Page 83 of Swiped
Nat’s stomach lurched again. “But seriously,” she said, still searching for an answer. “I don’t even know her, and I’m not a mean girl . . . right?”
Thom shrugged and turned back to eyeing the crowd, as the twins maneuvered closer through the throngs of Buzzers. TheirTeam Natshirts had been abandoned. They both looked like deflated balloons.
“Well, that’s over with,” said Justin, giving her a half-hearted fist bump.
Jo managed a tight nod. “Our high numbers are holding and people love you on socials . . .”
Justin rolled his eyes. “They kinda love Thom more though. #HotThom is a thing.”
Thom frowned, as if in thought, but Nat could see his eyes light up.
Jo gave a forced grin. “So, hooray! Success!” She waved her fists in a tiny cheer.
Justin cleared his throat. “So, uh, did you see where Rami went off to, or have you talked to him, or anything?”
Even though she felt like she was standing in the middle of a dumpster fire, Nat had to smile at Justin’s attempt to be nonchalant now that she knew the twins had been rooting for Rami all along. She wished Thom wasn’t there so she could tell them that she needed to find him. Instead, she just shook her head and said, “Nope.”
Thom grinned and raised his glass. “To the woman of the hour!”
Justin and Jo gave thin smiles and raised their glasses.
Nat pulled out her phone. “One second . . .” she muttered. “I need to check something.”
As Thom clinked glasses with the twins, Nat wedged the champagne glass against her body and opened BeTwo — not the commercial version, but the one with developer settings that she could still poke around in. She had just consciously wished that Thom, her ninety-nine percent match, wasn’t around so she could go chase down a different guy — the guy she really wanted.
She had to run those numbers.
She did a quick search of the cached user data. And in a few seconds, there it was — Rami’s old profile. Her chest twinged as the words,My heart is a little tenderjumped out at her. She switched to God mode, clicked a few dev toggles, and ran a match between his profile and her profile.
The number flashed on her screen.
Thirteen percent.
Nat closed her eyes and smiled. They would have never been matched by her algorithm, not in a million swipes. And that was everything she needed to know.
“I’ve gotta go do something . . .” she said, slipping her glass of champagne into Thom’s hand. She shot Jo a reassuring glance and hurried off into the depths of the party.
* * *
Rami scanned the party crowd for Allison. She’d run out of the auditorium and onto the expo floor, and now she could be anywhere among the branded tees and stuffed backpacks of the opening party revelers.
He spotted her downing a cocktail at the bar.
He rushed over. “I’m so, so sorry. I should’ve told you about the kiss — kissing thing with Nat.”
Allison turned to him, and his heart sank to see that this time tears were indeed pooling in her eyes. “But you didn’t! You lied to me, even more than I already knew about.”
He noticed several crumpled up, tear-stained napkins in front of her. His doing. “Yes, I did.”
“It was really cruel of you to drag me through all of this when you liked Nat so much,” she said, her green eyes flashing. “Yes, I suspected it, but you seemed so clueless and you kept insisting that you hated her. And then you kissed her! While you started something with me.”
“I know,” Rami mumbled.
“Why did you do that?”
Rami ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “I don’t know. I can’t stop thinking about her but she’s also the embodiment of pretty much everything I hate, and you were, like, sweetness in human form.”
Allison scoffed. “First of all, I’m not that sweet, and neither are you, Rami.”
