The room is full of people. So much to make fun of, he thinks. He opens a beer and spills it down his pants. The girls laugh. Not with him.

They were reduced to talking about the weather and they both sighed and he said, I’m going to stare at my phone now, and so she did the same.

It was a not-so-blind date. After all, they had each studied their respective avatars carefully. I’m disappointed, he admitted. She was too.