Vanilla

“No,” she muttered as she kept swiping, looking for someone to celebrate with. It was a small town, and there weren’t too many singles out there. As she swiped, she recognized familiar faces of people she knew, and the faces of guys she had already swiped past, as there weren’t that many options to chose from. Suddenly, a face appeared on her screen. A face she hadn’t seen before. He was handsome, but also a bit of a jokester. He sat on a bathroom counter looking over his shoulder into the mirror, and holding his hand to his mouth, in a you caught me kind of gaze. It immediately made her giggle. She had not seen him before on the app. He didn’t have many pictures, but she could tell there were some tattoos hiding under the sleeves of his wrinkled burgundy button-up. His dark hair swept carelessly to the side, and a thick dark reddish-brown beard hiding half of his face. Her heart began to race as she admired his photos. He had kind eyes, she noted. And a hell of an ass, too.

She swiped right. Seconds later, her phone pinged. She had matched with the silly goose. She glanced down his profile, looking for things they might have in common.

Jack, 29
Job: Construction
Interests: anime, video games, skiing, BDSM.

Her eyes widened. “BDSM, eh? Bold of you to put that right in your profile. I wonder if he’s legit,” she thought, having had issues in this area previously. Dating apps were very hit-or-miss in every category, but especially in the kink community. She had encountered several guys claiming to be “Dominant” in this space. People who want to talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Individuals whom had immediately crossed boundaries and exceeded hard limits. Taking all of the control in every situation, never wanting to discuss limits and safe words beforehand. She wondered if this one would be the same. Something about his goofy little smirk had her interested in finding out.

Robert had never indulged her desires to spice things up in the bedroom. Where kink was concerned, Rob was not interested. After he departed from her life, Bridget was left to her own devices, literally. She decided the next phase of her life would be about exploring her wants and needs, putting herself first for a change. There had to be more out there than the plain vanilla that Robert had to offer.

“Hi,” she wrote Jack a private message. She sent a GIF of a little animated creature waving.

“What are you, some kind of nerd or something?” he replied almost immediately.

“Yep, that’s me,” she typed, hoping this was a joke.

“Good, I like nerds," he responded, putting her mind at ease.

“But do you like dogs?” she asked, testing the waters of this new conversation.

“Of course, who doesn’t like dogs??” he seemed flabbergasted at the thought that someone would possibly not like dogs.

“I have a golden retriever named Hank,” she told him, sending a picture of Hank sitting near the door with a big smile on his face. No thoughts behind his happy eyes.

“Wow, he’s so cute, I wanna meet him!” responded her mystery man Jack. She felt herself relax into the realization that he and Hank would get along well, since Hank loved everyone.

They continued chatting back and forth for a few minutes. He seemed like he actually had a decent head on his shoulders. In the few moments they have been talking, she learned that he owned is own car, had his own apartment, and a decent job in construction. He was already light-years ahead of the other guys she had matched with.

“Can I ask you out on a date?” he typed, her shoulders clenching up as she read his message. She wasn’t looking for another awful date, she just wanted to let off some steam. But Jack seemed different. He seemed kind, considerate, even responsible. The exact opposite of her other dates. Somewhat reluctantly, she agreed.

“Where should we go?” she asked, ready to quash the idea of another coffee shop date.

“Let’s go for a walk down by the river,” he responded, catching her by surprise.

“Sounds great!” she wrote back. At this point she couldn’t hold back her smile. She was actually excited at the prospect of this particular date. After a bit more planning, it was decided they would meet in four days.