Since this January, I have been working on a new year-long writing project exploring modern dating in my new home of Chicago. Tentatively titled Last Date, the concept involves interviewing random people on Tinder about the last date they went on and editing the responses into a series of first person narratives about people’s dating experiences. Interestingly, many of the dating stories I’ve collected so far have been about bad dates or connections with people that didn’t amount to much. Interesting, but probably not surprising, since casual dating apps like Tinder are not typically known for their perfect love stories. In addition to the frustration of putting in time and sometimes money only to match with dozens of people who ultimately ignore you, these platforms are known to have problems with sexual harassment and assault. However, dating apps have become the norm for how many people date and how relationships often begin.
This new project has inspired me to dabble in some fiction writing, exploring the pitfalls of modern dating. This has resulted in the two short stories you will find here. The first, "Short Term," is an exercise in concise story telling that taps into the fleetingness of connections made in modern dating culture. The second, "On Demand Date," explores the dangers that arise when love and human connection become commodified and sold as a product. Though the dating app in this story is fictional and meant to be a satirical amalgamation of existing dating apps, the app Clover has a real on demand dating feature where users can find others near them looking to meet in person and schedule a date directly through the app. A free version of Clover allows users to browse and match with people. However, to send a message or use the on demand dating feature, a Premium subscription is required with pricing starting at $9.99 per week.
Short Term
The frigid winter breeze nipped at her nose and cheeks as she walked to catch her train. As she made her way along the platform, her eyes drifted towards other people about her age. She often liked to pretend she was swiping through people on a dating app as she passed them in the crowds during her morning commute.
Today she was looking for something short-term. Something brief, exciting, and without commitment, but that would leave her wanting more.
Minutes later, she was entering the Red Line train car. It was too packed to sit down so she found a small space near the door and grasped onto a pole.
As the train lurched forward, her gaze wandered through the crowd. She tried to catch the eye of a girl scrolling on her phone further down the car, but when this finally occurred the other passenger quickly and nervously averted her eyes.
Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and turned to see a tall young man taking a place directly next to her. There was a noticeable difference in temperature as his body, inches from hers, provided some warmth. Their gazes inadvertently and momentarily met, and he gave a small but intentional smile.
She looked down and feigned checking something on her phone to buy herself some time to think of something casual but flirty to say. The train stopped briefly and a rush of cold air skimmed the back of her neck as the doors parted. Moments after they were in motion again the line came to her. Her heart was racing now.
She swiveled her head and frowned, finding the space empty behind her. He had gone as quickly as he had come.
On Demand Date
Don stared down at his phone sitting on the coffee table in front of him. His brow was scrunched in thought. Outside his open window a siren wailed somewhere in the distance. Slowly, he leaned over and used his index finger to scroll through a list of his messages on the dating app Spark. It seemed to be an endless list of people who had ghosted him or never responded to his first message. A feeling of emptiness increased as he went further down.
Then the ad came up again. “Are you looking for🔥HOT-N-READY🔥singles? Try the new On Demand Dating feature NOW⏲,” it read. Don sighed and rolled his eyes at the cheesy marketing. But he couldn’t deny that something about it made him feel more alive than he had in months. The new feature promised to use an algorithm to immediately match him with a compatible person nearby who was also looking for a date at that time. Don hadn’t gone out with a person in real life in months and the thought of such an easy fix was just too hard not to at least give a try.
His mind was made up now, so he punched the little textbox with his finger. A title screen came up with the words “Welcome to On Demand Dating” hovering over a video of attractive-looking twenty-somethings in swimsuits dancing on a beach. Then a payment screen. It was $15.99 per date, paid up front. “Shit,” thought Don. He had already started a Premium subscription with Spark for $29.99 per month three weeks ago so he could send prospective matches “Super Sparks,” which were four times more likely to get their attention than regular likes. But he figured he could easily pay as much for a pizza or a movie, so if this worked out it would be well worth the cost. Plus, the fine print told him that if his date backed out, he would get a $3.25 credit toward his next On Demand Date.
Don’s heart skipped a beat when he found on the next screen a button to begin the matching process. All he had to do was click and the app would instantly match him with someone ready for a date. Eyes wide, he slowly lifted his finger and touched the screen. After only a second or two delay the results came up. “Maria is looking for a date,” a message said next to a profile picture of a young woman. Don clicked on the picture to view her profile and scanned it over. She was thin and average height with bleached blond hair…drank and smoked weed occasionally…spoke English and Spanish… Her description read: “Art student.🎨 I love to paint pictures of people. Message me if you’re not a weirdo😅” Something lit up in Don’s brain. He always liked art and thought back to when he used to paint pictures of his favorite MLB and NHL players in high school when he had extra time on his hands. He felt a sure connection.
