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My thoughts of how I’m going to survive this indefinite amount of time alone are interrupted by a notification from my Tinder app.
Yes, we’re on quarantine. Yes, I reactivated my account out of pure boredom. And, yes, Drew’s one profile photo is smoking hot.
I hit Reply.
Day by day, as the world tries to stay healthy, we find creative ways to pass the time together. #alonetogether
We quickly find out that getting to know each other is the easy part; staying away from one another is the challenge.
When my phone goes off I don’t even look to see who it is when I answer by saying hello after I take a big bite of a banana.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Drew says all drawn out and slow.
I chew faster saying, “Hold on,” then swallow. “Sorry, I just took a bite of a banana.”
“Thinking of me were you?” he laughs.
“I said bite, not lick. I really hope you’re not into the whole biting thing because that may be a little out of my forte.”
I’m rewarded with my favorite thing about him. His throaty laugh.
“Hey, do you have plans tonight?” he asks and I instantly laugh out loud.
“Well, first I was going to march in the woman’s rights parade, and then I’m so excited to go to see my favorite band tonight. There’s going to be thousands of people and mosh pits and just crowds everywhere. I’d offer for you to come but”—I sigh—“sorry, it’s sold out.”
“Damn, and I really wanted to be in a mosh pit tonight. I hear that’s the absolute best way to get this virus. Especially if the people next to you are screaming and singing along having spit fly out of their mouth. That, mixed with their sweat and literally being on top of each other, sounds like my dream night.”
I can’t stop my giggling. I love that he plays along with my sarcastic ways.
“But serious. I’d like to take you on a date, quarantine style,” he says.
“Quarantine style? Why does that freak me out?”
“I have an idea but…” he drawls out his last word.
“There’s always a but…” I tease. “Nothing’s ever too good to be true.”
“I’d have to get your address. I promise I won’t want to come in or even come close to you. I just…Well, it’s a surprise.”
“So let’s see. You want to take me on a quarantine date that contains a surprise and butts…”
See, I told you I have the maturity level of my students.
“Okay, maybe not butts. We’ll save that for later.”
I sigh dramatically. “Fine. You just took the best part out but I guess it will do.”
I give him my address and we agree to six o’clock though I have no idea what I just agreed to.
Six o’clock rolls around and I nervously tap my fingers on my counter, wondering what this date will look like.
The ring activates on my front porch and when I open the app I see Drew walking up to my porch. He has something in his hand but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is. I wait for him to ring the doorbell so I don’t come off too eager but he doesn't.
Instead he places whatever he’s holding down on my front porch and walks away. I stare into my phone closer to see what’s going on as he walks down my front steps and to his car that appears to still be running.
He places his hands in his pockets and the video hits its time limit and shuts off.
Damn video!
I run to my front door and look out the peephole. He doesn't move but just stands there like he’s waiting for something.
Did he see my ring? Is he expecting for me to come to the door without actually knocking?
I bite my lip in thought but before I can make a decision I see another car come to the driveway. The sign on top of the car shows a local pizza place.
Drew talks to the guy and I watch as he hands him one of the packages out of his bag. Drew grabs something out of his car, hands it to the guy then points to the door saying something else. The guy nods, taking the other part of the delivery to me.
“Should I knock?” I hear the guy ask from behind the door.
I laugh as I hear Drew yell, “Yeah. I’m sure she’s sitting there watching us right now through her ring.”
I stand up straight, holding my head high.
Ah, not this girl. Little does he know I’m going old school and peeping on him through the peephole and not all high tech with my ring.
The guy knocks and I stand still for a few seconds before stomping my feet as if I’m walking to the door.
When I open it I give my most surprised face to see him standing there and then try to act even more surprised when I see Drew off in the distance.
I wave at him then ask, “What’s this?” I take the food from the guy.
He walks off and turns to Drew. “Hey, good luck man.”
Drew smirks then looks back to me. “I bought you dinner. That’s the first part of our date.”
The smile on my face starts to hurt my cheeks it’s so big.
“What’s in the bag?” I ask, motioning to the item Drew gave the delivery boy.
“That's for later. Oh, and I brought you something else too.” He points to the ground and I instantly crack up laughing.
Sitting at my feet is what looks like plastic wrap that would go around flowers but instead it’s wrapped around toilet paper that’s made to resemble flowers.
I look up at him. “You did not!”
He grins and shrugs. “I figured that was more appropriate nowadays than actual flowers.”
“So you did mean to include butts!” I yell.
His head drops to his chest and I can see his shoulders bouncing with laughter. “Okay, fine. I did. Go get set up and I’ll call you when I get back to my place but wait to eat so we can eat together.”
