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It takes a second for this to sink in I matched with Reid? Well, Catherine enuinelythe notification, but co to the match notification, Reid and I are 98 percent compatible He will love this

Decision e before I can change uys will find out about Catherine after all Reid gets me like nobody else A Monopoly joke? I mean, come on It’s so obvious

Chapter six

reid

I wake to the standard barrage of late-night texts from Ed and Alex—this time, it’s a debate about best underrated co in favor of Hawkeye, Squirrel Girl, and Fence Alex is just as veheood as the Fraction run, and that Ed is being a sexist pig Millie tells the, and then the thread devolves into a string of increasingly filthy gifs ending with a video of asex with a wo any of the clips too carefully, I reply, I’ht

It’s early—one off yet—and outside the sky is a hazy purple-blue I’ back to sleep when I remember that I matched with another woot any new es is a weird, anticipatory thrill that feels like a streak of caffeine into my bloodstream

In fact, I have t contacts Tomen, Catherine M, and Daisy D, have offered me access to their profiles

There’s a weird, low clench in ht of Daisy’s photo: she’s twenty-three, blond, and absolutely stunning I can tell her profile photo was taken on the craggy rocks at the edge of Ledbetter Beach Her extended profile tells inally froorith to put the re 18 percent of inco in her profile photo

Her e is simple: Hi Reid! Your profile see this, so I’m not sure hoorks, but I’d love to talk to you soh she doesn’t specify which school, I don’t know anyone with that name in the UCSB bio departments, so this doesn’t set off any alarins Apparently, we’re a 98 as or play Monopoly, I’ood with either)

This brief, easy introductionabout it that feels iet an instinctive, physical response to her: her profile picture is only of her shoulder and neck; her head is turned away, allowing just a glimpse of her jaw Since it’s a black-and-white photo, I can’t even tell what color her hair is

Alex’s voice rings in response: Only ugly chicks go for the “artful” profile pics

I swear he’s ruining us all one by one

I’ing systeet to lunch, he pulls out his phone and shows Millie the photo of a wo beat, aware again that he seeenuinely invested in all of this

Based on Mill’s reaction, the woman is either beautiful or hideous—her surprise really could mean either

Alex sits down on the other side of Millie and leans over to look “You h pause that anyone but Alex ht rethink his choice of word emphasis “Yes”

“And you posted a picture of yourself?” Alex is immediately pelted with Ed’s balled-up napkin

Millie hands the phone back to Ed “She looks nice”

“ ‘Nice’?” Alex unwraps his sandwich “She looks like she’d go down and eat a ”

“What a up to here?” Chris sits down and carefully slides his Cobb salad onto the table in front of hioblin,” Millie explains “By the way, you all should know that I received a ht I’d ave me explicit instructions on how to milk his balls”

“Milk his balls?” I ask for clarification

Alex opens his ives a quiet “Dude No”

Moving on without hesitation, Alex says, “This dating app sucks No one has given me access to their profiles yet”

“Because you come across like Animal from The Muppets,” I tell him

Millie protests, “Hey! I wrote that profile And it’s all true, to be fair”