My Bear - Andrew Siwicki

Chapter III

The next day became a blur for me. I made very little progress in my research at work and my 'date', if you even want to call it that, went terribly and I still paid for everything. I was now fifty dollars out and my dignity was shredded, my will to keep dating crushed. It was seven when I got home, and as soon as I opened the door, I threw my keys to the side, flopped on the couch and FaceTimed Garrett.

"Hey Abs!" His smiling face fills my screen. " How was your date?" I groan, really fucking loudly.

"Oh my god don't even fucking ask"

"Uh oh," he replies.

"She wasn't even into chicks! She lied to me so that she could try to get me to mention her in an Instagram story" I pinch the bridge of my nose, lifting my glasses onto my forehead. "I felt bad too so I PAID for her three expensive ass cocktails and drove her home because she was too tipsy to drive. I should've just told her to get lost but man I really couldn't,"

"Oh no..." Garrett looks genuinely upset for me and it hurts to look at.

"Dating sucks. I wish it was still how it was back in school - I do your maths homework and then you love me for five years" I joke, and I hear a group of laughter from the other end.

"Where are you?" I ask, sinking lower into the couch.

"Shane and Ryland's" He replies. " Shane's saying you can come over if you want to" I pondered on it for a second.

"Yeah sure, why not," I smile. "Text me the address, I'll head out now"

"Cool, I'll buzz you in when you get here"

Garrett soon texted me the address of the house and I popped it into Google Maps. It was a twenty-minute drive so I put on some tunes and drove through the streets of LA. The sun was setting and covered the sky in a beautiful mix of blue, purple and pink. It was nice living in LA. Everything felt fresh and new, and it was exactly what I needed. I pulled up to Shane's place and texted Garrett to let me in. Not soon after I hit the send button, the gates start to open. I drive down the driveway and I'm taken aback by how beautiful the house looks in real life. It's a beautiful Mediterranean style house and I fell in love. I hop out of the Jeep and knock on the door. A smiling Ryland opens it for me.

"Hey!" He says to me.

"Heya!" I reply. " Now I need to say this before I explode - your house is absolutely gorgeous"

"Oh my god thank you!" he replies, with a hand gently resting on his chest. " Please come on in,"

"Is that Abby?" I hear Garrett yell.

"Yes Gare," I sigh, stepping into the house as Ryland closes the door behind me. Garrett runs up to me, enveloping me into a hug as I laugh.

"I feel better now Garrett, thank you" I giggle.

"What happened?" Ryland asks me kindly.

"Just a bad date" I sigh, rolling my eyes.

"Come and join me for a glass of wine in the kitchen and we can talk about it," I follow Ryland into their kitchen, and Garrett disappears into the lounge to annoy Morgan, who I send a polite wave to.

"White or red?" Ryland asks me, holding up two bottles.

"White please" I reply as he pours two glasses out and hands me one. " Thank you"

"So," he says, taking a sip from his glass."Tell me what happened" I spend the next half an hour explaining what happened, how I feel about dating and eventually we just agree in the end that people suck.

"Tinder?" he asks.

"Is it worth it? I honestly don't know if I have the attention span to talk to more than one person at a time" I laugh. "Isn't that mostly hookups anyway?"

"Is that a bad thing?" he asks.

"I mean I dunno I've never done that before,"

"When was the last time you got some?"

"Do you really wanna know?" I laugh, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hit me"

"Three years" Ryland nearly spits out his wine.

"Give me your phone," he says, placing his glass down.

"Why?" I ask.

"We're getting you Tinder"

Ryland and I join Morgan and Garrett in the living room to set up my new Tinder account. He explains to the other two what were up to and they're very into it.

"So photos, what are we thinking?" Ryland asks the group.

"Oh, what about that photo of you and Post Malone?" Garrett suggests.

"What? You've met Post Malone?" Morgan asks.

"Long story," I laugh. " Nah cause then I'll just get people swiping because I know him"

"Oh girl!" Ryland exclaims, looking at a photo of me out partying. I'm wearing bright red lipstick and a black lace bodysuit with jeans. It's quite a provocative photo.

"Yes!" Morgan says, pointing to the photo.

"Is that too much though? That's not really a good representation of me" I say, scrunching my face up at the sight of the photo. "Plus that outfit screams hook up"

"Oh yeah you're right"

We keep searching through my camera roll before finally settling on a group of five photos. A selfie, a full body picture (not the lace one, thank god) a couple of photos of me when I was in Greece and a photo of me at a winery in a nice dress. It was a good selection and I was happy with it. Ryland then chrome casted my phone to the TV so that we could start swiping.

"I hope this doesn't land me in a drama channel video," I say, gulping back the rest of my wine. I sure as hell was gonna need it.

"You'll be fine," Ryland laughs as the first profile pops up. "Oh she's cute!" She was cute, there was no denying that. Ryland then reads out her bio.

"Doesn't like video games? Next! Jeez, who doesn't like video games? Not even Mario Kart?!" I ramble. "Who doesn't like Mario Karts?" The next profile was a shirtless dude.

"Next!" We go through a few more profiles, me only agreeing to swipe right on two. I didn't even notice Shane and Andrew come down from editing.

"This is mean, right? Judging people based on their looks?" I say, clutching a pillow to my chest as Honey, their beautiful husky lays her head in my lap.

"What are you doing?" I hear Shane ask from behind me, cracking open a soda.

"Making Abby a Tinder profile," Ryland replies, swiping left on somebody. I look up at Shane with a pained expression, mouthing the word 'help' to him.

"Here's what you gotta do," Shane says, walking over to where Ryland has my phone. "You just gotta do this" he swipes right for every profile I get to swipe for the day.

"Shane!" Ryland exclaims, trying to swat his hand away.

"Oh Abby!" Shane gasps " I saw girls in there too, you didn't tell me you were bi!"

"I'm bi," I say laughing. Shane and Andrew join us on the couch, Andrew sitting near me, with Honey being the only thing separating us, both of us showering her with pets. We continue to chat away for another hour or so. When the time ticks over to 11 pm I stand up.

"I better get going, I gotta be at the lab early tomorrow," I sigh. " Bye guys, it was great seeing you again!" There was a collective 'Bye!' from the group and Ryland stands up to see me out and we stop at the door.

"Thank you guys for letting me come over, and thank you for letting me rant to you," I say to Ryland, a smile plastered on my face. They cheered me up out of my crappy mood earlier.

"That's no problem! It was great to have somebody to chat to," he replies with a smile of his own. We say our goodbyes and give each other a hug before I hop into my Jeep and start my journey home.