"I hate Valentine's Day"
Natalie wasn't sure what prompted her to send that text to the previously anonymous guy she now knew as Aaron. She supposed she just wanted to complain. And it wouldn't really come off as flirting if he knew neither her gender nor sexual preferences, right?
She stared at her phone for a second and then saw he was typing a response. "Yeah, me too. But day after is great," her phone screen said.
"Whys that?" she typed back.
"Half price candy."
She smirked. He had clearly set her up for that, but she had let him.
"I guess thats not all bad," her reply text admitted. "U do anything else for this holiday?"
"Nope. I had a girlfriend one year but that didnt last"
Natalie frowned. "Sorry" she typed back, not knowing what else to say.
Across town Aaron shrugged. "No big. She wasnt right for me anyway"
He watched a reply being typed, wondered if this person on the other end had been trying to send some sort of hint with the text that started this, their third conversation of sorts. He was bad at relationships, he thought. Bad at reading people. Reading people through texts was even worse. He didn't even know who this person was really. He just knew whoever it was was a little over 24 and had been feeling lonely at the new year. For all he knew, they hated Valentine's Day because they had started a new relationship between then and now and didn't know what to do on a love based holiday with someone they hadn't been dating for very long. Then the message arrived and he was not sure what to do with it: "I havent found someone right either"
Aaron felt his pulse in his chest. Was he being flirted with? This person knew he was a guy, so if it was flirting, they were likely interested in men. He wasn't sure if this would turn out better if it happened that whoever it was was also a man and he could just say he was straight or if they were a woman and he might actually be interested. Before he could think too much about someone he didn't even know, he typed back, "Are you looking for someone?"
A pause before the typing started again and then, "I don't know."
That was, that was actually probably good. "Sometimes you just need a friend," he typed back.
"But not Greg," came the reply.
It took him a moment of confusion before he scrolled back up their texts and realized he had mentioned his brother. "Greg isn't that bad," he admitted in text format.
"Ok."
Aaron bit his lip as he considered whether this would be too forward, especially considering he wasn't sure where any of this was going to go, but ultimately he figured, what the heck and typed, "I could still use a real friend though."
The text came faster than he expected this time. "Tell me more about you and we'll see what I can do."
Aaron smiled. Whoever this was, it was nice to at least have someone to talk to. He thought about lying, making up a whole backstory that wasn't his, but even though he still didn't know who this person was, he felt like he wanted to be honest with them, so he typed back a little about his job and a hobby or two followed by, "What else do you want to know?"
They chatted for a couple hours after that, until the other person said, "I'm gonna go to bed now"
"Okay"
There was a pause and then: "Natalie"
He again had to process that for a moment until he realized she was giving her name. And that it was a she. And that he could possibly be attracted to her if they ever met in person. But that was too much. That was too creepy, right? He put that thought out of his head and instead just typed out and sent, "Good night, Natalie"
"Good night, Aaron."
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Happy Birthday
"It's my birthday today."
Natalie was very confused when the text message from a number she didn't recognize popped up on her phone. She clicked it to bring up her messaging app, intending to reply with something like "Sorry wrong number." But when the app loaded, it showed her a past conversation with this number. It had been the only response to her drunken gatling gun fire of new year messages. All she knew about this person was that they had a brother named Greg and apparently their birthday was January 31. She considered ignoring this new information as she allowed herself to feel embarrassed that this stranger had her number at all, but ultimately she figured why the hell not and typed back, "Happy birthday!" And then after a brief moment of hesitation wondering if she even wanted to know the answer to her next question, or if she would get an honest response at all, she decided to go all in and asked, "How old?"
"Thanks. 31." Came the combined response.
She smirked as she typed back, "31 on the 31st huh?"
"Only time," was sent back and it took her half a second to realize they meant this was the only day the day of the month would correspond with the number of years they were turning on their birthday, assuming of course they were even telling the truth.
"Already passed my only time. Was 24 on March 24 few yrs ago," she replied before she could think better of revealing this personal information to a stranger.
There was a longer pause this time with a bit of typing and apparent retyping before her mystery friend decided to simply send, "I'm Aaron btw".
Natalie took a moment for herself after that. Should she share her name? If this person was being honest, if it was a guy turning 31 and she admitted to being a woman in her late 20s, could that get awkward? She didn't want this to be awkward, but then again why should she even care? She had started this on a whim anyway, and she had no obligation to be honest about any of this. Heck, she didn't even know if he (assuming it really was a he) was being honest. Still, she couldn't bring herself to lie. With a sigh, she replied, "Happy Birthday, Aaron."
"Thx" was the shortest reply yet, followed by silence.
Natalie was very confused when the text message from a number she didn't recognize popped up on her phone. She clicked it to bring up her messaging app, intending to reply with something like "Sorry wrong number." But when the app loaded, it showed her a past conversation with this number. It had been the only response to her drunken gatling gun fire of new year messages. All she knew about this person was that they had a brother named Greg and apparently their birthday was January 31. She considered ignoring this new information as she allowed herself to feel embarrassed that this stranger had her number at all, but ultimately she figured why the hell not and typed back, "Happy birthday!" And then after a brief moment of hesitation wondering if she even wanted to know the answer to her next question, or if she would get an honest response at all, she decided to go all in and asked, "How old?"
"Thanks. 31." Came the combined response.
She smirked as she typed back, "31 on the 31st huh?"