Don eagerly selected to accept the date. For a moment he started to grow a little nervous as he realized he might have to start talking to his match now to make plans for the date. He hadn’t actually put much thought into what he would say or where he would propose to go. But to his relief, the app had it all covered. It presented an address of where to meet her, and used a Google Maps integration to show him suggested routes for getting there. The location was on the north side and he didn’t have a car, so he would have to take a bus east and then get on the train to travel north…estimated travel time one hour exactly. The date was at 8 p.m. and it was currently…6:52. Don had no idea what would happen when he got there, but he had no time to think about that. Things had just gotten very real and he had to go now.
Don rushed to use the bathroom, grab his keys, and put his shoes on. He stopped briefly to look in a mirror and did his best to pat his short brown hair down, which was sticking up in a few different directions. He hesitated for a moment glancing over his outfit, realizing Maria might be dressed nicely, as it was a date. After a few seconds of focused consideration he had a moment of clarity and swapped the Avengers hoodie he was currently wearing for a plain black one. He was good to go and headed out of his apartment building.
Don made good time as he reached the bus station, traveled east through the city, and made it to the CTA station to catch the Red Line headed north. Spark kept him updated on the directions and his estimated arrival time each step of the way, which he was grateful for. Occasionally the app would send him short validating messages like, “Hey hot stuff. 👀 You’re just Maria’s type. Ready to pull some moves?” These helped stave off any sense of insecurity Don might have felt leading up to a normal first date. In fact, he felt too wrapped up in the excitement of the situation to dwell on any nervousness he was feeling. As he sat in the train car, he found himself scrolling back and forth through Maria’s pictures on her profile. He thought about how his last girlfriend had told him when they had broken up how he needed to “work on himself” and “put in more effort” if he was ever going to make a relationship work with someone. Clearly he was willing to go to great lengths for someone else, as evidenced by the money and effort he was putting in to go on his date tonight. Maybe Maria would be the one who would finally see how hard he really tried when it came to dating.
Don was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he may have missed his stop if not for a sudden jangling sound next to his ear that brought him back to reality. He turned to see a homeless man walking by shaking a can of coins. “Change?” the man asked, holding the can out towards Don. Don managed to give a distracted “no” as he looked to see what station the train was coming up to next. The man did not press any further and continued making his way down the train car, holding his can out to other similarly unresponsive passengers with their noses tucked behind their phones. Don realized that the next stop was where he would be getting off and he sprung up to move towards the doors.
It was nearing darkness once Don was off the train and had started the remainder of his journey on foot. Spark guided him through the final quarter mile, which took him into a residential area with closely packed apartment buildings and some houses. Finally, he made it to the block where he was to meet Maria and the directions instructed him to proceed down a dimly lit alley. As he made his way through the dark space lined on either side with dumpsters and backs of apartment buildings he began to feel a little sketched out, and hoped that Maria wasn’t standing out here alone waiting for him. At last, he reached the point in the alley that was closest to where he was supposed to go. He saw that the actual point on the map seemed to be within a big brick apartment building on the right side of the alley. He found a tall metal gate that opened to a narrow passage leading toward the building and he decided to enter to get closer. When he came through the passage, he reached a tiny open space behind the apartment with a patch of grass and a picnic table with a couple of ash trays on it. There was no one in sight.
Before he could think what to do next, Don felt a buzz from his phone. It was a message from Spark: “Smooth moves 😎. You arrived 2 minutes early! Now - ready for your hot date?” Don was more than ready. The anxious anticipation was overwhelming at this point. Then, another payment screen. “Maria is nearby! Send her a message for just $4.99,” the text on the page said. “Shit!” said Don out loud. He scoured the vicinity around him for any sign of Maria, then checked the back door to the apartment building, which was predictably locked. He let out a sigh. He had come this far and couldn’t give up now. Sending that message might just be the only way they could find each other.
Don made the payment. He watched as animated sparks sprung up over the payment screen, which transitioned into a page with a message box. Above it was text that read, “Time to shoot your shot. Let Maria know just how you feel about her.🔥💋 You have 60 seconds to send your message.” Don blinked. The “60” was a countdown, and the amount of time went down with each second that passed. His mind went completely blank, and he searched for any kind of flirty one-liners he knew. 60 seconds turned into 45 seconds, then 30. He remembered he needed to tell Maria where he was so they could find each other. Where exactly was he? 15 seconds. Don panicked and started typing the first words that came to his mind. Two seconds. He pressed send.
Maria’s phone vibrated, drawing her attention from her computer screen. She picked the phone up from her desk to take a closer look. There was a notification from Spark that said, “New Potential On Demand Date.” Below it was a message from someone named Don: “Heyy hottie. Im here, in the back. Cant wait to finnly see that hot bod in person”. Maria shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She pressed the option on the screen that said “Decline” and set her phone back down.
