Archive of Our Own

Camila hated dating because it made her feel self-conscious about her own personality. Some of her previous girlfriends found her too awkward, too brash, too abnormal. She wasn’t going to waste her youth being constantly shut down and heartbroken, but someone suggested that she try again.

There was a new system that could find a person’s “perfect match” with a 99.8% success rate. That was more than enough to convince her to try the new app out. Camila was confident that she wouldn’t fall in the 0.2% category; there was no way the world hated her that much.

Camila stuffed her hand into her coat’s pocket and pulled out a small circular device. She took a deep breath and held it up to her mouth.

“Ally?” she breathed out tentatively.

“Yes, Karla?”

The AI had a chipper voice, rather excitable. Camila found her slight accent to be relaxing.

“Um, Camila’s fine,” Camila said, not at all trying to hide the annoyance in her tone. Something inside her felt bothered by being called Karla.

“Okay, Camila.”

Camila looked up and at her surroundings. It was totally dark. There were no street lights, signs, cars, or anything. It was just a creepy gravel road that seemed to go nowhere. “Uh.” She cleared her throat. “Where am I supposed to go?”

“Proceed to the hub.”

Camila glanced ahead of her. There was a tall dome type of building that was brightly lit up by glowing windows and spotlights. “Right.”

The dome intimidated her. It was rather familiar, almost as if she had been in a similar type of building before. But for some reason, she couldn’t remember why or how. There were other people there too. Some were alone and others had a significant other. She walked along the polished hallway that made her feel nauseous. She could see herself in the reflection. Camila wasn’t one to totally love her appearance, so a wave of insecurity of her appearance would not help her date.

Camila rode up the escalator and folded her arms across her chest. There was a restaurant at the top of the escalator. Ally said that was where she would be meeting. Camila took a deep breath and entered the restaurant. Immediately she felt relaxed. She came to the right place. Hopefully, things wouldn’t go downhill from there.

Showing up is the hardest part, Camila thought.

She slid into one of the middle booths and sighed. All she had to do was wait. Camila just hoped her partner wouldn’t stand her up.

Lauren chose a black cocktail dress for her date that evening. It was simple, but it accented her curves perfectly. She figured that a good first impression would be more beneficial. She walked into the restaurant and stopped at the end of the bar.

The green-eyed girl glanced around the room nervously in hopes that she would find someone that was searching around the room frantically for someone. Lauren’s nerves prevented her from seeing straight and she ended up deciding to call for outside help. She pulled her device out of her purse and cleared her throat. “How will I know who she is?”

She glanced up at the restaurant before looking back down at her device. Lauren had to bite her lip to stop herself from gasping. Her date was gorgeous. The beauty had wavy brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders and warm, brown eyes. She too was biting her lip and glancing around the restaurant, no doubt looking for her. She wasn’t sure that she could even be on the same level as this bombshell.

It was official: Lauren was so bisexual.

“This is her,” Ally confirmed in an eerily cheerful voice.

Lauren slipped the device back into her purse and searched for the room for the girl in question. Her shoulders relaxed when she found the girl she was looking for. Taking another deep breath, she strode as confidently as she could to the booth.

Her date’s apprehensive expression changed to one of welcoming and relief and she stood up abruptly. “Hi!” she greeted in a chipper, raspy voice. Her knee bumped into the table and the silver fork flew off the white tablecloth and onto the floor with a loud clang. Lauren’s eyes widened slightly, briefly glancing around to see if anyone had witnessed the embarrassing encounter.

Clumsy, she could work with that.

The gorgeously clumsy girl reached down and snatched the wild fork. “Sorry,” she burst out. Lauren’s eyebrows rose as a grin formed on her lips. She liked this girl already. Her date held up the fork and smiled. “Fork,” she said with flushed cheeks and an embarrassed expression.

“Lauren,” she introduced herself with a smirk as she pointed to herself.

“Oh, no, no, no!” she rushed out. She put the fork back down on the table and shook her head. “My name’s not fork. It’s just-”

Lauren let out a quiet chuckle, startling her date a bit. “Yeah, I guessed that. I was trying to play along.”

“It’s Camila,” Camila said. “I’m Camila! I’m super happy to be here! I’m over the moon! Oh, why did I even say that? Cool! Okay…”

It was official: this girl was the most adorable human on planet Earth.

“Do you want to sit? Should we sit?” Camila inquired as she pivoted around the table to the other side of the booth.

Lauren nodded as she watched Camila’s amusing antics. “It’s either that or stand.” She flashed her date a wide smile and stepped around her to sit on the other side of the booth.

Camila lets out an audible gasp. “Wait! I was sitting on that side.”

Lauren stopped moving and tilted her head to the side. “Oh, that’s okay. I can move to the other side-”

“No, you’re good,” Camila interrupted her, waving her hand wildly as she took a seat. “Why did I even bring it up? It doesn’t matter.” Her date chuckled nervously as she shook her head. Lauren figured it was more to herself than her. She could get over Camila’s social awkwardness; it was rather endearing and somewhat amusing.

She took a seat on the other side of the booth and smoothened her dress out. “Well, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. It’s nice to meet you, Camila.”

Camila smiled nervously in response.

Camila knew she messed up with the whole fork situation. The whole time Camila was internally facepalming. It was such a Camila thing to do. She was beyond glad that Lauren was taking it well though. She didn’t seem too fazed by her awkward nature. That was a good sign. Besides, Camila found Lauren to be absolutely gorgeous. She was like a rare gem. A girl with such dark hair and green eyes was a treasure to the world that they lived in.

She just hoped she did a good job masking her embarrassment with a wide smile.

“S-Sorry,” Camila stammered as Lauren’s full attention returned to her. “I’m just really nervous.” She tried to relax her shoulders or do something cool. She draped her arm around the booth. Yeah, that would do it. “It’s my first time with the system,” she admitted as she ran her hand across the velvet booth. Camila placed her AI device on the table and gestured to it.

“Me too,” Lauren replied, looking rather relieved. She too put her device on the table.

Camila quirked a brow in genuine surprise. “Really?” Lauren seemed so put together compared to her. It was hard to believe that she was even remotely nervous.

“For sure,” Lauren conceded. A small smile curved onto her lips. “I’m totally freaking out right now. I might piss myself any moment.”

Camila brought the glass of wine up to her lips. “Now that you mention it, you do look terrified,” she mused with a smirk. Lie, a total lie, Lauren was probably the most calm and collected person out there.

Lauren hummed and leaned back in her booth. “Do I?” she asked with a quirked brow.

“Yup,” Camila answered. “You’re probably quaking more than an actual earthquake.”

“Or maybe…” Lauren trailed off thoughtfully. “I’m shaking with revulsion?”

“At least you stopped… pissing.” Camila’s eyes widened in shock at her own words. Seriously!? Gosh, it was a miracle she was still alive.

Lauren laughed softly. “You sure about that?”

Camila joined her in laughter. She couldn’t help but think that Lauren had a cute laugh. It was like a little, raspy baby laugh. She wanted to hear more of it.

Her own laughter died down yet Lauren continued to laugh for a little bit more. She smiled endearingly at her until she stopped. “Let’s stop talking about pissing.”

“And order some food? Good plan,” Lauren remarked. She briefly glanced around the table. “How are we supposed to order?”

Camila shrugged. “I think we use the thingies?” She reached up to pick up her device.

“Menu choices already picked.”

Both Camila and Lauren exchanged confused glances, but they shrugged it off. The system knew best and they’d be an idiot to question it.

As if on cue, a waiter arrived with their food. Lauren briefly furrowed her brows, either from confusion or amusement Camila wasn’t sure. “I guess I’m a pasta girl,” she noted, gesturing to her meal.

Camila grinned. “And I’m a…” She pursed her lips as she glanced down at her dinner. Hawaiian pizza. That was something she would order. “Hawaiian pizza…”

Lauren chuckled quietly and began to eat her meal.

They ate in comfortable silence and Camila was relieved. At least there was something else to do to prevent her from making an absurd comment to Lauren. She wasn’t out of the woods yet. Lauren was still sitting across from her eating her dinner. Camila noted that she looked happy. Maybe this date wasn’t a total disaster after all.

She peered over at Lauren’s pasta. “Hey, can I try some?”

Lauren stopped her fork and pursed her lips. “Are we even allowed to do that?” She glanced around the restaurant and then narrowed her eyes. Camila turned her head to see where she was looking. There was an armed guard standing at the end of the aisle, but he seemed pretty harmless. “Fuck it,” Lauren said as Camila turned back to look at her.

“Yeah, fuck it!” Camila grinned as Lauren took a forkful of her pasta and held her fork up to Camila’s mouth. She leaned forward and popped it into her mouth. Camila chewed it and then grinned. “Dang, this is so good.”

Lauren laughed once again and Camila found herself smiling. This date wasn’t too bad after all.

“So, we’re both first-timers, right?” Lauren inquired. Camila nodded in confirmation. “Should we check our expiration date?” It was a sad truth about the system. Each relationship had an expiration date, and the length was for a reason. No relationship lasted forever until the ultimate match.

