Chapter 1: Getting Back in the Game
"Tyler, yo Tyler, wait up man!" a lanky blonde kid calls out in the hallway as students shuffle about. A few teachers pop their heads out of class rooms to close the door, all looking annoyed.
Tyler sighs, turns to face his eccentric friend, and says, "You were late again, Peter." Peter and Tyler meet every morning to walk to their chemistry lab together, but the former was never on time. By contrast, Tyler was never late for anything.
"I have a good reason this time!" Peter assures Tyler, slowing to a walk as he approaches.
"You always do," Tyler responds, running a hand through his messy black hair. He fixes his brown eyes on Peter as they continue down the hallway and notices that his friend is shaking with anticipation. "What is it this time?"
"Okay, do you remember last week when you said that Tinder was stupid?"
"Yes. If this is about another dating app you can save your breath." Tyler rolls his eyes for emphasis.
"No! Well... it is, but you have to check this one out!"
"Let me guess, you swipe up and down, rather than left and right?"
"Come on, Tyler. At least let me tell you about it." Tyler rolls his eyes again and nods for Peter to continue, realizing there is no avoiding this one. "It's called destiny dating, which is already cool, but this app doesn't involve any swiping!"
"Wow, that's revolutionary. They should get a medal or something."
"It only pairs you with a few people, literally one or two at a time," Peter continues, ignoring Tyler completely. "Supposedly, it narrows the list down to people that you are destined to be with. Isn't that romantic?"
"I mean, it's better than showing you 1,000 pictures and having you rate them," Tyler admits. "How is it supposed to know who you are destined to be with though?"
"I think it's the questions it asks you when you set up the profile."
"I think it's a marketing gimmick that you fell for."
"Tyler, you have to do something. It has been a year since you and Carla split up man." Peter sighs and shakes his head.
Tyler stops in the doorway of their chemistry lab, causing Peter to crash into his overloaded backpack. "Why?" Tyler asks in a pained voice. "Why do you always have to remind me?"
Tyler's mind is flooded with memories that he wishes he could forget. Carla was his life. They met in high school freshmen year, and the two of them were inseparable after that for the next for years.
Carla wanted to end things when she got accepted to Harvard to study psychology. Not wanting to lose her, Tyler worked his way into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study chemical engineering in the same city. They were together another year before Carla claimed they were drifting apart.
She asked for a break. A break isn't a breakup, but Tyler has not heard from her since the day that the break started. Even though they promised to stay in touch and stay friends, none of Tyler's calls are returned.
"I'm sorry man, she isn't going to just call you and want to pick up where you left off," Peter's sympathetic voice breaks Tyler's train of thought. Tyler feels his friend place a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's talk about this later..." Tyler glances at the line starting to form behind them.
Chemistry lab is a blur. Fortunately, it is Peter's turn to lead the experiment. Tyler can barely handle handing him the correct compounds with Carla on his mind: two glass beakers are dropped on the black epoxy-resin table and brown vinyl floor.
Even while grabbing a late breakfast after lab, Tyler's mind is stuck in the past. He hardly tastes his food. After he forces down a plate of cafeteria eggs, he stands up to stumble to his dorm room and mope around.
"Hey, Tyler, come on man, please?" Peter begs before Tyler can leave. "You get like this once or twice a week. Can you at least try to move on?"
"What's the name of it again?" Tyler asks to appease his worried friend.
"Destiny dating, I think it will be good for you," Peter assures him.
"Maybe..." Tyler says with a sigh. "I'll download it and look at it. No promises though."
Walking away before Peter can say anything else, Tyler pays particular attention to his shoes on the way back up to his dorm room. The small rectangular room is mostly bare; only a few posters with chemistry puns and one window decorate the cinderblock walls. Thin grey carpet lays underneath a simple wooden bed and dresser, but there is hardly any other furniture.
He grumbles about his friend being a meddling fool and lays face down on his bed. Tears flow from his eyes and dampen his pillow, and he drifts into a restless sleep.
***
Suddenly, Carla is there. Her short brown hair tickles Tyler's nose as she curls up into his arms. Her warmth radiates through his entire body, but she pulls his arm around her shoulders as if she is cold.
"Ty, I've had the worst day. I need your cuddles," she whispers.
"What happened?" Tyler asks, pulling Carla into an embrace. Her body fits perfectly against his, like they were designed to lay together.
"I had to go to class, and you weren't there..." Carla squeezes Tyler's hand.
A grin spreads across Tyler's face as he caresses her shoulder. Everything is perfect. Then, an alarm blares in his ear.
***
Jolting awake, Tyler realizes that he is alone in his room. Dreams always have a way of ending too quickly, and this one makes his heart snap like a dead, shriveled twig being stepped on.
Turning off the alarm, Tyler climbs out of bed to attend his remaining classes for the day. Staying busy makes him forget that he is dead on the inside. During classes he can feel needed, wanted, and alive.
Tyler doesn't return to his dorm until late at night. After all, it is a Friday. Weekends, the usual source of joy and freedom for students, is an interruption of this distraction for him. Minutes into his two days of rest, Tyler is consumed with loneliness.
"Fine," he says to no one in particular. "I'll try it."
Whipping out his phone, Tyler clicks on the App Store and searches for the dating app that Peter begged him to look at. Two adjoining rings, with the overlapping segment made to look like an eye, is the icon for the app. Something about it makes Tyler uneasy, but he downloads it anyway.
Minutes later, he opens it to arrive at a home screen. "Welcome to Destiny Dating, the app that connects you with the one you are destined to be with," reads across the page in large block-letters.
Rolling his eyes, Tyler clicks on a button to create a new account. A basic questionnaire pops up; Tyler sighs and gets busy filling it out:
Name- Tyler Thompkins
Age- 20
Hair Color- black
Eye Color- brown
After a few questions, Tyler hits the next button and mentally prepares for more detailed questions. "Loading..." reads on his screen for so long that he begins to wonder if the app froze. Fortunately, the screen changes as Tyler moves his thumb to close the app.
"What? Already?" Tyler exclaims as the app shows a profile of what it claims to be his only match. "I didn't even answer any questions! This is a rip off!"
Throwing his phone in frustration, Tyler weeps into his hands. He doesn't usually cry, but for some reason he got his hopes up for this new dating app. His emotional energy is drained, and he falls asleep before his head can find the pillow.
Waking up while it's still dark, Tyler checks the time on his phone. His eyes are drawn to a couple notifications from destiny dating. Despite having only one matching profile, he has two missed messages from someone named Dani.
"Hey, looks like we matched!" reads the first.
"Hello? Tyler? Are you there?" the second message asks.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
shadowdrake27
shadowdrake27 Hey everyone, I am new to this app. This is my first story here, although I have written for fun elsewhere. I just want to practice writing and have fun with it. Please, leave some feedback so that I can improve.
Seriously, I would love to hear your thoughts. This prompt isn’t perfect for me, but I am excited to try a new style and genre that I usually avoid. Any feedback, even negative stuff, is helpful.
This chapter might be slow. I am really just trying to introduce the main character.
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