Page 1 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
One
Jae
Theofficesofthepublisher I worked for were teeming with activity for so early on a weekday morning. My meeting was already running late, and it was only 11am! I wouldn’t have minded as much, but I’d been waiting for my chance to sell my book for months now. The anticipation was killer!
“Sorry,” my friend Brady said, lowering a cup of tea to the table beside me. “It’s been one hell of a morning. Obviously, I can’t say much other than latecomers have ruined the entire schedule for the day.” Brady wore an uncharacteristic frown.
“Do you think they’ll reschedule?” Maybe it would be better for them to try later if they were frazzled already. There was an air of tension in the building that even the pheromone filters couldn’t block.
“They wouldn’t, not now that they’ve left you waiting for nearly an hour.” He patted my hand sympathetically. “Drink your tea. It’s one of those soothing ones you like.”
I was a regular at the office because I worked as an illustrator. This was the first time I was submitting my own work for their approval. The book was pretty much done, though I knew they’d likely have suggestions to improve it, to really help it sell later.
Brady continued to sit next to me. “What?” he asked when he caught me watching him.
“You can go back to your desk. I know you’re busy.” I knew exactly why he was lingering beside me like a bad smell.
“So…” he began. This would be fun. “How was your date?”
“Awful, but you knew that. I texted you after!”
“I just want the deets, Jae! Don’t hold out on me now. What was he like? What put you off him?”
With a bitter laugh, I pretended to think, my hand propping up my chin. “Maybe it was his alpha posturing outside of the restaurant, blowing his pheromones all over the place.” Brady flinched. It was so rude to do that to anyone, particularly strangers. “Or maybe it was the numerous red flags, like how he spoke to the server.” Brady winced. Being rude to servers was a big no-no to us both. “Or how he mentioned traditional roles—”
“Fuck!” he muttered before looking around to check no one was listening in to hear his unprofessional outburst.
“Yeah. The guy was hot, just that’s all there was to him. All looks and no substance.”
“Sorry, Jae, I thought you were onto a winner here.” Brady was so sweet, he genuinely meant it.
“Are you sure this app is legit? ‘Cause, not going to lie, I don’t see it working out for me. Our match was a decent percentage, too.” It had taken me weeks to even sign up for the dating app Brady had suggested to me.
“For sure! My cousin’s friends were matched by them. I swear on it!”
“Then why haven’t you used it yet?”
Brady had the decency to look sheepish. “Because I’m not about to go in heat soon without options. Shit, that’s rude. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fair. Between the blockers issue and being single this last year…”
“Why don’t you try a club like I do?”
I sighed. If only it was that simple. I loved how free and easy Brady was with his sexuality. He was open about dating multiple people at the same time and wasn’t shy about sex at all. Not like me.
“Just how I was raised, I guess. Sex was for relationships, so now I feel weird about hookups.”
“Which is fair. Look, try the app again, alright? Maybe fine tune your profile a little. Might help,” Brady suggested. He stood when there was a movement at the end of the hall.
“Jae, come on through, please.”
The meeting went both better and worse than I was expecting. They seemed to love the story, yet wanted a bunch of edits to both the words and the illustrations. Thankfully, these were all done digitally, so it was easier to manipulate them into what they wanted. It was going to be a long process to get something we were all happy with publishing. The downside was the long queue I would be in and the deadlines I had to meet.
At least I could say I had a contract, provisionally at least. They wanted me to return with a few pages updated with the edits they requested, then we could move forward. A formality, really,since they knew my work was solid. I’d been working for them for years.
Still, it was an amazing step forward to gaining my dream: publishing my own work! My family would be proud, though also surprised. They hadn’t expected me to graduate with my art degree, thinking I would find a suitable alpha at college, then settle down to have a family. My role would be the same as my mother’s: raising children and managing the household. Becoming published would prove to them I was right to forge a path just for me, one without reliance on an alpha.
I was practically giddy all the way home. The tram was nearly at my stop when I received a notification. The sound differed from my usual socials. I checked my phone.