“Sure,” Camila agreed and picked up her device. “I think you’re supposed to do it at the same time.”

Lauren nodded. “Under the info section?”

“Yeah.”

“On three?” Lauren smiled warmly.

Camila smiled back in agreement.

“One, two, three…”

Camila pressed the fingerprint on the screen. Her face fell slightly when she saw the number. Twelve hours!? No freaking way.

“Twelve hours?” Lauren read out in surprise.

“Twelve hours,” Camila repeated with a hint of sadness laced in her tone. “That’s really short. A little too short, right?”

Lauren studied her AI and furrowed her brows. “Yeah, for sure.” She placed the AI down and tilted her head when numbers started flashing across the screen. “And getting shorter, apparently. Checking the expiration date starts a countdown. That’s kind of sad, I’ll be honest.”

Camila sighed and put her AI back down on the table. “Then I think… we should eat quickly.” Lauren’s eyebrow quirked upwards and she nodded. “Perhaps we should race? May the best woman win.”

She picked up a slice of her own pizza and began to take large bites out of it. Lauren was giggling from across of her and trying her best to eat her pasta without choking. “C’mon, hurry up!” Camila mumbled with her mouth full.

They were acting like children. Two grown adults were shoving food into their mouths like it was their last meal, but Camila didn’t care. Lauren didn’t seem to either judging by her loud laughter and flushed cheeks. They were having a good time. That was all that mattered.

Lauren and Camila’s next destination were one of the many living quarters in the area. Each couple was assigned a small house to be used during the duration of their relationship. When it expired, so did their access to their homes. Lauren was very eager to get there because she was desperate to use all the time she had with Camila wisely. It wasn’t a lot of time at all.

A self-driving golf cart was waiting for them. “After you,” Camila said with a grin and a bow.

Lauren beamed at her antics. “So chivalrous, thank you.” She climbed into the back seat and scooted over so Camila could sit next to her. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the back wasn’t very big. Both girls didn’t exactly have the smallest backsides so they were squashed up against each other. Lauren would be lying if she said she didn’t like the contact. Being brushed up against Camila made her feel so comfortable and warm inside.

They rode to the house in silence. Lauren didn’t have anything to say anyways and Camila seemed perfectly content with staying silent too.

When the car pulled up to the small house, Camila practically leaned across her to get a better look. “Wow, it’s so cute!”

“Yeah,” Lauren mumbled, more concerned that there was a really hot girl draped across her.

The pair climbed out of the cart and moved to the front door. Lauren glanced at the house number. #437. Near the door was a biometric lock with a handprint. Only the couple had access to the actual house. “Here we are,” Camila sighed. “Do you want to open it, or should I?”

“You can.” Lauren gestured to the handprint.

Camila looked back over at her. Green eyes met brown and Lauren was immediately enthralled. She looked so pretty in the soft glow of the floodlight, and her gorgeous smile could light up a thousand rooms. Lauren knew that she was already starting to feel things a little too intense for twelve hours.

She moved to place her hand on the lock, but Lauren quickly slapped her hand on it. “Too slow,” she taunted with a smirk.

“Ass,” Camila scoffed.

“Yes, I know, I got a nice one,” Lauren flirted.

Camila giggled and pushed open the door. She poked her head inside and Lauren found herself staring at her once more. She hated the fact that it was only supposed to be twelve hours. Because the way her heart was beating now felt like it was for a relationship longer than twelve hours. Was the system correct?

Her date gasped. “Oh no, it’s a crap house,” she groaned.

Lauren stiffened. “You’re kidding, right?”

Camila poked her head back out and winked. “I am.”

As soon as they entered, the room lit up. It was very small. There was a fireplace with two yellow couches, a small kitchen to the right, and a small dining area too.

“It’s nice,” Lauren noted as she stepped further into the house. Her gaze moved to a lamp that was sitting on a coffee table. “I like that lamp.”

Camila chuckled. “Oh? That lamp is freaking incredible.” Her tone was evidently sarcastic.

“Fuck you,” Lauren fired back with a smile. They walked in towards the room up a few steps and her jaw dropped. A bed. Oh no. The system didn’t expect her to have sex with her, did they? She wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Well, she was, but it didn’t feel right. It was too soon for her.

Camila looked just as panicked as she did. “Well, that’s a bed,” she said flatly.

Lauren raised a brow. “Really? I thought it was a parrot.” Camila giggled at her remark causing Lauren to smile in relief. She made her way to a copper wall on the other side of the bedroom. “It’s an ensuite,” she remarked and poked her head in to look at it.

“But we’re all dying to know… is it a shower or bath?”

Lauren laughed. “Both?”

“Amazing, good, perfect.” Camila’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Lauren exhaled softly. “Well, I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” she mumbled awkwardly.

Camila quickly nodded and stuffed her hands in her coat pocket. “Sure! Yeah! I’m gonna go… over here.” She grinned nervously and walked back towards the living room.

Once Camila was out of sight, Lauren rushed into the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat. She pulled her AI out and clenched her jaw. “Ally, seriously, what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

“Query too broad. Please narrow your search.”

Lauren sighed agitatedly. “Are we supposed to… you know… go at it?”

“Define ‘go at it.’”

“Oh for-” Lauren grumbled. “Are we supposed to have sex?”

"Participants are not required to take any specific action.”

“But… we can?” she questioned.

“If that’s your decision.”

She scratched her head and pursed her lips. She didn’t like the sound of it. “So… it’s up to us.”

“It’s up to you.”

“Fuck,” Lauren huffed and put her AI away. It was time to face the music anyways. She got back up onto her feet and sauntered out to her living room. Camila was standing in the living room waiting with a distressed look. When she saw Lauren, she smiled again. Lauren beamed back at her.

Camila pointed to the couch and yawned. “That couch looks comfortable. I could totally sleep here.”

“Uh, no,” Lauren disagreed. “You’d totally end up breaking your back.”

Her date just shrugged and plopped down onto the couch. She scrunched up into a ball with her head on one end and her feet on the other. Lauren also wondered if she was acting like this because Camila didn’t want to have sex with her. That was totally fine, but she wondered if she wasn’t as invested as she was in their relationship.

“It’s not awful,” Camila argued. She pat the spot next to her. “I’m sure you could fit too.”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “C’mon, the bed is big enough for both of us.”

Camila grinned in reply.

They did not end up having sex that night. Instead they decided to lie on top of the covers fully clothed. Both of their arms were resting by their sides, but neither of them made a move to touch each other. Lauren wanted to though. She wanted to make a move to show her feelings, but she wasn’t sure what Camila wanted. Camila could be totally uninterested in her and that would totally suck, because unfortunately Lauren already found herself attracted to her.

“It must have been chaotic before the system, you know?” Lauren whispered in the darkness. Before the AI planned out and controlled everything, people had to find their partners with lots of guesswork. It sounded difficult, way too difficult for Lauren to deal with.

Camila turned her head so she was facing her slightly. “Hm?”

“Everyone had to do the relationship thing by themselves. They’d have to try to find someone to be with, all on their own. No guidance, no pairings, no timelines. A total free for all. Tons of heartbreaks and failures,” Lauren explained.

“Totally. It’s like a state of paralysis. There are so many choices out there that you ultimately don’t know which one you want. Sometimes you can’t pick and, oops! You’re all alone.”

“Exactly. And if things eventually go to shit, you’d have to figure out how to break up with them.” Lauren snorted. Breaking up with someone without being told to? That sounded fucking impossible. She was so glad she didn’t have to deal with that. “I can’t even imagine…” she mumbled.

“How do you even break up with someone like that? It’s so cruel and… messy!”

Camila and Lauren both laughed.

“What a fucking nightmare,” Lauren agreed with a roll of her eyes.

“It’s simpler when things are mapped out,” Camila remarked.

“Mhm,” she hummed.

Silence came upon them again. This time it felt forced. Lauren felt awkward, like she didn’t know what to say. They were doing fine up to this point too. The clock was running out, Camila and her only had so much time.

By the sound of Camila’s uneven breathing, she was still awake. Maybe she was thinking about the same things she was or praying that it was time to part soon.

“This is…” Lauren breathed out.

“...kind of weird,” Camila finished for her. Lauren glanced over at Camila. She was smiling, so it had to be a good kind of weird.

Her hand was dangerously close to Camila’s. She could practically feel the heat radiating from it and it was kind of nice. Lauren didn’t know what overcame her, but suddenly she got the confidence to creep her fingers closer to Camila’s hand. Her own fingers twitched nervously and she chewed on her lower lip in anticipation. She went straight for the plunge and ran her thumb across Camila’s thumb. Camila turned her palm over, silently giving her permission to take her hand. Lauren smiled gently and slipped her hand into Camila’s. To her pleasant surprise, Camila intertwined their fingers. The smile on Lauren’s face was clear as day as her eyes fluttered shut.

