Her mouth falls open; clearly, that’s not something she thought about. But if I go along with this, how will I explain not being able to put photos up?
“If you don’t give us your phone, then I’ll just use mine,” Emma calls out.
“Aubs,” I plead with her.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out. Then you can just delete it when you leave,” she assures me, and I finally hand over my phone after hesitating for a minute.
Aubrey doesn’t hand over my phone, instead she takes the cord from Emma to plug it into the TV. Going to the App Store, she downloads one of the dating apps.
“Girl. Seriously? You’ve never downloaded any of these? The pool of men in North Dakota must be shockingly good.” Evelyn nudges me with her elbow when I sit next to her on the couch.
“Yeah, wasn’t bad. I had a serious boyfriend though,” I lie quickly, trying to stick as close to the truth as I can.
“Oh, that explains the aversion to relationships.” Emma eyes me. “Are you sure you’re not into my brother? You two honestly seem like two peas in a pod.”
I nearly choke on her question. If only she knew I already propositioned him and was turned down.
“Oh my God! Sheisinto him!” Violet points to me.
“My son is very handsome. Looks a lot like his Daddy did back in the day. You’re a smart girl.” Anna pats my knee.
“No! I mean yes, he is, but no interest here. He’s my landlord!” My face heats, and it has to be bright red.
“Leave her alone or we won’t get to have our fun!” Emma says, typing in my name.
“Can we do a fake name?” I ask. When all heads turn to look at me, I answer quickly. “I don’t want anyone finding me in real life.”
Aubrey points at me. “Smart! What name are we using?”
“Giana D’Antonia,” I say, too quickly again.
“Thought about this before?” Evelyn laughs.
“It’s my Grandmother’s name. She lived in Milan. So I don’t think anyone will find someone with her name and harass some poor innocent woman.” I shrug.
“Okay, Giana it is.” Emma continues typing. “Hobbies?”
Hobbies? Avoiding my father. Does that count?
“I don’t think I have any,” I admit. I’m kind of boring. “I like trashy reality shows. And romance books with the most smut I can find. Other than that, I’ve always been a workaholic.”
“Mmmk. We can make that work.” She types out a quick bio, and then it’s time for what I’m looking for.
I watch as she checks off a list that would make a perfect book boyfriend. The only kind of man I would settle for.
Then it’s time for photos.
“What are we doing for photos?” she asks.
“If she doesn’t want her real name out there, she probably doesn’t want her face.”
Thank God for Violet.
“Yeah, no thank you.”
“What if we make something that says you’ll have to earn a photo?” Violet offers.
“I love that. It’s sassy.” Anna and Aubrey both nod their heads in agreement.
