Page 33 of Malliko
“We’ll split the bill,” Clara insisted but I wouldn’t hear of it.
As we left the restaurant, and walked down the alley towards Main Street, I asked her, “How do you want to start? Do you want to create a profile, or should we go to a sex club together?”
Brushing her long dark hair back she answered while looking straight ahead. “I wanna start slow. Let me look at some profiles tonight and then we can go over them tomorrow.”
The prospect of getting insights excited me. “Can I be part of the selection process?”
“Only if you want to.”
“I would love to be part ofeverything.”
Giving me a sideways glance, she arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean by everything? You were pretty specific that you didn't want to sleep with me.”
We rounded the corner and slid in between other pedestrians when I looked down at her. “Everything besides that.”
She gave me a small smile. “Okay, Malliko, then you have yourself a deal. You’ll be my guardian and I’ll be brave and explorative.”
Returning her smile with an even bigger one, I felt thrilled. This was definitely what my professors meant when they explained about field research, and for the first time since getting the assignment from the captain of the research ship, I was truly excited about my research project.
CHAPTER 10
Open Relationship
Clara
With my decision to live adventurously, I went home from work and created a profile on an app competing with Go2Match. Taking a photo was the hardest part because I didn’t like how I looked in any of them.
Where did my jawline go?I wondered as I moved my phone to find the best angle and softest light.
Writing a profile text was tricky but I came up with a line or two and was hard pressed when I had to write my height and weight.
When I was finally ready to press publish, I sat for a moment with my thumb hovering above my screen and my heart beating much too fast.
What if someone recognizes me on the app?
What if no one likes me back?
Before my head could spin out of control and I could talk myself out of creating the profile, I pushed publish and sat back staring at my phone.
A picture popped up of a man that had to be older than my grandfather and so I quickly swiped left.
All night, I sat glued to my phone swiping left and right and getting an adrenaline kick every time a sweet sound told me I had a match.
Chatting with different men, I ended up with three of them inviting me on a date to test our chemistry.
The next day, I met with Malliko for lunch again and presented him with the profiles I was most inclined to meet.
“These three are all interesting and I don’t know who to pick.”
“Who do you want to kiss the most?” he asked and swiped over their pictures.
“Maybe this guy.” I showed him Evan, who was a thirty-eight-year-old real estate agent who had been fun and cheeky when we chatted last night. “He’s into curvy women and loved my picture.”
Malliko looked from the screen and to my body. “Hmm.”
It made me insecure and so I snatched the phone back and made a snarky remark. “Not every man is into supermodels, you know.”
Malliko stayed quiet while I continued explaining, “Evan asked if I could meet him for a drink after work. I told him I’m in an open relationship and he was okay with that.”
