on the screen in front of him.
Madison S. Hi
Madison S. It looks like we’re in the same neighborhood.
Connor was surprised. He didn’t even realize that chatting this way was enabled on his account. Madison…he mulled the name over in his mind, and then clicked on the link to her profile. She was beautiful, as far as the pictures showed, which he knew could be very deceptive.
She had thick natural-looking blonde hair that hung down her back, a sun kissed face, and a smile that seemed genuine. He got a good feeling off her right away. He went to the next photo, she was in running clothes at the end of a race, another darker haired girl stood next to her and they both smiled out at the camera. Connor reopened the message.
Connor T. Hello
He had no idea what to say…mention the weather? Look for things in common? Everything seemed terribly silly at the moment.
Connor T. Nice to meet you
He cringed. This was much harder than he thought it should be. But, what do you say to a complete stranger? I like your photo, maybe it’s love?
Madison S. Do you work in Ellicott City?
He thought for a moment.
Connor T. Yes, I work from home mostly.
That was roughly the truth.
Madison S. Nice! I imagine it would be difficult to get things done from home.
Connor T. It can be
There was a pause, she didn’t appear to be writing anything new and he didn’t know what else to say.
Connor T. Maybe we could meet somewhere? Get a drink?
Too soon? Shouldn’t he have made more of an effort at conversation?
Madison S. That would be nice
Connor T. Tomorrow night?
Madison S. Sounds good, I have to check my schedule so I will confirm later tonight if that suits?
Connor T. Great, I look forward to hearing from you soon.
He sat staring at the computer screen biting his thumbnail. So, he’d just set himself up on a date…and he didn’t feel weird about it at all, in fact he was excited. He waited for another minute until he saw her message read, offline . Then he logged out, thinking it might not look good for him to just be hanging out online waiting for her confirmation. He would wait a few hours then check back in.
Chapter 7
Madison had just walked in from her run when her phone rang. She brushed sweat off her forehead and the side of her face with the bottom of her shirt then answered.
Madison smiled, “Just couldn’t live without me, huh?”
“You sound good,” Ana commented.
“I just got back from a run.”
“Ahh, the endorphins.” Ana paused, “What are you doing tomorrow night?”
Out of context Madison had to think about it, “Nothing I guess, why?”
“You have to go to the Judges Bench tomorrow at seven.”
“How do you even know about the Judges Bench?” Madison leaned back against the wall. This was strange behavior even for Ana. “What’s happening?”
“You’re going on a date.”
“With who?” Madison didn’t understand, a friend of a friend’s, or someone they’d known from college?
“I thought I would take one more look for you on that dating site…and I found a good one. Tall, handsome, dark brown hair, greenish hazel eyes.”
“I don’t follow. You found the perfect guy? Where? On what site?”
“On your site, I just logged in…”
“ You logged in? Did you join just so you could impersonate me?”
“No, I logged into your account—I thought I might have more insight into the right guy for you…and since you were going to cancel it anyway…”
“I don’t understand. How did you log into my account?”
“With your password,” Ana said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“How did you know my password?”
Ana was silent and Madison could picture the look she must be giving the phone right now. “It wasn’t hard to guess Madison, you’ve used the same one since the Internet was invented.”
Madison put the phone down and rushed over to her computer and