Page 8 of Matched

He’s alright yeah. Not what the app is supposed to be for though

Jonas:

Maybe it’s telling you to broaden your horizons

Me:

Maybe you and your app should fuck off

Jonas:

JK. I’ve known you for almost 3 years now and I think I’d know if you were into men. You would have hit on me

Me:

No chance. I have standards

Jonas:

Low standards

I chuckled as a brimming pint glass was placed down in front of me. Charlie flopped down onto the sofa and gulped a huge mouthful of his own drink. “Something funny?”

“Just my housemate trying to take the piss out of me. You know, this whole date thing. He’s telling me I have low standards.”

“Because of me?” Charlie’s brows pulled together.

“No, that wasn’t— Oh, just read the texts.” I showed him the latest exchange with my housemate. A smile curved over his lips as he scanned the messages.

“I see. What’s the low standards comment about, then?”

“Just Jonas being Jonas. Any excuse to take the piss out of me. Both my housemates are the same, now I think about it. My other housemate, Joe, is just as bad.”

Amusement danced in his gaze. “You have a housemate called Joe and a housemate called Jonas?”

I shrugged, my lips kicking up at the corners. “Yeah. How many people do you live with, anyway?”

“You know Ander and Levi. My other two housemates are JJ, who’s doing a dance degree, and Ander’s boyfriend, Elliot—you probably know him already from coming to your matches? And…uh…a snail, if that counts. Is this where we do the ‘get to know each other’ part? It feels like we skipped a few steps.”

He was right. “Uh, yeah. I guess so. If this was an actual date, we’d probably have done the awkward small talk first. Instead, you accused me of being a mugger.”

“And a stalker—don’t forget. And you demoted me from pinball king to pinball prince.”

“You’ll have to try harder next time.” I paused as my own words sank in. “If we happen to meet up as friends or whatever.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He shook his head, grinning at me. “Maybe your housemate is right, and you’re secretly into me.”

“Ha. Nope, not into men, and that includes you.”

“Phew.” Wiping his brow, he let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “That means I don’t have to plan a way to ditch you.”

“Or for me to ditch you. Go on, then. Let’s do the ‘getting to know you’ thing. We already said what we were studying and where we live when we’re not at uni. What else do people ask on first dates?”

Charlie shrugged. “Who knows? You should know better than me. You’re the oldest. All the girls I’ve been with so far have been ones I already know, or I’ve pulled them on a night out, and, uh, not much conversation happens those times.”

“Allthe girls? You’re a first year…how many are we talking?”

He smirked at me. “Hmm…let me see.” Holding up his hand, he began to count on his fingers. When he went through all ten and began the cycle all over again, I laughed.

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