say. I typed dozens of things and deleted them. I finally settled on:
Me: Whoa, that was unexpected. Congrats!
What else could I do? She obviously found someone and she seemed happy. I was depressed, but I still considered her a friend. I sat and stared at my phone. Hours had gone by with no response. It was a weekday so I figured she eloped and was doing what newly married people do. I had just about given up on her for the night and my phone dinged indicating I had a Direct Message.
Jessica: Hey, thanks so much for the well wishes.
Me: Of course. You caught me by surprise though. I didn't even know you were seeing someone.
Jessica: Yeah, I try to keep my personal life off of social media.
Me: Makes sense. Did you two date long before getting married?
Jessica: It's funny, two months ago he DM'ed me one day and we started talking. He came to town to take me out, and here we are married in Vegas!
So many thoughts and emotions went through me. How could I have been so stupid? I had a friendly relationship with her and all I had to do was send her a lousy DM and ask her out?! I was half furious with myself and half depressed. Was I really this stupid? A beautiful girl that was so cool, and most importantly, she gave me the time of day. It felt like my whole world came crashing down in those two words she had tweeted. I realized it had been over ten minutes since my last DM reply. I knew I had to say something so I just typed:
Me: I'm happy you're happy. Enjoy Vegas. I'll check in with you when you get back home.
Jessica: Thanks again!
I put down my phone and tried to think of my next move. It didn't take too long to realize there wasn't one. I had blown my chance. My Dream Girl was married to another dude. I walked over to my liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. This was usually reserved for special occasions, but as I was about to drink my sorrows away, I wanted to do it with the good stuff. Half a bottle later I was drunk and exhausted. I fell asleep shortly after, figuring I would regroup tomorrow.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Our Twitter relationship had continued over the next six months. We were still friends, even though I was madly in love with her and she had no idea. She was happily married and I was sitting here pining over her. I should have just moved on. She was so cool and fun that I decided I'd rather be her friend than not have her in my life at all. She stuck to her guns and rarely talked about her personal life online. She never posted a picture of her husband, in fact she didn't mention him at all. That was until her next devastating Tweet:
Jessica: I'M PREGNANT!
Included with the Tweet was a picture of a sonogram. She was three months along already. That was it for me. I really loved this girl, but there was no way I could compete with a Husband and a Baby. The good guy in me didn't want to either. Being that we were friends, I had to reply with something. I chose to answer her in public with something similar to my reply to her married tweet:
Me: Whoa, you guys don't waste any time! Congrats!
Jessica: Thanks! Yeah, we're really excited!
The word 'We're' really got to me. I slammed down my phone and pounded the remaining half of the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue that I hadn't touched since her wedding news.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
I had pretty much taken a break from tweeting with Jessica. She was happy. On the other hand, I was miserable and jealous of a dude I had never seen and didn't even know his name. I responded with a 'Like' from time to time and even an occasional "Lol", but it was nothing like it used to be. I probably should have just unfollowed her and moved on.
I started hanging out more with my friends who were always on the prowl to meet girls. I met a few girls and flirted with some others, but no one could compare to Jessica. I even went on a few dates, but I never felt a connection and nothing ever lasted.