“You got it,” I say. He smiles and jogs around to the side of his car. “Oh, Drew.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
His expression lights up as he nods his head and hops in his car.
I head back inside and open my meal to see he got me raviolis with a meat sauce and garlic bread as well as a house salad. I plate my food and set up my phone incase he wants to Facetime. I mean—this is a date after all.
While I wait I cheat and take a peek at what’s in the bag he gave the deliveryman. I close my eyes while chuckling to myself when I see some microwave popcorn, Red Vines and Peanut M&Ms. This must be a dinner and a movie date.
My phone rings and I see it’s Drew dialing Facetime. I click the green button and smile as his face comes in to view.
“Hi,” he says waving to the camera. I can see he’s set up in his room with his plate on his lap.
“Thank you so much for dinner.” I motion to the spread in front of me.
“I hope I made the right choice. I’m sorry I didn’t check first, but I was afraid it would ruin the surprise. My Mom said you can’t go wrong with raviolis so I went with her suggestion.”
I try to hide the grin spreading across my face. “You asked your Mom?”
He chuckles under his breath. “Yes, okay, I did. She thought it was a cute idea, too,” he says sitting up straighter like he’s proud of the praise he got. “Do you have a drink?” he asks searching around the screen.
I hold up my White Claw. “Sure do.”
He holds up his beer and we pretend to cheers then dive into the yummy food in front of us as we talk about our day and other things.
After dinner I ask, “So what did you have in mind with what’s in the bag?” I hold it up for him to see.
“You have Netflix right?” he asks.
“Yeah…” I say, slightly confused.
“We’re going to Netflix and chill,” he says shrugging his shoulders.
I let out a sharp laugh. “You do realize what the chill part actually means, right?”
His sexy grin makes my heart pound. “Yes, but in our quarantine times it literally means just chill. If I ask you to, though, you have to pretend that I just threw some popcorn at you.”
“Deal.”
“And that I’m holding your hand throughout the movie, okay? Maybe even wrapping my arm around you?”
“Will I get a kiss goodnight too?” I ask.
He holds up his hands in front of his face. “Whoa, whoa now. Don’t move too fast, we just met.” He can barely hold his expression from falling into laughter.
“Okay, Drew. Let’s Netflix and chill.”
“You can pick the movie if you want.”
I bring my shoulders up to my ears in excitement. “This date just got even better! Romance anyone?”
He smiles and nods. “Romance it is.”
Yes, we’re on quarantine. Yes, I reactivated my account out of pure boredom. And, yes, Drew’s one profile photo is smoking hot.
I hit Reply.
Day by day, as the world tries to stay healthy, we find creative ways to pass the time together. #alonetogether
We quickly find out that getting to know each other is the easy part; staying away from one another is the challenge.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Drew says all drawn out and slow.
I chew faster saying, “Hold on,” then swallow. “Sorry, I just took a bite of a banana.”
“Thinking of me were you?” he laughs.
“I said bite, not lick. I really hope you’re not into the whole biting thing because that may be a little out of my forte.”
I’m rewarded with my favorite thing about him. His throaty laugh.
“Hey, do you have plans tonight?” he asks and I instantly laugh out loud.
“Well, first I was going to march in the woman’s rights parade, and then I’m so excited to go to see my favorite band tonight. There’s going to be thousands of people and mosh pits and just crowds everywhere. I’d offer for you to come but”—I sigh—“sorry, it’s sold out.”
“Damn, and I really wanted to be in a mosh pit tonight. I hear that’s the absolute best way to get this virus. Especially if the people next to you are screaming and singing along having spit fly out of their mouth. That, mixed with their sweat and literally being on top of each other, sounds like my dream night.”
I can’t stop my giggling. I love that he plays along with my sarcastic ways.
“But serious. I’d like to take you on a date, quarantine style,” he says.
“Quarantine style? Why does that freak me out?”
“I have an idea but…” he drawls out his last word.
“There’s always a but…” I tease. “Nothing’s ever too good to be true.”
“I’d have to get your address. I promise I won’t want to come in or even come close to you. I just…Well, it’s a surprise.”
“So let’s see. You want to take me on a quarantine date that contains a surprise and butts…”
See, I told you I have the maturity level of my students.
“Okay, maybe not butts. We’ll save that for later.”
I sigh dramatically. “Fine. You just took the best part out but I guess it will do.”
I give him my address and we agree to six o’clock though I have no idea what I just agreed to.
•••
Six o’clock rolls around and I nervously tap my fingers on my counter, wondering what this date will look like.
The ring activates on my front porch and when I open the app I see Drew walking up to my porch. He has something in his hand but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is. I wait for him to ring the doorbell so I don’t come off too eager but he doesn't.