All good things had to come to an end. As soon as day broke, Camila and Lauren had only minutes to get out of their house. The sun was barely peeking out from the trees, but it was strangely very bright as if the sun was fake. Camila turned to Lauren with a soft smile.

“Well then,” Lauren broke the silence.

“So…” Camila felt awkward. How the hell was she supposed to say goodbye to Lauren? The clock was ticking away and she really didn’t want to go. Lauren didn’t seem to want to leave either.

“Thanks,” she said. “For being my first…” Lauren winked to point out her innuendo.

Camila felt her cheeks heat up. “Thank you too. You were really nice.” That was only half the truth. Lauren was so amazing, funny, charismatic, all the things that made Camila’s heart beat twice as fast.

“So were you,” Lauren said bashfully.

Camila smiled warmly and stared back at her. The green-eyed girl took a tentative step close to her. She felt the girl’s soft hand slip into hers once more. Her smile seemed to grow as Lauren stared right back at her. “If we had this time again, you would definitely score,” she purred.

“You would too,” Camila didn’t hesitate to say back causing Lauren to smirk at her.

Lauren sighed sadly. “We really fucked that one up, didn’t we?”

Camila nodded. “Yeah…”

The timer beeped loudly, signifying it was the last ten seconds of their time.

10...

9...

8…

7…

Her eyes couldn’t leave Lauren’s as they stayed still and clutched their hands together.

6…

5….

4…

Lauren’s smile was radiant. Her eyes seemed glassy like she was going to cry or do something regrettable. Camila’s chest tightened as she forced herself to stay stoic. She really hoped Lauren would kiss her.

3…

2…

1…

The timer beeped, signifying that their time was up. Camila and Lauren both started to walk away, but stopped when something tugged on them. Her eyebrows widened when she realized their hands were still intertwined. Camila didn’t hide her smile. Lauren chuckled and gave her one last longing look before their hands detached.

Camila turned to walk to the golf cart that was waiting for her and briefly turned her head to look back at Lauren. She too was staring back at her with longing.

They exchanged one last smile before they parted ways.

Hours later, Camila found herself walking up a steep hill. She kept pondering why their encounter had to be so short. Twelve hours. That sounded so wrong. Lauren and her had undeniable chemistry and the system just decided they were only meant for twelve hours? It didn’t make sense.

She sighed frustratedly and pulled her AI out of her jacket’s pocket. “How do I know she wasn’t the perfect match for me?” Camila plopped down on a grassy patch and sighed in exhaustion.

“Your ultimate compatible other has not been selected yet.”

“Well, no duh!” Camila hissed. “But-”

“The system gains insight as each participant progresses through numerous relationships and uses the gathered data to eventually select an ultimate compatible other.”

Camila groaned. “I know, I know, the pairing day and all. You always find your match.” The system was guaranteed to work. That was what the advertisements and experts said.

“In 99.8% of cases.”

“So I gotta… go through a lot of relationships to find them?”

“That is correct.”

“Great, awkward Casanova. Here we go,” Camila spat sarcastically.

The AI dinged again, alerting Camila of some new information. She raised a brow and swiped across. “Another relationship? Already?”

“That is correct.”

Camila sighed in annoyance and stood up. She stretched her arms and yawned. “Better go get changed then.”

Lauren jogged down the trail near the lake. Her mind was only set on Camila. That relationship made no sense whatsoever. It was so clear that there was something. The system had to be a little flawed. She huffed and stopped running. Lauren wiped the sweat off her brow and lifted her right arm that had the AI attached to it up. “I guess I just don’t see the point in something that short,” she grumbled.

“Even your reaction to a brief encounter provides the system with valuable information.”

Lauren stepped to the side after she nearly got knocked over by an oncoming runner. “So the system thinks I’m a prude? I didn’t even do anything!”

“The system makes no moral judgements.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say,” Lauren quipped.

The AI rung suddenly. Lauren’s brows furrowed in confusion. She tilted to her head to the side. “What the heck is that?”

“Another relationship.”

“Already!?” Lauren didn’t hide the surprise in her tone. “You don’t waste any time, don’tcha?” She picked up a flat rock from near the lake and flicked it. The rock skipped four times, more than Lauren had ever skipped before. That was nice; she felt proud of herself.

That evening, Lauren arrived at the same restaurant as the previous night in a blue cocktail dress and black leather jacket. Her dark hair was straightened compared to her normal wavy style. She felt relaxed and confident, but still a little tired. Lauren wasn’t too thrilled about meeting a new stranger again. She had a strong inkling that she’d be nothing like Camila. Or maybe the system picked up on her attraction to her?

A tall, tan, blonde haired girl walked into the restaurant. She had a lazy smirk and was looking around the room rather boredly. She had a long black dress with slits to exposed some of her thighs.

“Holy shit…” Lauren gasped, holding the AI up to her lips. “Ally, please tell me that’s her.”

“I cannot confirm identity until a personal introduction is made.”

Her eyes narrowed and she glanced back up towards the front of the restaurant. The attractive stranger made her way over to her. She was practically internally begging that the system paired them up.

“Hey,” the woman greeted.

“Identity confirmed.”

Lauren scowled at her AI and turned back to her with a small smile. “Hi.”

Her new date slid into the seat across from her. “I’m Dinah.”

Dinah. That was a pretty name. “Lauren,” she greeted politely.

“I like your hair,” Dinah complimented. Lauren’s cheeks flushed briefly as she brought her hand up to her straightened locks.

Her gaze moved to Dinah’s hair. She had nice hair too. It was blonde, curly, thick, a hairstyle that matched her personality.

“Thanks. I like your hair as well.”

Dinah smiled gently. “Yeah? Cool fact: it’s all my own.”

Lauren burst out laughing at that. She covered her hand over her mouth to try and muffle the loud sound coming from her mouth. Dinah looked amused, or confused, Lauren couldn’t really tell. Her laughter fell short and she cleared her throat. Dinah obviously wasn’t someone that was easily impressed or loved humor. Either that or Lauren’s laugh was annoying. She felt rather insecure in that moment.

Dinah and her exchanged an easy conversation about music. The pair were rather different. Dinah was outgoing and expressive while Lauren quiet and somewhat reserved. The system paired them for a reason, so Lauren chose not to complain.

Halfway through their meal, Dinah suggested that they check their expiration date.

“Better now than never, right?” Dinah pointed out with a grin.

“Okay…”

They both pulled their devices out and pressed the fingerprint. Lauren’s eyebrows quirked upwards. 9 months.

“Interesting,” Dinah noted. “Nine months.”

“Very interesting,” Lauren agreed.

She just hoped Dinah and her could get along for that long.

A nice dinner conversation and several glasses of wine later, Lauren and Dinah pulled up to their home. She felt a twinge of sadness hit her when she realized it looked just like the one she had with Camila. Lauren shuddered. She wasn’t supposed to think about Camila. Dinah was the focus now.

Dinah cleared her throat and sauntered around the room. “It looks just like my last one. Same tacky design and shit.”

Lauren followed after her with a quirked brow.

“This is my fifth relationship. You could say I’m a total expert on this,” Dinah continued as she reached the bed. She reached for the zipper of her own dress and pulled it down.

Lauren’s eyes widened in shock. They weren’t going to… already?

“I’m going to hop in the shower,” Dinah said as she flung her dress on the bed clumsily. “I won’t be long.” Lauren nodded and stepped back into the living room.

She waited for Dinah. There wasn’t much to do besides talk to Dinah in the house, or maybe Lauren hadn’t looked for things to do yet. That was disappointing. Lauren worried that it would turn out to be a long nine months.

Ten minutes later, Dinah stepped out of the shower wrapped in just a towel. Lauren met her gaze and smiled shyly. “So… as a veteran, I found that the most effective way to break the ice is to have sex right away. Makes things so much simpler.”

Oh, so she was right. Lauren chuckled nervously. “Yeah, of course…” Dinah brushed her hair to the side, exposing her collarbones. Lauren shuddered and bit her lip. It wasn’t like it was a one night stand. They were supposed to be together for a while.

“It gives us an early view of compatibility. It allows the system to do its thing and we’re together for a while. Why not get started now to get the most of it?” Dinah pulled out her device with a small grin. “So, I’m consenting to everything now… And when you feel comfortable, you can too-”

She was interrupted when Lauren also swiped her finger up to consent. Dinah raised a brow in surprise. Lauren made her way up the stairs and glanced at Dinah through her eyelashes. “You’re the expert at this,” she purred. “Your wish is my command.”

Dinah’s breath hitched. “Well, damn…” she breathed. She grabbed Lauren by the forearms and brought their lips together. Lauren groaned as Dinah tugged her roughly to the bed. Just for tonight, she’d let herself feel. Dinah seemed like the perfect person to make her feel something similar to what she felt with Camila. She hoped.

Camila was late to her own date because she couldn’t decide between a black blazer and a gray one. She eventually decided to go with the gray one and rushed to the restaurant. She exhaled shakily as she ended up going into one of the other restaurants. There were blue velvet booths instead of red velvet ones. She glanced around the room and noticed that the only one that was alone was a gorgeous dark-skinned girl that was already eating.

