After his previous debacle with dating, Jerry decided to wait at least six months before asking anyone out. Well, now it had been exactly six months and ten days.

***

He hadn’t tried online dating before; he thought now would be a great time to start. He googled the top ten dating sites. After going through about four sites, he decided to go with the first one.

“Name…Jerry Lawrence…age…26..gender…well duh…sexual orientation…straight…City…New York… Aaand sign up.”

He saw that there were more specific questions to be answered after signing up. Ah, this is too much work he thought. Why would anyone go through this much trouble to find a someone to date? He answered his own question…otherwise you end up with scary chicks, genius, he said to himself.

If he had to go through this nightmare to find a girl, he needed a cold beer. Jerry got up and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. With a sigh, he dropped on the couch and pulled the laptop towards himself.

“Okay…what next…hmm..work…lawyer…date of birth…ok…race…whaaaat..isn’t this racist…whatever…height…all right…ok…hmm…24 questions to go…argh…why…why…okaaaay…that’s too personal…that is crazy…when will this be over…God…last question…finally…and photo…that’s about it then. Done. Now let’s see if there’s been a match. Sorry your information will take at least a week to process…this is just great!” And with that, Jerry slammed the laptop shut.

 

A WEEK LATER

 

Jerry spent a rather restless week. He couldn’t believe he was behaving like a teenager. Well, it had been a while since he’d dated a nice person. He was hoping he’d get lucky with the online dating stuff. Usually, he didn’t get along well with technology but this time, he had to keep aside his feelings about it for the sake of dating.

He hurried home and got out his laptop. He logged onto the dating site and was amazed to find that he’d gotten five matches! Five! Whoa! Was this for real? Wait…he even had message from one of them…Lucy.

It said, “Hi Jerry. I hope you’re having a good week. I was wondering of you’d like to go for coffee this weekend. Well, do let me know. Bye.” Jerry pumped his fist in the air and thought Yes! Finally a girl who wants to talk…coffee meant sober conversation right? He couldn’t believe he’d hit the jackpot so soon.

He immediately typed his reply. “Hey Lucy. I’m having a rather dry week. I would love to go for coffee with you this weekend. How about the cafe at 23rd and West?”

And with that, he waited.