Elevator Pitch (Hapless In Love #1)

11. “I’ll fix that.”

11

“i’ll fix that.”

Greyson

Manhattan, NY | October 17, 2023

I’ve always looked forward to Fridays, but now it’s Tuesdays. We don’t spend more than thirty to forty-five minutes together at the coffee shop, but I enjoy it. It’s refreshing how I always learn something new about her. She’s gotten me to open up a bit since I don’t share as often as I ask questions.

I got to the coffee shop early today and told Hazel I’ll be working from home for the first half of the day and to move my meetings after lunch. I claim her favorite table before someone else does, and I set up my laptop and iPad for the time being. I know her preference by now, so I proceed to the counter to place our regular orders when the ‘donut of the day’ catches my eye. It’s a maple-long john with bacon crumbles. I smile to myself as I recall her mentioning her favorite donut shop in St. Louis sells them. I order half a dozen to make her smile and get started on my to-do list as I wait for her.

She arrives twenty minutes later with a surprised expression when she spots me working at her favorite table. She eyes me suspiciously as she settles in. Then, she notices the box of donuts, and once she sees what I picked out, she smiles .

“Just like home,” she says softly, meeting my gaze as she tucks her curls behind her ear before reaching for a donut. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I hope you like them.”

She takes a bite and her eyes shut. A soft moan escapes her as she savors it.

My brows shoot up at her, and she places her hand over her mouth with a giggle.

“Anyways, what are you up to over there?” she asks.

“I thought I’d bring my work and keep you company longer than usual.”

“I don’t mind the company. Are you sure you’re not only doing this to prove you have a job?” she teases.

“That may have crossed my mind. Do you come across men that are unemployed often?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I’ve met quite a few on SoulBlend dates.”

“Tell me more about that.”

“I’ve met more that I wasn’t compatible with than I was. If you ask me, I don’t understand the hype around all these people finding their perfect match. I haven’t even found a person I wanted to go on a second date with who was a match for me, so I think that app is trash, or maybe that’s just my luck.” She frowns as she unpacks her laptop.

I listen intently. I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing anyone’s brutally honest opinions about the app.

She continues, “If there wasn’t an end goal to me going on these damn dates, I would’ve deleted it. It’s still an option, but I’m not great at talking to men in person either.”

“But you find it’s easier to talk to them on the app?”

“Well, yeah, but there’s something wrong with it right now. Like if a guy sends me a voice message, it doesn’t play and my inbox shows I have unread matches when I don’t. So that’s annoying.”

I hope she doesn’t think I’m disinterested. I’m listening and taking notes of what she mentioned so I can investigate further. It sounds like a bug, and I wasn’t notified of it, which irritates me that my team hasn’t mentioned this.

“I’ll fix that,” I say absentmindedly.

“What?” she asks. “I was talking about the SoulBlend App .”

Shit. It’s a wonder she didn’t find out anyway.

I glance up and her brows are wrinkled in confusion.

“Fun fact. I created the app and founded the company. I don’t just have a job, but I’m an employer. Ain’t that some shit?” I add with a smile.

Her jaw drops and she’s speechless so I just have to mess with her once more.

If she had looked me up, she wouldn’t be surprised right now.

“Am I the best SoulBlend date, yet? This is date number four. If you’re counting,” I add playfully.

“Oh my God. I just talked so much shit.” She winces and covers her face with her hand.

I reach across the table and rub my thumb over her knuckles on her free hand. “I didn’t think you were talking shit. It’s client feedback. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

She stares at my hand on hers curiously and says, “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for speaking your mind. Ever. I appreciate your honesty. I don’t get feedback like that often, especially not to my face.”

“Would you be okay with me looking at your profile? I may be able to narrow down why you’re attracting these matches.”

She hands her phone to me with her profile on display. I’m taken aback by her profile picture for a moment because she is just so damn beautiful. I clear my throat and get back to the task at hand. I review her profile thoroughly, and I’m seeing a lot of things that are not adding up to the woman I’ve come to know recently.

“Hmm.”

“What’s that mean?” she asks apprehensively.

“Do you want my honest opinion? ”

She nods.

“For starters, this isn’t you . The person you’re promoting yourself as isn’t who’s in front of me right now. Why is that?”

She looks down and lets out a defeated sigh. I immediately regret what I said. I should’ve worded that differently. Shit.

“I’m not looking for a life partner and I figured if I made my profile more appealing to what I assume men are looking for, I’d have better hits.”

I raise my brow and lean back in my chair.

“How’s that been working out for you?”

“Not well, as you can see.”

“I think you should update your profile,” I say, placing the phone back in her hand. “Answer the questionnaire honestly. Don’t give answers based on what you think men will like. Your profile should reflect you. Share your interests and only fill out the prompts you relate to. Show us who you are and we’ll set you up with people that compliment you.”

“So, you’re saying it’s my fault I’ve been on all these bad dates?”

“Not entirely. I’m going to investigate what you said and see what I can fix. As far as matching goes, if you’re lying on your profile and are getting a bunch of losers, that part is on you since you’re not using the app for its intended purpose. Do you want better dates? Show them who Selah is—the app will do the rest of the work for you.”

“Since you made the app, I suppose you know best. I’ve got to know though. Who’s your perfect match?”

“Don’t have one,” I say without looking up from my screen.

When I catch her staring at me, she shifts her focus back to her screen and gets back to her work. I make a note of her feedback before sending it to my team for us to review and discuss further. I’d like for us to see where we can look for fixes to rollout in the next update and keep at it until we’ve made the necessary improvements.

Some people would be upset to hear their product ripped apart in that way, but I’m motivated by it. It’s possible that has something to do with the fact that Selah was the one delivering the blow. I admire how whenever comfortable; she is the opposite of how she presents herself to be. It only intrigues me to uncover more layers of her. The fact that she hates my app and continues to use it for reasons other than finding a life partner—it sounds to me like she’s looking for something casual and if that’s the case, we could help each other out. I won’t be the one suggesting it though. She’s going to have to ask me. I’d say yes, but I’m placing the ball in her court.

Let’s see how Selah plays.