Page 1 of Unwrap Me

1

Desire.

The app glows on my screen in the darkness of the night. Face after face lights up my phone as I flip through the profiles, choosing the heart or the ‘X’ next to each man’s picture. Either I tap the heart, kicking off an automated message sent to them, reading‘Noelle just sent you a heart!’or tapping the ‘X’ to prevent them from reaching out.

Dating in the modern world.

Each profile looks the same. A mid-twenties man smiling widely at the camera, every third one with a fish in front of his chest.

Why did I download this app again?

And why so many fish?

When I swipe again, I’m met with a man bundled up in winter gear, posing next to a snowboard. Another common occurrence on these apps.

I groan, seconds away from throwing my phone on the bed and giving up on the dating scene, when I swipe my thumb one more time.

Wow.

He’s not holding a fish. Or a snowboard.

The man on my screen looks old enough to be my father, with salt-and-pepper hair and a matching beard. He’s wearing a deep crimson red suit with a white dress shirt, no tie, the first few buttons left undone. A spattering of dark hair peeks out from the top of his chest and his mouth is partially opened, his cheeks lifted like he’s mid laugh.

Immediately, I’m flooded with visions of his head between my legs, imagining the feeling of his beard rubbing against my thighs.

I bet he gives amazing head.

His profile reads:Chris, 49in bold letters, and then below is a list of his interests. The ones that match mine have a little green check mark next to them and the ones that don’t have a red circle with a line through it. Except, there are no red circles warning me away. It’s all check marks, our interests aligning perfectly.

Dom. Check.

Bondage. Check.

Impact play. Check.

Oral. Check.

Anal. Check.

Humiliation. Check.

Roleplaying. Check.

A shiver rolls down my spine as my finger hovers over the heart icon. Once we match, the app will let me select each one of those options and dive deeper into the details.Am I really doing this?No. I mean, definitely not. Right? He’s old enough to be my father! Another vision flashes behind my eyes, this one of my mother meeting him at Christmas dinner. Laughter bubbles up in my chest. My mother’s perfect face pinched up and uncomfortable as she shakes the man’s hand. She wouldhateit. Which only seems to make me want to do it more.

Not that I came on this app to actually meet someone. I told myself as I waited for it to download that this was just for fun.

But sexisfun…

I lick my lips, staring at the screen as if it might give me an answer.

Fuck it.

Before I can overthink it, I tap my finger on the heart and watch as confetti bursts on the screen and text appears, reading ‘You’re a match!’Below it, two options appear: ‘Say Hi!’or ‘Keep Looking’.

Again, I act. My body takes over as my finger taps ‘Say Hi!’And then I’m typing a message, not even pausing to spell check before I hit send.

Noelle

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