She smiled in relief and walked over to her. “Hi, I’m Camila,” she greeted cheerfully.

“Normani,” the girl replied flatly. “I didn’t think you were going to show. I’ve been waiting for a while.”

“I’m sorry,” Camila blurted out. “I was changing.”

Her date rolled her eyes. Camila forced herself to smile and ignore it as she slid into the booth across from her. Normani had a half-eaten salad on her table. “You started without me?” Camila questioned with evident surprise and confusion.

“I was hungry,” Normani retorted. She pulled her AI out. “Can we check our expiration date?”

“Oh, right, sure!” Camila pulled her device out. “On three? One, two…” She pressed her finger onto the screen.

1 year.

Camila glanced up to see Normani’s reaction. She looked horrified. “One year,” she scoffed and looked back up at Camila. “We’ve got one year together.” Normani groaned. “Fucking hell!” She lifted the device up to her lips. “Ally, is this a mistake?”

“This is not a mistake.”

Normani placed her AI down and ran her hair through her hair frustratedly. Camila winced at her annoyance. Was Camila that repulsive? She hated to think that was the case. “There’s a reason for it, I’m sure of it.” Camila smiled warmly at the waiter that placed a deep-dish Hawaiian pizza down in front of her. “On the bright side… pizza!”

Her date raised a brow. “Huh?”

Camila smiled bashfully. “I was just kidding. The food... “ She cleared her throat. “It was a joke.”

“Oh, that’s your form of humor,” Normani noted. Her nose crinkled in apparent disgust. “Good to know.”

The rest of the date wasn’t any better. Everytime Camila tried to talk to Normani, she’d just roll her eyes and go back to her meal. Camila wanted to at least try and hold a conversation with her. If Normani wasn’t willing to, then what was the point of it?

Camila felt physically sick when they ended up at a similar small house to the one she shared with Lauren. Good memories were going to ruined because her partner didn’t want to try and work things out.

While Normani took a shower, Camila sat in the living room and played with her hair. A year. How could she handle a year in such a dull relationship? She felt tears starting to form in her eyes and she did her best to wipe them away.

Normani’s footsteps interrupted her thoughts. She was standing there in just a bra and panties. Her skin was still glistening from the water droplets. “Well, are we going to do it, or what?” Normani seethed.

“Oh, I thought-” Camila mumbled.

“It’s for the system,” she explained, pressing a few buttons on her AI. With a tap of her button, she consented to everything.

Camila sighed slowly and did the same. Normani placed her hands on her hips and waited for Camila.

The sex turned out to be terrible. Camila and Normani both were not into it at all. She was very much a controlling bottom. While Camila attempted to pleasure her, Normani barked out orders in a bored tone. The worst part of it all was that she couldn’t even make Normani come. And she tried everything. She sucked on Normani’s buds. She tried to kiss her neck but Normani was very against that. She tried squeezing and fondling her supple breasts. Normani seemed more uncomfortable than aroused. When it came to the actual intercourse, Normani wasn’t even remotely wet. Camila tried one finger, then two fingers, but Normani stopped her.

“You know what? This isn’t working,” she had hissed and pulled Camila’s hand out of herself. “You’re making no motions. It’s like you’re poking my vagina instead of trying to make me feel good.”

Camila slept as far away as she could from Normani on the bed. She glanced over at the AI on the nightstand. The 365 days mocked taunted her immensely. Her awkward night with Lauren was way better than this. She cried herself to sleep that night.

A few days later, Camila was playing a game of squash by herself. She only returned to the house at night to sleep and Normani had the same thinking. Neither of them wanted much to do with each other.

“So, I can’t just walk away?” Camila asked her AI for probably the millionth time. She was convinced that it was broken.

“That is correct.”

Fuck you, Ally, Camila thought.

“One day it will provide you with the ultimate match.”

Camila screamed in anger and threw her ball against the wall of the gym. “One day! One day? God, I can’t even stand one day with her!” Her AI didn’t respond. She stalked off to the cement wall and slid down against it. Camila brought her knees to her chest and buried her head in there. She cried. She cried because it was the only way to deal with her misery.

Lauren and Dinah weren’t compatible in a romantic sense, but more so in a sexual sense and maybe a little bit of a platonic sense. There were many things about her partner that irked her. Her tendency to “ahhhh” after every time she drank something; her bad habit of leaving her clothes everywhere for Lauren to pick up; her obnoxious nickname giving (Lauren was not amused that she was affectionately being referred to as a loser in one of her nicknames); her annoying love for pulling pranks on Lauren every time that she could; and lastly, her disgusting, uncharming eating habits that appeared two weeks after their relationship started.

She was sure Dinah had things she disliked about Lauren too. Though through every annoyance and argument, at least she got a satisfying orgasm to keep her mind off of things.

It was a solid three months into their relationship when Dinah and Lauren decided to attend a pairing day. The couple hosting it were a total bunch of losers. The girl was way taller than the boy, and the boy looked like a thirteen year old. A girl that pretty shouldn’t be with someone like him. But they looked happy together, and that was all that mattered.

Then when she opened up her mouth, she understood why they were together.

“So I’d just like to say, have faith in the system… because it does deliver!” she exclaimed happily, pointing at her pair. “It did for us.” The two of them giggled and grabbed each other’s hands eagerly. Lauren didn’t know if she was going to be sick from the cheesiness or the cuteness.

“You have so many different experiences and one day - it pairs you up with your ultimate match! The best in the show!”

“Woof, woof, woof,” the boy barked happily like a dog. Lauren snorted. Good on them for finding each other.

Dinah leaned over to her ear. “Can’t say I’m surprised, right?”

Lauren shrugged. “They seem happy.”

The two of them mingled with other couples. Dinah was the more talkative one and actually flirted with some of them right in front of her. Lauren was a little surprised at first, but then she realized that it didn’t matter. She wasn’t even romantically attracted to Dinah. Her gaze moved to the refreshment table. A flash of familiar brown hair caught her attention.

Camila.

She muttered a half-assed excuse to Dinah and practically sprinted over to where Camila was. She had a small fried mozzarella stick and was dipping it in some sauce. The ebony-skinned girl next to her made a sound of disgust and glared at her before stomping off. Lauren took a deep breath and placed a hand on Camila’s shoulder. The girl flinched and whipped her head around. Her mouth was stuffed with food. She looked like a gopher. Lauren found herself genuinely smiling for the first time that evening.

“Hi,” Lauren greeted warmly as Camila began to chew quickly, “was that your-”

Camila nodded and pointed to retreating girl’s form. “Yeah, Nohmahi.” It was hard to understand her with her mouth full. She held up a finger and Lauren smiled, waiting for her to clear her mouth more. “Normani,” she clarified.

Lauren licked her lips. “She seems… nice.” The malice in her tone was evident. She didn’t particularly like her already. The way she looked at Camila made her blood boil. Who would ever look at Camila like she was the scum of the Earth?”

Camila started coughing loudly and clutched her throat. Lauren tilted her head to the side and then chuckled. “Camz,” she warned. Her lips parted slightly. She didn’t expect to come up with a nickname so suddenly, perhaps Dinah was rubbing off on her. “Stop teasing!”

Her former date looked at her with wide eyes. They started watering and Lauren figured out quickly that it wasn’t a joke. “Oh, God, is this actually happening? Okay, okay… bend over,” Lauren urged. Camila complied quickly and Lauren hit her back roughly. With a loud cough, Camila spat out her chewed up food onto Lauren’s shoes.

She straightened back up and sent Lauren an uneasy grin. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked winded, but Lauren found it to be absolutely endearing.

“Thanks,” she said in relief. Camila wiped her mouth and sighed. “You, uh, look well.”

“Thanks… I’d return the compliment, but you just coughed your food up on my shoe,” Lauren pointed out with a teasing smirk.

Camila shrugged and looked down at Lauren’s feet. “Well, I think I just made them better. Your shoes looked like shit before. Now they are the shit.”

Lauren huffed and hit Camila on the shoulder. Camila winced in pain and stumbled backwards, clutching her arm. Her eyes widened in shock. Did she hit her that hard?

“Oh, gosh! Was that too hard? I’m so sorry,” Lauren rushed out worriedly.

“Ouch,” Camila moaned. “You really know how to pack a punch, huh?”

Lauren ran a hand through her wavy hair frustratedly. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you, I promise!”

Camila just flashed a grin and the both of them burst out into loud laughter. It felt so nice to finally genuinely feel emotions. She felt more in a two minute encounter than she had having sex with Dinah for months. It bewildered Lauren. It felt like no other couples were around and it was just Lauren and Camila, laughing their asses off because of some stupid reason.

It was wild. It was careless. It was perfect.

Camila loved watching Lauren laugh. Even when she was laughing just as hard, she still could appreciate the way Lauren’s nose crinkled or how her shoulders would roll as she kicked her head back. It was like watching a movie or reading a book. Lauren was so complex and beautiful. She was mesmerized by her more and more by the second.

