Under the Same Stars(55)

And just as quickly as my heart leapt, it sunk and hit me all over again: I’d totally and truly blown it by procrastinating. Connor and I couldn’t be together.

Because he had a freaking girlfriend.





Sixteen


After getting home from Stone Harbor, I texted Katie and the bridesmaids that I was ready to resume Ready-Set-Date, and they couldn’t have been happier. Okay, I’m game, I’d texted our chat. Bring on the boys!

Because I needed to stop thinking about Connor.

Amanda replied first: Let’s find you love!

She and her boyfriend must be doing well, I surmised.

Paige: Amazing!!!!

Courtney: I’m on the phone with a client, but I have ideas…

Yasmin: YAY

Reese: Should we have the next guy take a lie detector test and a personality assessment?

I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew she was being snarky, but as someone who leaned toward the sardonic end of the spectrum, I found it part of Reese’s charm.

Meredith didn’t respond for a few hours, although when she did, the message read: I really think it should be the boy next door.

I sighed. He has a girlfriend right now.

Connor had literally dropped me at home before speeding off to see Lauren.

Ah, Meredith replied, like she could hear the glumness in my words. I see.

Fantastic, I thought. She knows I like him.

Katie’s response was weirdly delayed. Could she tell I liked Connor too? She weighed in only when we moved on to other possible candidates. Courtney’s dermatologist’s son was a rising freshman at Villanova? He was moving into his dorm next week for football preseason, but campus wasn’t that far away from me, right?

No college guys, Katie wrote, and I somehow knew she wasn’t thinking of my ice-skating date with Chad, but my weekend at Princeton. She didn’t want me disturbing her sleep at 2 a.m. again. Villanova was right outside Philly; if something went wrong, she knew Austin would be my first call.

It was Reese who suggested I create a profile on a dating app, and she was very quickly backed by the others. Don’t use Tinder, Amanda said. These days, it’s all about hookups (and there are a lot of weirdos).

Amanda, every app has weirdos, Reese pointed out.

I met my fiancé on Bumble, Courtney said. It’s nice because when you match, the girl has to message the guy first. We hold all the cards.

I’m mostly on Hinge, Yasmin told me. It’s geared toward people looking for a serious relationship.

Paige, Meredith, and Katie remained silent. I could picture workaholic Paige curled up on her couch, answering emails and drawing on her tablet—did that thing’s battery ever die?—but were Katie and Meredith busy? I wanted their hot takes.

They were the ones who really bolstered me.

My phone buzzing brought me back to the conversation. Paige, this time. I vote Bumble, she said. Sometimes it’s awkward to DM matches you like, but it helps filter out the ones you don’t.

Okay, thank you! I texted when neither Katie nor Meredith chimed in, stomach a little unsettled. I’ll keep you updated.

BUMBLE, Courtney emphasized.

“Bumble?” Dad said at lunch. He was sitting at the island, inhaling a BLT on sourdough toast before his 1:30 showing (Aaron and Sophie Zankman, who couldn’t decide between midcentury modern or urban farmhouse). “Nope, no way.” He shook his head. “Forget it.”

“Why?” I asked. “I’m almost eighteen.”

“Yes.” Dad gave me a look. “Keyword: almost.”

“When did this desire to date start?” Da asked casually. “You’ve never seemed particularly interested.”

“Which is fine!” Dad quickly added. “We’re just curious.”

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling a little keyed up. “I guess…” I trailed off, unsure what to say. I didn’t want to tell them the truth—my arrangement with the bridesmaids—so that left me with the truth-truth. “I think it’d be nice to have a boyfriend.” I shrugged. “Someone to dance with at Austin’s wedding.”

My parents exchanged a look.

“Does our school still have that dating app?” Marco piped up from the kitchen table. He was working here today, researching something for his professor. “This girl developed it for a class, and it was really popular my senior year. Everyone was swiping on it. You need to have a Council Rock school district email address to create a profile.”

Dad swallowed the last of his sandwich. “I like that. I’d much rather you bring home a high schooler than a thirty-seven-year-old from Bumble.”

“Hilarious, Dad.” I rolled my eyes. “Yes, it’s still active,” I told Marco. “I mean, I don’t know how many people really use it anymore, but I can make an account.”

Marco sat up straighter in his chair. “You want to do that later? I had one for a while.”

Really? I thought, surprised. Marco ?lvarez, who’d had girls surrounding him left and right in high school, had an online dating profile?

And wait, was he on what Reese referred to as “the apps” now? Would he tell me if he was hooking up with someone from Tinder? Or had met the girl of his dreams on Hinge?

As Marco’s friend, I was learning that he was pretty private.