Page 23 of Elevator Pitch

If she had looked me up, she wouldn’t be surprised right now.

“Am I the bestSoulBlenddate, yet? This is date number four.Ifyou’re counting,” I add playfully.

“Oh my God. I just talked so much shit.” She winces and covers her face with her hand.

I reach across the table and rub my thumb over her knuckles on her free hand. “I didn’t think you were talking shit. It’s client feedback. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

She stares at my hand on hers curiously and says, “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for speaking your mind. Ever. I appreciate your honesty. I don’t get feedback like that often, especially not to my face.”

“Would you be okay with me looking at your profile? I may be able to narrow down why you’re attracting these matches.”

She hands her phone to me with her profile on display. I’m taken aback by her profile picture for a moment because she is just so damn beautiful. I clear my throat and get back to the task at hand. I review her profile thoroughly, and I’m seeing a lot of things that are not adding up to the woman I’ve come to know recently.

“Hmm.”

“What’s that mean?” she asks apprehensively.

“Do you want my honest opinion?”

She nods.

“For starters, this isn’tyou. The person you’re promoting yourself as isn’t who’s in front of me right now. Why is that?”

She looks down and lets out a defeated sigh. I immediately regret what I said.I should’ve worded that differently. Shit.

“I’m not looking for a life partner and I figured if I made my profile more appealing to what I assume men are looking for, I’d have better hits.”

I raise my brow and lean back in my chair.

“How’s that been working out for you?”

“Not well, as you can see.”

“I think you should update your profile,” I say, placing the phone back in her hand. “Answer the questionnairehonestly.Don’t give answers based on what you think men will like. Your profile should reflect you. Share your interests and only fill out the prompts you relate to. Show us who you are and we’ll set you up with people that compliment you.”

“So, you’re saying it’s my fault I’ve been on all these bad dates?”

“Not entirely. I’m going to investigate what you said and see what I can fix. As far as matching goes, if you’re lying on your profile and are getting a bunch of losers, that part is on you since you’re not using the app for its intended purpose. Do you want better dates? Show them who Selah is—the app will do the rest of the work for you.”

“Since you made the app, I suppose you know best. I’ve got to know though. Who’s your perfect match?”

“Don’t have one,” I say without looking up from my screen.

When I catch her staring at me, she shifts her focus back to her screen and gets back to her work. I make a note of her feedback before sending it to my team for us to review and discuss further. I’d like for us to see where we can look for fixes to rollout in the next update and keep at it until we’ve made the necessary improvements.

Some people would be upset to hear their product rippedapart in that way, but I’m motivated by it. It’s possible that has something to do with the fact that Selah was the one delivering the blow. I admire how whenever comfortable; she is the opposite of how she presents herself to be. It only intrigues me to uncover more layers of her. The fact that she hates my app and continues to use it for reasons other than finding a life partner—it sounds to me like she’s looking for something casual and if that’s the case, we could help each other out. I won’t be the one suggesting it though. She’s going to have to ask me. I’d say yes, but I’m placing the ball in her court.

Let’s see how Selah plays.

12

pole dancing

Selah

Manhattan, NY | October 20, 2023

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