There was also that nickname. Camz, wasn’t it? That one made her feel like she was special to Lauren, just like how Lauren was special to Camila.

But their laughter is interrupted by a tall blonde woman approaching them and wrapping her arm around Lauren.

This must have been Lauren’s partner, and she was looking at her smugly. Camila felt rather intimidated in her presence.

Lauren finally noticed her partner’s arrival and gasped. “Oh! Camila, this is Dinah.” She took a deep breath, still recovering from her laughing fit. Dinah’s arm tightened around Lauren. Camila couldn’t help but notice that Dinah looked like a goddess. Her body was flawless, way more curvy and fuller than Camila’s. “Dinah, this is Camila.”

“Hey,” Camila greeted warmly.

Dinah quirked a brow upwards. “Hi…”

“We were together for a bit,” Lauren explained to Dinah. “It was really short.”

“Very,” Camila agreed. Lauren’s gaze moved towards hers. Both of them smiled, acknowledging that they both didn’t like the short amount of time.

Lauren gestured to herself and Dinah. “Before you and I…”

“Cool story,” Dinah mused. She brought her champagne glass up to her lips and sipped it. Dinah made an “ahhhh” noise that seemed to irk Lauren. Camila caught onto her grimace and downcasted glare.

Camila forced herself to smile despite being very jealous. “You guys look like a great couple.” Lauren just shrugged and Dinah smiled at her warmly.

“We should get going, Lauser. The couple’s leaving.” Dinah pointed to the new paired couple that was prancing to the golf cart.

“Right,” Lauren mumbled in response rather sadly.

The crowd clapped for the couple and everyone began to disperse. Dinah and Lauren took off in the opposite direction. Camila sighed sadly. Her brief moment of happiness was over. Lauren turned around and sent her a smile and a wave. Camila returned it with some hesitancy.

From that encounter, Camila learned one thing: time was useless unless it passed quickly. She was more focused on counting down the days before Normani and her were done. Each day was one step closer to freedom.

And finally, after an agonizing year of arguing and Camila’s attempts to fix things, the timer was nearly done.

Normani and Camila stood on opposite ends of the house and waited for the time to run out.

The clock hit zero and Camila turned to say goodbye. “Well-”

“Don’t,” Normani cut her off and marched to her golf cart. Camila shrugged and got in.

As the golf cart pulled away, Camila pulled out her AI device. “Well, I learned what it’s like to live with someone I can’t stand, and who can’t stand me, so is that useful for the system?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

Camila used to think that was the case. She wasn’t so sure anymore.

The nine months ended for Lauren at last. When Dinah and Lauren parted ways, they hugged.

“It’s a shame it has to end. I liked you a lot, Lauren,” Dinah told her.

“But it has to, that’s how the system worked,” Lauren replied.

She liked Dinah, but Dinah wasn’t the one for her in any way. She felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders when they got in their respective carts.

And just like before, Lauren got a new notification from the system. She sighed annoyedly. It was time to go on yet another boring date. Lauren got ready and went back to that same damn restaurant. There was a girl with beautiful brown eyes and a soft smile waiting for her. Lauren found her refreshing. She wasn’t as intense as Dinah, and seemed way more down to Earth. Her name was Lucy, and she was very kind and gentle. Luck was on Lauren’s side that day because they only had thirty-six hours together.

Both of them had a nice time. It was simple, relaxing, with no expectations or strings attached. Lauren wondered if in another life Lucy and her would be friends. They parted ways with a hug and a wide smile.

The cycle continued with yet another thirty-six hour fling.

“I’m Lauren,” Lauren greeted, sticking her hand out to the blue-haired girl sitting in the booth.

She smirked and kissed Lauren’s hand. “I’m whoever you want me to be,” she purred. Her name turned out to be Ashley and she was so fucking charming. So many words and phrases that came out of her mouth left her breathless and blushing. The sex was amazing. Ashley was able to provoke feelings and sounds from her that she never thought she was capable of having. Lauren too saw Ashley as a person she could be friends with another life.

“Take care of yourself, Lauren,” Ashley said with a knowing smile as they stood out in front of the house. “Things will work out for you. I’m sure of it.”

“Can I borrow that confidence of yours, pretty lady?” Lauren quipped.

Ashley chuckled quietly and cupped her cheeks. As the timer ran out, Ashley kissed her and left her breathless like the night before.

Lauren hoped Ashley was right.

The next three months were the same, filled with tons of meaningless flings. Lauren couldn’t even remember the names of all of them. Keana, Harry, Zayn, Vero, Kehlani, Louis, Madelaine, Ariana, so many names that made her feel like she was a slut. She criticized the system for assuming she was a prude, was this her punishment?

Yet here she was on another date probably with another person for thirty-six hours for sex only. It was all the same. Meet someone new, check the time, eat, go back to the house, fuck, say goodbye, repeat; she wanted it to end. Lauren didn’t even bother that much with her outfit. She was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket. It was a little too casual for a date, but she was past the point of caring.

And then she saw Camila.

The girl was alone, eyes glassy. Lauren wanted to run over to her and comfort her. She wanted to punch whoever the hell would make her feel like that. Bonus if it was Normani.

Lauren felt the most comfortable with Camila, so she figured it was nice to at least just say hello. Lauren pulled out her AI and glanced at it. The image that flashed before her was Camila herself. She let out an audible gasp of surprise.

She sauntered over to the table and grinned. “Hey, you.”

Camila’s eyes widened and she jumped out of her seat. She didn’t knock any silverware over that time and she practically jumped into Lauren’s arms. Lauren giggled and wrapped her arms around the brunette.

“Hi,” Camila sighed into her ear. Lauren squeezed her gently. Neither of them wanted to break the embrace. “Is this right?”

Lauren shrugged and stepped back. “Fuck if I know,” she said. “I didn’t think the system would put us back together.”

She slid into one side of the booth while Camila went to the other side. “I didn’t think so either,” she agreed. “I really hope it’s right.”

“Obviously.” Lauren rolled her eyes and smiled. She pulled her AI out of her jacket’s pocket and placed it on the table. “Ally, is this the right table?” Her heartbeat was quick. She prayed that Camila was the one she was paired with.

“Yes. That is correct.”

Both of them sighed in relief. Lauren felt grateful. The system was giving them a second chance and hopefully for a much longer time.

Camila smiled at her and Lauren smiled back. She reached over to grab her AI, but Lauren was quick to stop her. She clasped onto Camila’s wrist and shook her head. “Can we just- can we not do that?” Lauren begged. “The expiration dates and shit, I’m sick of it.”

She nodded and put hers away. “No worries, we don’t have to.”

Lauren sighed in relief. Camila was looking for some explanation probably. She was more than happy to deliver it. “I just feel like I’m running on a loop,” she admitted. “It’s been short fling after short fling, and it’s been meaningless. I know they’re short, so I don’t get invested, and I’m just… not even trying.” Camila nodded along, listening to her intently. “Don’t get me wrong, at first they’re fun.” She noticed that Camila winced at that comment. Good thing she had no reason to be jealous anymore. They were together. “But after a while? It’s the same shit over and over again. I’m so disengaged that it’s like an out-of-body experience. I’m just watching myself have sex and I get no fulfilment.”

“Your poor vagina,” Camila replied. Lauren giggled at her rather vulgar comment. “But I understand. Long term things are just as bad. It’s like watching the clock and you’re a prisoner. Counting the hours, counting the minutes… gosh, that’s not how I want to live. I really thought I was going to lose it.”

Lauren felt bad for Camila. She didn’t deserve to feel that way and she swore that she would do whatever it took to make sure that Camila was happy and satisfied with her. “God, I’ve been there,” she grumbled.

Camila nodded. “Yeah, let’s not check the expiration date.”

Lauren outstretched her hand towards Camila. “It’s a deal.” Camila smiled gently as she took her hand into her own.

“Deal,” she repeated. “Bring on la pizza!”

They didn’t let go of their hands for the entire meal.

“So...”

“Yeah…”

Camila stood across from Lauren in the bedroom of their house. The day went from terrible to so amazing. That morning she woke up with Normani and she’d end up going to sleep with Lauren. It was crazy how things tended to work out like that.

With Lauren, things didn’t feel forced. At no time during their date did Camila or Lauren stop talking. They laughed, they joked, they took their time in eating. Camila felt so elated.

“We should get to it, right?” Lauren gestured to the bed with a small smirk.

Camila gasped and placed her hand over her heart. “Why, Lauren! I’m a good Southern belle. I would never throw away my innocence before you wine and dine me.”

“Camz, we were just on a date,” Lauren giggled.

“I think those one-night stands are rubbing off on you,” Camila noted with a smirk. “Because now you’re all desperate to get down and dirty.”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Or maybe I want you to get up and clean.” Camila furrowed her brows confusion. She watched Lauren gesture to the shoes that she discarded when they walked in. “Yeah, seriously, I can’t live with you if you leave your shit around.”

Camila groaned. “Shut up, you’re not my mom.” She twirled a bit of her hair between her fingers. “But you’re right… we may not even have lots of time. The sooner the better.”