She turned her attention back to her computer. On the screen was a digital painting of her parents holding each other close as they shared a dance on their wedding night. She had been working on editing the colors of the vibrant embroidered flowers on her mother’s dress, but couldn’t quite seem to find the right shades. She had been growing frustrated and increasingly distracted, but something about the disruption from her phone made her feel even less focused now. Her eyes wandered off the screen and she gazed out the window into the dark night.
Suddenly Maria’s phone rang, piercing through the silence of her studio apartment, making her jump. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was just her friend Candy calling her on FaceTime and she slid her finger across the screen to accept the call.
“Oh, shit, Candy, it’s just you,” Maria said.
“Umm…who else would I be?” replied Candy, who had her camera pointed up at an awkward angle below her chin and appeared to be calling while riding on the train. Then, “Girl, are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I signed up for this new On Demand Dating thing on Spark and I’ve been getting these creepy messages from guys saying, like, ‘I’m here.’ Like they’re outside my apartment or something. It’s fucking weird.” Maria gave a nervous laugh as she finished her thought.
“They’re probably just scammers,” Candy said. “I’ve heard that app is full of them. Don’t give them any personal information. They’ll steal all your money.”
“No, of course not. You’re probably right. Anyway, what’s up?”
“Oh, I was just calling to ask if you could tell Dr. Gondek, if she asks in class tomorrow, that I have the stomach flu. I’m definitely planning on being sick so I can finish my Art History paper before I go to this concert in the evening.”
“Uh, sure, why not? Hey, speaking of Gondek, have you finished your digital painting yet for that class?”
“Wha—? Oh. Yeah, that’s the other thing I need to do. Maybe tell her I have mono or something, actually. I’m gonna need more time to catch up with things… How is yours going?”
Maria didn’t bother to clarify whether Candy was serious or not about the change in her request. Her attention was focused again on the dissatisfying image on her computer. “Ugh, I don’t know,” she said. “I’m almost finished, but not really happy with it. The colors on a computer screen just aren’t the same as what I’m used to. I kinda just want to break out a canvas and my paint set and just do it the old fashioned way, you know?”
“That’s fair,” Candy said. “I mean I know why they’re having us learn digital methods, since it’s the way things are going, and it’s supposed to be easier, or whatever. But it can be a crude tool, for sure.”
“Yeah, and hella expensive too,” Maria replied.
She waited for a response, then realized that Candy’s video and audio had started to go in and out. “Candy?” she said. “I’m losing you…”
Then she caught a little bit from Candy: “…didn’t hear what…phone’s gonna die…left my damn charger in Evan’s car.”
“Oh, okay,” Maria said hurriedly. “Catch you later I guess. Maybe we could meet up on campus soon and talk more in per—” Before she could finish her sentence the call closed and she was left looking at the disorganized array of apps on her home screen.
Maria set her phone back down and got up to stretch her legs. She walked over to her window and gazed out. Her view was pretty well obscured by the apartment building next door, but she craned her neck to look down along the space between the buildings. There was no one in sight, though after a moment she thought she heard the metal gate round the back of her building swinging closed. Then a cool breeze blew through the open window, and the visceral feeling of the air against her skin stole her attention and seemed to rejuvenate her in some small way. She turned back towards her desk, tied her bleached blond hair up, and sat back down to give her work another try.
She had just started exploring color variations again when her phone buzzed. It was another notification from Spark: “You’ve used up your last potential On Demand Date. We miss you! Sign up for more dates today so you don’t miss out on eligible singles ready to date in your area.” Maria pressed a button to turn her phone screen back off, then set her eyes on her painting again. She tried a few more shades of red on the floral embroideries in the picture, but it still felt off. The clean digital finish just couldn’t match the rich textures of the dress she knew her mother had worn in real life. She sat back and shrugged.
Another buzz on her phone. It was Spark once again: “You’ve heard of get-rich-quick schemes, but what about find-love-quick schemes? 💖 Hint: Try On Demand Dating to find out more…😉” This time Maria gave in. She opened the app and clicked on a tab to check her list of messages. As she scrolled through them, her heart sank. As usual, it seemed to be an endless list of brief connections that went nowhere and creepy messages from men that she never responded to.
Then an ad for On Demand Dating popped up again. “Ready to get off dating apps for good? You could be just one date away from finding ✨THE ONE✨. Try On Demand Dating now.” Maria loathed the relentless marketing Spark used, but she couldn’t deny that the concept of the new feature had excited her more than anything else had in months. Since she had moved off campus to live by herself she had found it much harder to meet people she connected well with to date. And maybe just one date (with someone who wasn’t a scammer or a creep) would be enough to pick her up from the slump she had been feeling in with her life lately.
Her mind was made up. She moved her thumb over the ad and plunged it into the soft glow of the pixelated screen below.
<3 <3 <3