Page 55 of Meet Cute Reboot
Details!!!
Cassie looks at me and shrugs her right shoulder.
My lips are sealed, zipped, superglued, sewn shut. You get the idea. I’m not touching this one.
Cassie pulls in a breath and refocuses on her phone. “How about we field some questions while we wait for our food? What do you guys want to ask? It can be about me and Luke, MatchAI, anything.”
Yes. Forever the saleswoman, Cassie is hawking her wares. I can’t blame her. I’d do the same.
Have. You. Kissed??
Cassie looks at me again. My lips are locked, and the key is somewhere on the bottom of the bay. I think my placid expression clues her in that she’s on her own.
“No. We haven’t kissed. Next question. Luke, you choose one.”
The questions roll up the screen faster than I can read. I squint and tap the phone to try to slow them down.
What’s the verdict? Are you two soulmates?
I read it aloud to Cassie. I probably should have picked an easier one. “No, let’s not do that one. How about... ‘when are you guys going to...’” I clear my throat. “Let’s go with the first one. Cassie, are we soulmates?”
She doesn’t appreciate being put on the spot. I can tell by the way she’s slowly moving her jaw side-to-side. But she putmeon the spot with this dumb Instagram Live thing.Calm down, you owe her this much.
“I think we gel. We always have,” Cassie says. “I mean, we’ve gelled on every date we’ve had so far. That’s four dates. I mean three. This makes three. Three total dates. Is that right?” She looks at me for reinforcement.
“It seems like way more than that.”
Awwww. That’s so sweet.
“Lucy_Broughton wants to know if Luke and I have met up outside of our Instagram Lives.”
Cassie’s office, the break room in her office, the conference room, the United Methodist Church. Oh yeah, and the entire two years we were dating.
“Nope,” I say. That’s one less lie for Cassie to atone for later.
Our food comes. Red crab legs occupy my entire plate, with a bowl of dipping sauce in the middle. A separate plate piled high with fried green tomatoes looks like it could feed four. I break into the crab legs without hesitation. I only feel slightly guilty that five hundred people are watching me eat and I have nothingto offer them; however, I’m keenly aware that I have to entertain them somehow.
“Go get something to eat,” I say into the camera. “Some ice cream. A beer. Brats.”
“Brats?” Cassie laughs.
“Whatever you got, dig in. I don’t want to be the only one eating here.”
“Tell us what ya’ll are eating,” Cassie says.
Comments flood in.
Ramen and hotdogs.
Blue Moon ice cream.
Hard seltzer.
Mike and Ikes.
I don’t understand what the draw is. Am I really so interesting that people want to watch me eat? Cassie, sure, she’s gorgeous. But me? I have butter on my chin and there’s a piece of shell stuck to my shirt.
I grab my water and suck through my straw until it gurgles on the bottom. Sonja is one booth over, and she hears the call of a customer in need.