“Right. It could be ten minutes,” Lauren said with a grin. “Can you even last ten minutes?”

Camila huffed. “Fuck off! We should be more concerned about your poor vagina! Should we put some lotion on it? Do I gotta massage it?” Lauren cackled loudly in response. Camila beamed. She really loved that laugh. The green-eyed girl clutched the side of the bed to keep herself upright. Eventually her laughter died down and she sighed contently.

“I have an idea,” she said with a mischievous grin. Camila looked at Lauren with curiosity. “I think one of us should get undressed first.” The look on Lauren’s face seemed desperate, longing, like she wanted so badly to be intimate with her. Camila would be lying if she said she didn’t want to.

“W-Why?” Camila stammered. Lauren’s intense gaze was giving her the chills.

“It’ll be funny, and I need a good laugh.”

Camila shrugged. “Alright, okay. You go ahead.” Her heartbeat quickened as she registered that she was going to see Lauren naked. Fuck yeah, this is gonna be the night of my life, Camila thought excitedly.

“Oh, no, no, no.” Lauren held her hand up. She slowly moved to take a seat on the foot of the bed. “It was my idea. So you’re the one who does it.”

“Psh, sounds shady, but alright.”

Lauren grinned and leaned back a bit, firmly placing her hands on top of the covers. Camila felt exposed under her gaze. She moved to pull her hair out of the way so she could unzip her own dress. She successfully managed to pull it down a few inches before Lauren interrupted her, “I’m gonna see you naked,” she sang mockingly.

“Oh, shut up, this is totally embarrassing,” Camila shot back as she struggled with her zipper.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Lauren replied with a shrug.

“Oh? Should I act all sexy and sway my hips as I undress?”

Lauren smirked. “If that’s what you want,” she mimicked Ally’s super chipper tone.

Camila continued to fiddle with her dress.

“I’m gonna fucking see you…”

Camila groaned. “Oh for…” She stopped talking when Lauren got up from the bed and moved behind Camila. Her breath hitched as Lauren gingerly unzipped the rest of her dress. There was something so sensual, so amazing about the way Lauren touched her. It was magical and comforting. She helped Lauren slip the dress off of her.

She exhaled shakily in anticipation for what Lauren was going to do next. “So fucking beautiful,” Lauren breathed out, mesmerized. She cupped her cheeks and brought their lips together slowly.

Camila’s eyes squeezed shut. Holy shit, I’m kissing Lauren. Her heart was beating like crazy. Lauren’s lips were so soft and plump in hers and she tasted like coconut, must have been her lip balm. Camila wanted more. She wanted to indulge herself in everything that was Lauren. So she kissed her back fervently, deepening the kiss quickly. Lauren gasped and guided them to the bed and sat down. Camila crawled on top of her and sat on her lap, wrapping her legs loosely around her torso.

Lauren grunted and slid her hands up Camila’s back and pulled her closer to her. Camila slid her tongue into Lauren’s mouth and sighed. Lauren’s tongue and hers battled for dominance.

She didn’t like that. Camila was always the one in control.

Camila moved her hands to the lapels of Lauren’s leather jacket and attempted to pull it off her. Lauren stopped her by grabbing Camila’s waist and flipping them over. It was a miracle they didn’t even break their kiss during that because that was fucking hot.

Lauren pulled away from her. “I know what you’re trying to do princess, and it’s not happening,” she rasped.

“Fuck,” Camila moaned as she saw how swollen Lauren’s lips were already. “I always top. This isn’t fair.”

“Sore vagina, remember?” Lauren kissed her again gently and Camila eagerly reciprocated the kiss. She pulled away and brought their foreheads together. “Next time, okay? You deserve to be treated like a fucking queen after that bitch.” She pressed her lips to Camila’s forehead and moved down to Camila’s neck. “I wonder, when was the last time you had sex?”

“L-Last year,” Camila admitted with a shaky breath.

Lauren began to press feather-light kisses on the base of her neck all the way up to the base of her jawline. “And how was it?”

Camila whimpered at the lack of contact. She needed more. “Terrible.”

“How terrible?”

“Well, she-” Camila gasped when Lauren’s teeth sunk into her neck harshly. “Oh, fuck!”

“Keep talking, I am dying to know,” Lauren mumbled.

Camila bit her lip and sighed. “She, she didn’t even- oh!” Lauren was flicking her tongue over the sore spot and then attaching her lips to another part of her neck. “She d-didn’t come.”

“Why?” Lauren hissed. Camila opened her mouth to answer but Lauren nipped a spot above her collarbone causing her to moan.

“B-Because I-”

Lauren’s hand wandered to Camila’s breasts. She squeezed them softly over her white lace bra. She was always concerned about her breast size. It wasn’t very large. Thank God for push-up bras. “You what?” She motioned for Camila to sit up a bit so she could unclasp her bra. Camila shuddered and buried her head in Lauren’s neck as she expertly undid it. She carefully slipped the bra off of Camila and kissed her shoulder, signaling her to lie back down.

Camila fell back onto the bed and Lauren straddled her. “I wasn’t good enough. She didn’t like me.”

Lauren’s eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched. She brought her hands to Camila’s breasts and squeezed it briefly. Both of her hands began to knead her breasts. “She’s a fucking idiot.”

“You’re wearing too much clothes,” Camila whined. “Take them off, please.”

The green-eyed girl stopped her movements and smiled. “Because you said please, I will.” Camila grinned in response as Lauren threw off her leather jacket and white tank top. She had to slide off of Camila to take off her jeans and shoes, but Camila didn’t mind. She got to stare at Lauren’s bra-covered chest. And damn was Lauren fine. She definitely would have to spend quite a bit getting to know the beauties on her chest.

Lauren finally returned to her previous position and smirked. “All better, baby?”

“God, yes,” Camila voiced her approval. Lauren chuckled and raked her fingers up Camila’s stomach and then back to her breasts. She pinched her nipples and twisted them. She practically screamed in pain and pleasure.

And then Lauren started rocking her hips against her. Her clothed center was rubbing against Camila’s stomach and Lauren’s skilled hands were taking amazing care of her breasts. Camila threw her head back and moaned. The heat in her core was intensifying. She tried her best to meet Lauren’s rocking, but it was getting too much for her. She needed a release.

Camila moaned once again. “Lauren…”

“Yeah, that’s my name,” Lauren grunted as she continued to thrust against her.

“Fuck,” Camila cursed. “I need-”

“What do you need?” Lauren probed.

Camila narrowed her eyes. She really didn’t like Lauren’s tone because just because Camila was the one getting fucked, she didn’t want to be the submissive one. “Fuck me now,” she ordered.

Lauren chuckled. “Problem, I’m the one on top. I make the rules.”

Camila growled and reached for Lauren’s hands. She pried them off their breasts. Lauren’s jaw dropped in shock. “If you don’t fuck me in the next minute, I swear to God I’ll do it myself, Lauren.”

Her head rolled back. “Oh, God, Camz…”

“Please,” she croaked.

Lauren nodded slowly and brought her hand to the waistband of Camila’s underwear. She wasted no time in slipping it off her. Camila scooted back so they had more room to do stuff. Lauren brought her hand to Camila’s folds and licked her lips. She massaged them gently as Camila shuddered at her touch. “You’re so wet.” She plunged a finger in and began thrusting.

Camila gasped and thrashed. Even something as small as one finger drove her crazy. But she wasn’t used to it, she hadn’t had sex in a long time after all. She allowed herself to get adjusted to Lauren’s thrusts. Her heavy breaths and pants were increasing. Lauren took that as a cue to add another finger.

It kind of hurt at first, but she gasped and writhed. Lauren was fucking her so amazingly. The way she stretched her walls with her fingers and curled them every other thrust. She was literally a sex goddess.

Her clit throbbed, desperate for attention. “Lauren, I need-”

Lauren heard her and leaned down to attach her lips to her center. She flicked her tongue against her clit gently as she thrusted into her roughly. Two different motions and two opposite ways to go about it. Camila loved it. Her moans and pants voiced her approval.

She felt her stomach tighten and her legs began to close around Lauren’s head. Camila was close. She moaned extra loudly when Lauren’s fingers hit a spot that she didn’t even know drove her crazy. “Oh, God, Lauren…”

She added a third finger and thrusted faster. Camila began to thrust into her face and fingers to speed up her own orgasm. “Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted.

One last curl of Lauren’s fingers inside of her was enough to send her over the edge. She was sure she came hard. Camila’s legs clamped against her head tightly. Her eyes felt like they rolled back and she was seeing stars. Her legs were shaking violently. Camila’s breathing slowed.

She was motionless for a solid forty-five seconds before she felt something wet stroke her core. Her cheeks flushed in realization. Lauren was cleaning up her arousal with her tongue. Camila moaned and shook her head. “Lo, I’m sore… stop.”

Lauren sighed and pulled away. She wiped her glistening lips. “Too bad, I was enjoying my dessert.”