Instead he places whatever he’s holding down on my front porch and walks away. I stare into my phone closer to see what’s going on as he walks down my front steps and to his car that appears to still be running.
He places his hands in his pockets and the video hits its time limit and shuts off.
Damn video!
I run to my front door and look out the peephole. He doesn't move but just stands there like he’s waiting for something.
Did he see my ring? Is he expecting for me to come to the door without actually knocking?
I bite my lip in thought but before I can make a decision I see another car come to the driveway. The sign on top of the car shows a local pizza place.
Drew talks to the guy and I watch as he hands him one of the packages out of his bag. Drew grabs something out of his car, hands it to the guy then points to the door saying something else. The guy nods, taking the other part of the delivery to me.
“Should I knock?” I hear the guy ask from behind the door.
I laugh as I hear Drew yell, “Yeah. I’m sure she’s sitting there watching us right now through her ring.”
I stand up straight, holding my head high.
Ah, not this girl. Little does he know I’m going old school and peeping on him through the peephole and not all high tech with my ring.
The guy knocks and I stand still for a few seconds before stomping my feet as if I’m walking to the door.
When I open it I give my most surprised face to see him standing there and then try to act even more surprised when I see Drew off in the distance.
I wave at him then ask, “What’s this?” I take the food from the guy.
He walks off and turns to Drew. “Hey, good luck man.”
Drew smirks then looks back to me. “I bought you dinner. That’s the first part of our date.”
The smile on my face starts to hurt my cheeks it’s so big.
“What’s in the bag?” I ask, motioning to the item Drew gave the delivery boy.
“That's for later. Oh, and I brought you something else too.” He points to the ground and I instantly crack up laughing.
Sitting at my feet is what looks like plastic wrap that would go around flowers but instead it’s wrapped around toilet paper that’s made to resemble flowers.
I look up at him. “You did not!”
He grins and shrugs. “I figured that was more appropriate nowadays than actual flowers.”
“So you did mean to include butts!” I yell.
His head drops to his chest and I can see his shoulders bouncing with laughter. “Okay, fine. I did. Go get set up and I’ll call you when I get back to my place but wait to eat so we can eat together.”
“You got it,” I say. He smiles and jogs around to the side of his car. “Oh, Drew.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
His expression lights up as he nods his head and hops in his car.
I head back inside and open my meal to see he got me raviolis with a meat sauce and garlic bread as well as a house salad. I plate my food and set up my phone incase he wants to Facetime. I mean—this is a date after all.
While I wait I cheat and take a peek at what’s in the bag he gave the deliveryman. I close my eyes while chuckling to myself when I see some microwave popcorn, Red Vines and Peanut M&Ms. This must be a dinner and a movie date.
My phone rings and I see it’s Drew dialing Facetime. I click the green button and smile as his face comes in to view.
“Hi,” he says waving to the camera. I can see he’s set up in his room with his plate on his lap.
“Thank you so much for dinner.” I motion to the spread in front of me.
“I hope I made the right choice. I’m sorry I didn’t check first, but I was afraid it would ruin the surprise. My Mom said you can’t go wrong with raviolis so I went with her suggestion.”
I try to hide the grin spreading across my face. “You asked your Mom?”
He chuckles under his breath. “Yes, okay, I did. She thought it was a cute idea, too,” he says sitting up straighter like he’s proud of the praise he got. “Do you have a drink?” he asks searching around the screen.
I hold up my White Claw. “Sure do.”
He holds up his beer and we pretend to cheers then dive into the yummy food in front of us as we talk about our day and other things.
After dinner I ask, “So what did you have in mind with what’s in the bag?” I hold it up for him to see.
“You have Netflix right?” he asks.
“Yeah…” I say, slightly confused.
“We’re going to Netflix and chill,” he says shrugging his shoulders.
I let out a sharp laugh. “You do realize what the chill part actually means, right?”
His sexy grin makes my heart pound. “Yes, but in our quarantine times it literally means just chill. If I ask you to, though, you have to pretend that I just threw some popcorn at you.”
“Deal.”
“And that I’m holding your hand throughout the movie, okay? Maybe even wrapping my arm around you?”
“Will I get a kiss goodnight too?” I ask.
He holds up his hands in front of his face. “Whoa, whoa now. Don’t move too fast, we just met.” He can barely hold his expression from falling into laughter.
“Okay, Drew. Let’s Netflix and chill.”
“You can pick the movie if you want.”
I bring my shoulders up to my ears in excitement. “This date just got even better! Romance anyone?”
He smiles and nods. “Romance it is.”
Lauren is a graduate from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and is the founder and co-owner of the community magazine she and her husband publish. She is a proud Rotarian, helps run a local non-profit kids science museum, and was awarded Woman of the Year from Congressman Garamendi. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons.
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