playing with his two nephews. He’d love to meet a tall, voluptuous woman, with an adventurous spirit and a love of life. She could hardly restrain herself from getting up and bouncing around the room. He was just too perfect! At the bottom of his profile was a pink heart. What does this mean? She muttered, tapping it at the same time. As before, the graphic popped to reveal the message: Want to find out if we’re a match? Without hesitating for even a second, she tapped the happy face icon.
At that moment, Lauren hurtled back into the apartment with the wine.
“You’re not going to believe what’s happened!” Dina exclaimed. Lauren opened the wine in the kitchen and brought it through to the living room.
“What?” she said.
“The bear guy’s contacted me already!”
“Let me see!” Lauren snatched the phone out of her hand. “Oh my god, he messaged you within ten minutes of us completing your profile. Let’s see what he said:
Hi, there. This is the first time I’ve messaged anyone on the app, but when I saw you, I knew I couldn’t let you pass by. You’re so beautiful, and you seem so genuine and good-hearted. But it wasn’t just that: I felt such a strong connection when I looked at your profile, that I’m desperate to find out if we’re fated to be together.
Hoping to hear from you,
Logan.
“Wow!” Dina breathed.
“He felt the same connection with you! This is awesome,” Lauren said. “Shifters have destined mates, like, the one they’re supposed to meet, and they devote their lives to finding them. It sounds like you might be his!” Dina’s tummy tingled with excitement.
“But how is that possible?”
“No-one knows how. It’s just the way it happens,” Lauren said, but the end of her sentence was drowned out by the doorbell ringing. “I’ll get it,” she said, and headed downstairs again to pick up the pizza.
Dina stared at the guy’s photo, thinking of what she was going to say to him. This was all so crazy. He wasn’t playing it cool, like she expected guys to, and she felt like she owed him the same directness. While she was deliberating, she decided to see what he looked like as a bear again. She placed her thumb over his photo and swiped to the right.
“Huh?” she muttered. Instead of a photo of a bear, she was looking at the main list of profiles again. What have I done? I must have slipped off his profile somehow. She scrolled up and down, searching for it.
“These pizzas smell A-mazing!” Lauren yelled, coming through the door. She deposited them on the coffee table, opened both boxes, grabbed a piece, and immediately began eating. After a couple of seconds, she glanced at Dina.
“What’s the matter, honey? Why aren’t you eating?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I lost the bear-guy’s profile somehow.”
“What? What did you do?” Lauren shuffled closer, still chewing.
“I just wanted to see him as a bear again, so I swiped his photo, and he disappeared.”
“You swiped that way?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right , honey. That’s what you do when you don’t want to see someone’s profile again.” Dina’s mouth fell open.
“I did swipe right! My gosh! I’m such an idiot! What do I do to get him back? Tell me quick!”
“Oh, god!” Lauren said. She ate the final bite of the first slice of pizza and wiped her hands on a napkin.
“Go ahead and eat. I’ll try to figure it out,” she said, snatching the phone from Dina’s fingers.
“I can’t find him,” she said, ten minutes later. “That’s how this app works. Swipe right and they’re gone for good.”
“No! Me and my clumsy fingers! Dina said with a groan.” How could I have been so dumb?”
“Hey, stop,” Lauren said. “It’s an easy mistake to make, especially for someone who’s not used to using apps. I shouldn’t have let you loose on it without supervision.”
“I have to find him, Lauren! There has to be a way! I’m serious. This guy is so hot, and