Uncharted Territory

Colyn

I walked in the garage door, tossing my keys on the counter and dropping my backpack to the floor simultaneously. "Hey, I'm home!" I was currently living in my grandparents' basement apartment, which is not nearly as bad as it sounds.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day?" My grandma chided from her recliner in the living room.

"Long, but fine. I've got some homework I need to work on, so I'm gonna shower and then head over to Mil's house. Anything eventful around here-" I was cut off by the sound of grandpa shouting at his computer game from the other room. Grandma and I smiled at each other and I shook my head. "All day again?" Grandma looked back down at the book she had in her hands. 

"Just a normal day around here. Let us know before you head out."

"Sounds good. Do you guys need me to pick anything up while I'm gone?" Grandpa continued to shout at his game in the background. 

"No, thank you though sweetie." With that I trotted down the stairs to shower and put on more comfortable clothes. 

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I pranced up the steps leading to Camille's front door, knocking three times before letting myself in. Since we had been friends for so long, Mil's family thought of me as one of their own, and as a result have told me to quit waiting for someone to let me in. Her dad even gave me my own key so if the house is locked I can still let myself in. "WHASSSUUUPPP?" Camille's brother, Ashton, was in the process of making his way from the kitchen to his bedroom... wearing nothing but his bright neon green underwear. I picked up a pillow from the couch and threw it at him, nailing him square in the chest.

"Dude, would you put some damn clothes on?!" He bent down, picking up the pillow and threw it back. I picked it up off the floor, straightening it out before setting it back on the couch. 

"Oh come on Col, you know you like what you see!" Ashton winked at me, then turned around and proceeded to shake his ass in my direction, going as far as to even reach back and slap it. I shook my head, trying hard not to laugh or show any amusement on my face, as that would only egg him on. 

"Sorry Ash, I'm not one of the cows you meet on your app who's just lookin to get her udders pulled by a pretty smile." I watched as Ashton turned around and fumbled for what to say back. He couldn't think of anything, so instead turned back around and proceeded to 'back it up' back to his room. I smiled and shook my head, heading down the stairs towards Mil's room. 

"Mil your brother is a freakin'- wait, what's that smile for? I know that face, that's your 'I did something that I think is awesome but you're probably gonna hate me for it' face." Mil continued to give me the same look, chin tucked into her chest with a smile that created an effect that some people would describe as 'creepy'. "Mil...."

"Okay fine! So remember how I'm a hack master? Well SOMEONE forgot to log out of their Facebook on my computer, giving me the opportunity to reset her password, and in turn use the login to sign you up for...." Mil reached to the table in front of her to retrieve her phone and swiped it open, flipping it around for me to see the screen, "BUZZLE!!" On the screen was a cartoon picture of a hive, and two bees with a golden heart above their heads. My arms instantly folded across my chest, and I felt my 'what the hell did you just do?' look spread across my face. "Oh come on Col, just give it a try. I've been swiping through here for you all day. You already have thirty matches."

"CAMILLE!!!" I snatched the phone out of her hand. "I knew you were way to quiet about this the other night, you don't give up without a fight. What in the world possessed you to do this? I told you that I need some time to myself because I don't even know what county I'm going to be living in come August?" I body-flopped face down into the middle of her bed, mumbling a string of curse words into the floral printed comforter. 

"COLYN," Mil mocked how I had expressed her name, "I did it because you need some help. Besides, who says this is for you to find a boyfriend? All this is right now is talking to guys, and going on as many dates as you want to say yes to, with no pressure to go on a second. Just give it a try... At least look who I've matched you up with already." I rolled to my back, sighing along the way.

"Fine, go." Mil rolled over so we were laying next to each other on our backs, holding the phone above our heads. She then proceeded to go through each match and explain why she had swiped right on them. Really, her rules for swiping were good, and they were about the exact same as what I would have made for myself. If any photo on the profile was a shirtless gym mirror selfie it was an automatic left swipe. If more than two pictures were heavily edited using obvious filters, left swipe. If there was no bio, or if the only thing that was there was an Instagram handle or a string of emojis, left swipe. Other than that, she swiped based off of who she thought I would find attractive, and who sounded in their bio like they were someone I would get along with. And she wasn't kidding, there were thirty matches waiting for a conversation to be started.

We laid there on her bed for the next two hours, swiping left and swiping right. Neither one of us even pulled out the homework we should have accomplished that night, but that was okay. I knew that these were the nights I would look back on and cherish the most, not the nights we sat in complete silence working on papers or lesson plans. I am truly blessed to have Camille in my life, she is the best friend I have ever had, and I doubt I'll ever find a better one. 

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Later that night I was having an extremely hard time falling asleep. I decided to open my phone and dink around for a bit until my eyes would start getting heavy. I ended up getting onto the Buzzle app again, swiping left much more than I was swiping right. I still hadn't started any conversations, as I wasn't sure quite yet how much I wanted to commit to the app. I was swiping left just about as fast as the first picture would load. I had made some additional rules for myself, and a lot of profiles were breaking those rules. If they were holding alcohol in any of the photos, left swipe. If they were wearing skinny jeans in any photos, left swipe. If their hair was longer than mine, left swipe. 

A photo popped up on the screen of a clean cut guy with short brown hair. 'Corey, 26' had a muscular build, and light brown eyes, and was standing in front of a mountain scenery. Instead of swiping left, I swiped up to see another picture. This one was a cropped photo from what I'm guessing were family pictures. As I swiped up again, his bio popped up, meaning he only had the two photos. He had a little blurb about eating pizza, watching Disney movies, and enjoying the outdoors. He fit all of the rules. I hesitated between swiping left, or swiping right. "Oh what the hell?" I said out loud as I swiped right. The screen flashed to a photo of me and one of him, and little bumble bees circled around and in between the photos. A match. 

It wasn't until the next morning that I finally sent a message to Corey. I asked him what Disney movie he enjoyed the most. I didn't receive a response for the remainder of the morning, and by the time I was starting classes at 3:00 I still hadn't heard anything. I turned my phone off and placed it in my backpack, thinking nothing more of Corey and his Disney movie obsession.