Camila huffed. “Well, I want mine. Gimme two minutes then I want you to sit your pretty ass on my face.”

“Damn,” Lauren chuckled.

Several rounds and a good night’s sleep later, Camila woke up when she felt someone touching her hand. She shifted her head to see Lauren, whose head was on Camila’s bare chest, pulling her own hand into hers. She smiled widely and squeezed it. Lauren briefly glanced up at her and returned the smile.

She liked this. Camila felt so much more alive this way.

Lauren, finally freed from the cage of her one night stands, could not be happier. She had all the time in the world with Camila. She still had to find her ultimate match apparently. But why should she worry about that when she had the next best, more like the best thing?

Camila changed her perspective. Maybe the system wasn’t so perfect after all.

“I’ve been thinking,” Lauren said to Camila as they walked down the path around the lake. Lauren’s arm was loosely draped around her shoulders and Camila was pretty much pressed up against her. “What if the system’s a joke? They’re putting us all together for no reason whatsoever for the laughs? We could all be going along with it only because they’re telling us too.”

Lauren liked to talk about anything and everything on her mind. She ranted about a lot of things in life. Dinah found it rather annoying, but Camila? Camila ate it up. She listened intently and even gave her own personal thoughts. Lauren enjoyed having conversations with her.

Camila shrugged. “Hm, yeah. But it does put people with the one,” she remarked. Lauren led her up to the gazebo in the middle of the park. “It’s got a 99.8% success rate.”

“But how do we know they’re perfect matches?” Lauren questioned. “What about the 0.2%? It must be so fucking shitty for them. They could be just wearing us down with constant random matches, until we just go with it once they’ve found our ultimate compatible other. And by then, you’re so sick and tired of all these random matches that you just agree with it. It’s because they’ve worn us down that much. You just settle for it.”

Camila pouted and shook her head. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really cynical? That’s one of the most depressing things I’ve ever heard.”

Lauren smiled sadly and removed her arm from her shoulder. “Aw, baby,” she cooed. “Did I make you sad?”

Her partner snorted. “No. Not at all.”

“C’mere,” Lauren urged in a cute baby voice. Camila laughed and moved over to her. She kissed Camila gently. That was another thing she had grown to love over the past few days with her, kissing Camila was one of her favorite things to do.

Camila pulled away with a loud ‘pop’. “Wanna hear my theory?” Lauren nodded eagerly as Camila pulled the circular AI device out of her pocket. “The system isn’t random at all. Let’s say it’s as complex as it claims it is and it tracks all of our reactions. It builds up a profile of all your dreams, weaknesses, fantasies, desires, flaws, and the crazy thoughts in here.” Camila tapped her temple to show what she was talking about. “Everything stuck in our brains. The question is, if this profile is everything stuck in here… does it have thoughts?”

Lauren raised a brow and scoffed. That was totally absurd. “Are you trying to say that’s ourselves and we’re stuck in some sort of simulation?”

“Exactly!” Camila said.

“Bullshit,” Lauren fired back. “There’s no way we’re stuck in a simulation.”

Camila pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “But how would we know?” Lauren suddenly got a great idea. With a wide smirk, she slapped Camila lightly.

“Ow!” Camila seethed, clutching her cheek. “What the fuck?”

“You felt that didn’t you?” Lauren asked with pride. She loved it when she was right. Camila narrowed her eyes and nodded. “Well, there you go!” She giggled at Camila’s angered and annoyed expression and skipped away from the gazebo.

“Maybe I was programmed to react when someone hit me! Ever think of that?”

Lauren just cackled in response and continued skipping. She heard loud footsteps behind her and a small body collided into her, knocking her down to the ground. Lauren rolled over while Camila crawled on top of her and pinned her hands to the ground. “I should report you for partner abuse,” she threatened.

Camila rolled her eyes. “Says the girl who slapped me!”

“Fuck off, it was for a test,” Lauren retorted.

Camila grinned lazily and leaned down to kiss her. Lauren kissed her back happily, running her hands through her hair. This couldn’t be a simulation, because the way her stomach felt like it was on a rollercoaster when Camila kissed her or touched her was too real.

 No day went by where Camila was bored with Lauren. Everyday was like a new adventure, and those amazing days turned into weeks. Camila believed that those were the best weeks of her entire time using the system.

Lauren was rather clingy, Camila learned. Sometimes when Camila was curled up in bed with a book, she’d crawl over to her and nuzzle up next to her. They went out to dinner at least once a week. They’d switch off cooking and baking on the days they didn’t go out.

Together they did tons of activities found around the hub. Lauren loved skipping stones by the lake while Camila sat under the tree and watched her. She loved her excited reaction when she would skip a rock exactly four times every single time. Camila loved long hikes in the grassy areas around the hub and when Lauren got tired, they’d lie in the tall grass and try to point out what clouds look like. Strangely, they all looked the same. Lauren and Camila would swim together or play squash and it was relaxing. Neither of them found any reason not to like each other.

But when they were both in the bathtub together, Camila couldn’t help but think about the AI sitting in her discarded jacket pocket. Lauren was picking up bubbles from the soapy tub and placing them on top of Camila’s head. She grinned as she ran her perfectly manicured nails through her hair and massaged her scalp. Lauren kissed her gently before repeating her previous actions. This was so nice, way too nice.

Lauren wasn’t the one.

There was still her ultimate match waiting for her, and it drove her mad because she was falling for Lauren. Hell, she might’ve already been in love with her.

That night she couldn’t sleep. Lauren was cuddled into her, just like all of the nights before. Camila loved that Lauren was an aggressive cuddler. She liked whenever Lauren held her or she held Lauren. The AI system on her nightstand was taunting her. The itch to pick it up was killing her.

Sighing, Camila untangled herself from Lauren and picked up the device. She tiptoed into the kitchen and brought it close to her lips so the sleeping girl in the bedroom couldn’t hear her. “Ally, I have to know,” she breathed out.

“What would you like to know?”

“The…” Camila took a deep breath. “The expiration date for Lauren and I. I need to know how long we have together.”

The device was silent. She chewed on her lower lip and took a seat in one of the dining chairs of their house. “Ally?” she asked tentatively. “Aren’t you going to talk me out of it?”

“Would you like me to talk you out of it?”

“Yes,” Camila blurted out. She paused, realizing what she said. “I mean, no, I don’t.”

The screen flashed with the familiar fingerprint and the Tap to reveal message. Camila knew she shouldn’t do this. Lauren and her made a deal. They promised not to check it. But still, curiosity was always a weakness for Camila. She inhaled sharply. She had to do this.

Camila pressed her finger against the screen. The number that it showed was somewhat relieving. 5 years. That was a lot a time, not enough, but still better than twelve hours.

The system chimed suddenly. “Recalibrating.”

Camila’s eyes widened. The number changed from before.

3 years.

“Ally?” Camila blinked in confusion. She started tapping the screen. The loud noises would surely wake Lauren up, she couldn’t have that happen. Camila glanced in the direction of the bedroom before speeding towards the front door. She swung it open and stepped outside. “Ally? What’s going on?”

“Recalibrating.”

18 months.

“One-sided observation has destabilized the expiry date.”

“What!?” Camila’s breath hitched.

“One-sided observation has destabilized the expiry date,” Ally repeated. “Recalibrating.”

Her device began beeping again. Camila ran her hand through her hair in frustration. “What? Because I looked at it on my own, it made the time shorter?”

“That is correct.”

“Why?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

It chimed once again.

2 months.

Camila frowned deeply, trying her best to contain the true panic that she felt. “Fuck! Make it go back! Undo it!”

“I cannot do that. Recalibrating.”

“But what if Lauren looks at it?” Camila was desperate to find away to stop it. It wasn’t fair.

“Once shortened, the expiry date cannot be extended.”

“Why!?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

The screen displayed 3 weeks now.

“Stop it,” Camila pleaded. “Please, stop it!”

5 days.

Camila felt tears form in her tired eyes. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening. It had to be a bad nightmare. “When will it stop?”

“It will stabilize once recalibration is complete. Recalibrating.”

Camila let out a quiet sob. “Please…” The device chimed again leaving her with 20 hours. And then it started counting down. She looked at the device, vision blurred by her tears. Camila fucked it up. And now she only had less than twenty hours left with Lauren compared to five years.

Lauren came to learn a lot about Camila over the past few weeks. She learned the things that made her super happy and giggly, and also the things that peeved her and made her sad. So she was genuinely very surprised when Camila barely cracked a smile when she peppered kisses all over her face when she woke her up. Lauren found that Camila usually loved that.

“Hi, baby,” Lauren greeted cheerfully. She brushed a bit of brown hair out of Camila’s face. “What shall we do today?”
“Whatever you want, Laur,” Camila said with a forced smile.

Lauren ignored the uneasy feeling in her stomach. “Alright, let’s go for a walk, mkay?” She leaned down and kissed Camila. Camila kissed her back so she took that as a good sign.

The rest of the morning was a struggle and much more confusing. Lauren made them breakfast and she tried to feed Camila, but she shook her head and ate it herself. Honestly, she was a little hurt by it. Lauren figures she was just having an off day so she decided to leave it at that.

