it?â
âThatâs kinda creepy if you ask me,â Coco said, cringing.
âFine, so youâll look the other way till I make sure itâs not a snuff tape or porn or something.â I peeled off the sticker and put the tape in the camera.
I looked into the large rectangle viewfinder.
And thatâs when it happened. Everything led up to this moment. The dating site challenge from Coco. Me deciding to buy a camera. The intriguing ad. The follow-through of buying the camera, and actually picking it up. Everything aligned to bring me to this impossible moment of such possibility.
Click the pic to watch the video:
If you didnât check it out, hereâs what it said:
Hey. I know this might seem kinda crazy, but I purposely left this tape for you.
Well, I hope itâs you. Let me explain. I believe my match is out there somewhere, I just havenât found her in any of the usual places. But why would I find an unusual girl in a usual way?
So Iâm inviting you on a treasure hunt. Not that Iâm the treasure or anything, but maybe we are. If you look closely, Iâve put clues on this tape and Iâve also planted clues throughout Los Angeles, and on the internet, too. So. If you believe in destiny like I do, and you think thereâs even a remote possibility weâre meant to be together, then find me Iâm yours.
Oh yeah, and let me assure you, I donât have a criminal record or anything, and the only woman in my life is, well⦠her. [Looks at his dog.]
And one more thing. I may have put this tape in three different cameras I sold, so⦠first person to find me in fourteen days on Thursday at noon, Iâll know youâre the one. So what do you say? Are you in? I canât wait to meet you.
I couldnât move. Couldnât say a word. It was like those nightmares Iâve had where Iâm in a car that plunges off the road into the ocean, and I canât even scream as it slowly sinks down to the bottom. Then I use every ounce of will in my being to roll down the window, escape, swim up to the surface and GASP for air.
Except this gasp was me shouting âWHAT THE FUCK?!?!â
âThatâs pretty whack,â our coworker Jeff called out from the cubicle next to ours on the left.
âTotally crazy,â Coco added.
I was quiet for a bit, considering every possibility.
âThereâs no way anyone I know could have done thisâlike Jason.â I was actually hoping he
was
the one behind it.
âHe didnât know you were buying a camera,â Coco said. âNo one did except me.â
âItâs got to be real. I mean, the guyâs destiny ad totally set me up for this! And he looks totally legit.â
âI donât knowâ¦â I could see in her eyes that Coco was mistrusting it. But I wasnât about to have this incredible moment popped and deflated by her rampant skepticism.
âYou have to admitâitâs a brilliant idea,â I said. âOH and did I mention heâs completely HOT?! This is CRAZY!!!â
âExactly. So youâre not gonna fall for it, right?â
Pop. Deflate.
âWhat do you mean, Coco? Hereâs a key to everything Iâve ever wanted and Iâm just gonna throw it into the trash? Cuz it MIGHT not open the right door? Thatâs fucked up.â
âAgree,â Maya called out from the great divide.
âOK guys,â Coco said, âprivate conversation here.â If Maya had agreed with her and not me, Coco wouldnât have said that.
âSeriously,â she continued, âhavenât you seen
Catfish
on MTV?â
âA couple of times.â
âSo youâve seen how that dudeâwhat the fuck is his name?â
âNev,â another of our coworkers called out.
âExactly.â Coco answered. âSo you know the show is based on this doc Nev made where he meets some child prodigy artist online who