"Only time," was sent back and it took her half a second to realize they meant this was the only day the day of the month would correspond with the number of years they were turning on their birthday, assuming of course they were even telling the truth.
"Already passed my only time. Was 24 on March 24 few yrs ago," she replied before she could think better of revealing this personal information to a stranger.
There was a longer pause this time with a bit of typing and apparent retyping before her mystery friend decided to simply send, "I'm Aaron btw".
Natalie took a moment for herself after that. Should she share her name? If this person was being honest, if it was a guy turning 31 and she admitted to being a woman in her late 20s, could that get awkward? She didn't want this to be awkward, but then again why should she even care? She had started this on a whim anyway, and she had no obligation to be honest about any of this. Heck, she didn't even know if he (assuming it really was a he) was being honest. Still, she couldn't bring herself to lie. With a sigh, she replied, "Happy Birthday, Aaron."
"Thx" was the shortest reply yet, followed by silence.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Happy New Year
It was at a party. And she may have been a little bit drunk. And also still a little bit upset about her boyfriend dumping her shortly before Thanksgiving and leaving her to deal with the fall out when she went to visit her family in the small town where they had grown up together and where everyone knew him and probably liked him more than they liked her. So, yeah, maybe she wasn't in the best state of mind. But she wasn't going to let that jerk get her down. Instead of feeling sorry for herself when the clock chimed midnight and all the other couples were happily kissing, she started typing random phone numbers into her phone, typing in "Happy New Year!" and pressing send.
Most of the messages failed to send, but a few seemed to be delivered. Only one came back with a response, about 5 minutes later: "Who on earth is this?"
She giggled to herself, not really knowing why, and from where she was cuddled alone on her host's couch while others were still shouting and celebrating, she typed back, "A friend."
She watched the mystery person take a remarkable long time to type a response given that the answer came back as, "I don't have any friends."
"Well you do now!1"
Another minute passed, long enough that she looked away from her phone to the other party-goers and started to wonder if she would be sober enough to drive in a couple of hours or if she was going to have to ask her friend if she could pass out on her couch for the night. Her phone buzzed with the response to her previous text: "Did Greg put you up to this?"
She felt puzzled. "I thought you didn't have any friends," she typed back.
"Greg is my brother."
"Brothers can be friends."
"Not Greg."
She giggled again, a bit louder this time. And glanced up nervously. Someone she didn't know was looking at her, but looked away seeming embarrassed when she caught his eye. She looked back at her phone and replied, "Yeah, my family kinda sucks, too."
She waited a few seconds and when she didn't see a response being typed, she sent, "No, I dont know your brother. I was lonely and txted sum random nos."
She waited several minutes. She saw whoever this was typing a response, but whatever it was they were typing never made it to her phone. Eventually, the indication that a message was being typed disappeared, and after another several seconds, Natalie sighed and went off to get a glass of water and inquire about sleeping arrangements that would allow her to sleep off her current condition rather than risking an accident.
A dozen miles away, Aaron was staring at the last message he had typed back, thumb hovering over "send". "I'm lonely, too," he had typed. With a sigh and an eye roll that only he would ever know about, he deleted the message and tossed his phone aside as he collapsed back into his bed. He closed his eyes and allowed a single tear to slip out of his eyes. He couldn't explain it, but somehow, this bizarre and brief conversation with a seemingly random stranger made him feel better. Maybe someday, he might even be happy like mystery messager had suggested.
Most of the messages failed to send, but a few seemed to be delivered. Only one came back with a response, about 5 minutes later: "Who on earth is this?"
She giggled to herself, not really knowing why, and from where she was cuddled alone on her host's couch while others were still shouting and celebrating, she typed back, "A friend."
She watched the mystery person take a remarkable long time to type a response given that the answer came back as, "I don't have any friends."
"Well you do now!1"
Another minute passed, long enough that she looked away from her phone to the other party-goers and started to wonder if she would be sober enough to drive in a couple of hours or if she was going to have to ask her friend if she could pass out on her couch for the night. Her phone buzzed with the response to her previous text: "Did Greg put you up to this?"
She felt puzzled. "I thought you didn't have any friends," she typed back.
"Greg is my brother."
"Brothers can be friends."
"Not Greg."
She giggled again, a bit louder this time. And glanced up nervously. Someone she didn't know was looking at her, but looked away seeming embarrassed when she caught his eye. She looked back at her phone and replied, "Yeah, my family kinda sucks, too."
She waited a few seconds and when she didn't see a response being typed, she sent, "No, I dont know your brother. I was lonely and txted sum random nos."
She waited several minutes. She saw whoever this was typing a response, but whatever it was they were typing never made it to her phone. Eventually, the indication that a message was being typed disappeared, and after another several seconds, Natalie sighed and went off to get a glass of water and inquire about sleeping arrangements that would allow her to sleep off her current condition rather than risking an accident.
A dozen miles away, Aaron was staring at the last message he had typed back, thumb hovering over "send". "I'm lonely, too," he had typed. With a sigh and an eye roll that only he would ever know about, he deleted the message and tossed his phone aside as he collapsed back into his bed. He closed his eyes and allowed a single tear to slip out of his eyes. He couldn't explain it, but somehow, this bizarre and brief conversation with a seemingly random stranger made him feel better. Maybe someday, he might even be happy like mystery messager had suggested.
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