After about three years of dating exclusively through the internet (apps and Reddit), I was a little skeptical when my friend offered to set me up with a friend of his. The fact that he’d dated a while back was also a little funny to me, but he genuinely believed we’d make a better match than he ever did and encouraged me to give it a shot.
She and I traded texts for a few days, until finally agreeing to meet at a New Orleans-themed bar in downtown. I wasn’t surprised to find it mostly empty on a Sunday evening, save for a few groups of hardcore Sunday Fundayers raging against the dying of the weekend. When Jess (we’ll call her) finally arrived, I was really impressed; my buddy had said she was cute, but I’d expected it to be a euphemism for “okay.” But cute was the perfect description — she was petite (at about 5’3″), with short hair and an adorable smile.