(Not Quite) An Autobiography

Friday again (1)

Waking had been hard. Getting to the office on time without getting killed on the road had been almost impossible. Dealing with Ugly Fat Colleague's blathering had been a nightmare and required a lot of silent nodding.

Objectively, Henry looked like shit this morning. He couldn't do the math but he obviously didn't get enough sleep. But it was the kind of fatigue that you couldn't regret, that you had to embrace, that felt good despite the heavy lids on burning eyes. A fatigue that came with vivid memories that kept Henry from standing up more than once before the end of the day.

Furthermore, today was Friday. A few hours of bullet biting and he would have all the time in the world to rest. Or not.

At noon, he bought a salad at the nearby supermarket and came back to eat at his desk, intending to doze a few minutes afterward. Henry was about to, ready to take back the position every kid had taken during long and boring classes, careless of what his colleagues would think, when something made him connect to the dating site. It was the exact same impulse as when he was connecting on Facebook. He had no real reason, nor did he really care, and he would surely conclude that it had been a complete waste of time after all, but he had to check anyway.

But this time he was wrong.

ByeFelicia had visited his profile again. Henry checked hers, and there she was, marked as "on line". He hesitated for a while, curiosity fighting tiredness. Staring at her picture, barely blinking, he found her beautiful but knew she was too young. And too far away. So he surprised himself when he opened the message board and typed:

Hey Gorgeous!

He stared at the screen again. For too long. Come on! Who are you trying to fool? Of course she's not going to answer you, you old geezer...

He went back to the home page, ready to give up the site and give in to fatigue. The red notification appeared on a corner of the window, a tiny white envelope with a red "1" on it. Henry clicked, feeling stupid for holding his breath.

And like that, it started.

*

ByeFelicia: Hi! JustAnotherGuy is quite a strange name.

A blinking smiley followed. Before Henry could even think of any reply, another message appeared.

ByeFelicia: My name is not "Felicia". It's actually Anais.

Henry took a look at the clock on the screen. It was already late, lunch break was almost over, but he couldn't not answer...

JustAnotherGuy: Hi Anais! I'm Henry.

He winced typing his old-school name. But she didn't seem to care.

ByeFelicia: Ha! It's embarrassing to admit I used such a silly fake name... How are you Henry ?

JustAnotherGuy: What about MY pseudo? But who cares? On the internet, you have this kind of right. And I'm good actually, talking to such a lovely girl!

ByeFelicia: It's a good thing you can't see me blushing.

JustAnotherGuy: On the contrary, I'd love to see that!

ByeFelicia: I think you are beautiful.

What just happened?

ByeFelicia: Maybe it's weird to call a man beautiful but, if the shoe fits!

Henry felt a little bit unbalanced. He had nothing against women hitting on men, but he was definitely not used to it. He was close to being the one to blush. Once again, ByFelicia... Anais didn't wait for his answer.

ByeFelicia: Tell me about yourself, Henry!

JustAnotherGuy: What do you want to know ? And note that I'll have one question for each you ask !

ByeFelicia: I want to know a lot of things! First question, what do you do for fun?

He smiled at the question. He started to like the girl. Anyone else (Henry included) would asked what he did for a living. Maybe it was because she was so young (Fuck! She was more than ten years younger!), but Henry had the feeling it was not the case. She was genuinely more interrested in him than in how he was spending eight to ten hours a day to pay the bills. As if a job, boring for 90% of the population would define a person...

Hubbub across the open space made him look around. People were starting to come back from lunch. Time was running out.

JustAnotherGuy: I'm afraid I'll have to go in a minute... I'm at work.

ByeFelicia: Sure, no problem. I'll see you around then.

JustAnotherGuy: I'll answer your question anyway. I'm kind of a geek so TV shows, movies, videogames or comics are good when I'm alone. With friend, evening in restaurants or bars... With a lady... Sex of course!

Anais's answer (a blinking emoji) and Johanna appeared at the same time.

JustAnotherGuy: Bye Anais. I hope we'll talk again soon.

He closed the dating site window without waiting for her answer. The last thing he wanted was for Ugly Fat Colleague to see what he was doing. He sighed as he remembered how tired he was and resumed doing what he was bored to do eight to ten hours a day to pay the bills.