By noon they were back at the lake. Lauren was skipping rocks while Camila stood behind her. It was starting to get annoying that every single time she skipped a rock, it skipped four times. How could something be so perfect? The world was supposed to be imperfect, right? Skipping rocks four times every single time was too unrealistic.

Lauren huffed and placed her hands on her hips She turned to look back at Camila, who was currently staring at the water with glassy eyes.

“Have you ever had more than four or less than four?” Lauren inquired. Camila wasn’t even paying attention to her. She was looking at her pocket. The green-eyed girl huffed and picked up another rock and skipped it.

One. Two. Three. Four. Same as before.

“Camz?” she asked again. Lauren took a few steps up the hill to her. “What are you thinking about?”

Camila shrugged. “Nothing,” she said flatly.

Lauren’s forehead creased. She was definitely lying, and she hated it when people lied to her. But this was Camila , she accidentally pushed Lauren into the pool a few days ago and Lauren forgave her instantly. A smile formed on her lips as she kissed Camila in hopes of cheering her up. Lauren moved to back away but Camila stopped her. She wrapped her arms around her and buried her head into her neck. Sooner or later she’d get the truth.

By evening they’re back at the hub to do some grocery shopping. Lauren wanted to try out some fish taco recipe for that evening and suggested that they make banana split sundaes for dessert.

Camila only shrugged and mumbled, “whatever you want.”

Lauren was getting sick of it. What the hell happened to the Camila she had grown to fall for?

They stopped at the bottom of the escalator and Lauren grabbed her hand. “Seriously, what is up with you today? Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Camila was quick to reply.

Lauren bit her lip. “Camz…”

“I looked.”

Her eyebrow arched upwards. “Looked at what?” Camila gestured to her coat’s pocket, no doubt where the AI was. “You…”

Lauren was in shock. Camila and her made a promise. They said they wouldn’t do it, and then Camila just betrayed her trust so easily! How could she? She exhaled shakily. “We promised we wouldn’t. We shook on it!” Lauren didn’t want to believe it.

Camila gritted her teeth and clenched her teeth. “Didn’t you want to know what it said?”

“No,” Lauren hissed. “That was the whole fucking point!”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” she spat back. Lauren instinctively took a step away from her. “It’s almost done anyways.”

“H-How long?” Lauren stammered.

“We’ve got like an hour left.”

Lauren felt like she was suffocating, choking on the shock and betrayal of it all. The worst part of it all was that Camila didn’t even look that upset. She was more agitated than anything. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she whimpered.

Camila shrugged as her lip quivered. Maybe she had some emotion about this after all. Lauren was leaning toward Camila being heartless and selfish. “I didn’t want to spoil today.”

She laughed mirthlessly and rolled her eyes. “What? And this hasn’t spoiled it?”

“It was supposed to be five years,” Camila blurted out. Lauren’s own jaw began to clench and her eye twitched angrily. What the fuck was wrong with her? “Five years.. and now? Fuck, I looked at it and it started going down until-”

“You fucking broke it!” Lauren accused with a growl. She jabbed Camila’s chest with her finger. “You fucking broke it, didn’t you?”

“No, no, no,” she rushed out in defense. Lauren could see the pleading look in her soft, brown eyes. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

Lauren’s eyes began to well up with tears. She lifted her hand up and wiped them from her eyes. “Why did you have to look at it!?”

“Because, because...” Camila was shaking like crazy. The poor girl looked like she was about to pass out. Lauren wanted to go over there and wrap her arms around her, but she couldn’t. Camila betrayed her. “I like you, like, really, I like you. I might even be in fucking love with you!”

Lauren wanted to throw up. She might have been in fucking love with her too.

“For fuck’s sake, Camila! Was that not enough?” Lauren snapped.

“That’s not the point!” Camila argued. “I looked, but that’s not the issue here.”

She let out a harsh laugh at Camila’s pathetic explanation. “Are you really sure about that?”

Lauren’s face fell. She was more sad than angry, actually she was both, and it really fucking hurt. There wasn’t much she could do though.

“You’re more upset about that than how short our time is.”

“Yes! Because we agreed,” Lauren exclaimed. “We made a fucking deal! We shook on it!” She grabbed a fistful of Camila’s coat as she spoke and jerked her close to her. Lauren was so tempted to slap her again. That was how upset she was. Tears poured down her red cheeks, hot with anger.

“Lo, please,” Camila begged. “We can just ignore it.”

“We can’t,” Lauren cried as her voice cracked.

Camila cupped her cheeks and forced her to look at her. It hurt so much for Lauren to look into her pretty brown eyes, but she seemed determined to get her point across. “We can, we’ll just… we’ll fuck the system! We’ll jump out. Over the wall. We’ll get out of here.”

“There’s nothing out there,” Lauren pointed out.

Camila shook her head. “How do you know, Lauren!? Behind her, a security guard stepped off the escalator with a taser in hand. Lauren pulled away from Camila. “How do you fucking know!?” She just shook her head and stepped away from Camila. Camila took a step closer and grabbed Lauren’s hand. “Lauren-”

Lauren shoved her off of her. Camila fell backwards in surprise. The security guard made no moves towards them though. She took a step over to her and glared at her. “You’ve ruined this. You’ve ruined us,” she spat. “You did this.”

“Lauren-”

Lauren pivoted on her heels and stomped off. “Don’t follow me, Camila. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Lauren, I’m sorry!” Camila cried after her. She winced when she heard the girl that she cared so deeply about break down into a sob. It took all the strength in her to ignore Camila’s loud crying. When she rounded a corner and was out of sight, she broke down into tears. She just lost the best thing she ever had and it wasn’t even her fault, but for some reason Lauren still blamed herself.

Camila was alone in their shared home. She might as well just spend the last of her time crying her eyes out before she was forced to leave. Camila was a royal fuck up. Lauren hated her. It was so obvious by her horrified looks and angry outburst. She could’ve avoided all of this if she just didn’t bother checking it.

“Everything happens for the reason,” Ally gave her stupid advice.

“What reason?” Camila said mid-sob.

“The system will be assessing your reaction to the painful premature termination of a treasured relationship, and will adjust and improve its profile of your eventual chosen one accordingly.”

Camila snorted and rolled her eyes. “You’re a great comfort.”

“Thank you.”

“You know what?” she spat. “I’m this close to jumping over the wall and getting the hell out of here. I’ll jump out into the wilderness!”

“That would contravene the rules of the system.”

“Fuck you and your fucking system!” Camila screamed.

“Failure to comply with the system may result in banishment.”

Camila sighed agitatedly. “Can’t I just be angry!? Please?”

The AI didn’t respond. She sniffled and rolled over in her bed.

“You must vacate your current living quarters when the time expires.”

She glanced at her device. Sure enough, Lauren and hers relationship was going to expire in about a minute. “Like I didn’t already know that.”

The next relationship Camila was put in was with a girl named Hayley. Both of them were burdened with regrets and an unfortunate ending to their relationships. Hayley was a good person to talk to.

“And if I hadn’t looked, we would have been together for years,” Camila explained to the blonde haired beauty next to her as they sat on the bed. “She was…” She sighed. “You know when you meet someone and you just know? You just know that… she’s the one.”

“Bitch, I know,” Hayley said. “The system is fucking stupid. So what if you were curious? She should’ve understood that. I guess breaking a promise wasn’t the right thing to do either.” Camila grimaced as Hayley brought up her wine glass to her lips. “You know for my girl… After all the shit she put me through, she never even apologized, not once.

Camila nodded. “That sucks. I’m so sorry.”

“Tonight… Let’s just be ourselves. No sex or anything. I’m done with all that,” Hayley complained. “You good with a dramatic reading of one of these boring cooking books?”

Camila brought her wine glass to her lips. “Hell yeah, I am.”

Lauren was brought back into that thirty-six hour cycle once again. Men and women that she wasn’t even attracted to at all brought her company while she mourned over the loss of Camila. She did have one three week relationship with a girl who happened to also be named Camila, but it was average for both of them. This Camila was nothing like her Camila. She was much more sophisticated and quiet, but still had a good sense of humor. They only had sex twice.

She was so sick and tired of the system. The only person that she wanted the most had betrayed her trust and left her so broken-hearted.

And then the notification came when Lauren was swimming out her feelings once again. She finished her final length of a slow breaststroke and climbed out of the water. She wrapped herself in a towel and moved to where she left her AI device.

“Congratulations, Lauren!” Ally greeted her in a cheerful tone. “Your ultimate match has been identified. Your pairing day is tomorrow.”

“Ultimate?” Lauren asked in disbelief. “As in the one?”

“That is correct. Tomorrow you’ll be coupled with your ultimate match and together you will leave this place forever.”

“Are you…” Lauren took a deep breath, “allowed to tell me anything about them? Do I already know them?”

“Negative.”

So it wasn’t Camila, great. Just fucking great.

“However, there is one more thing. Prior to pairing day, you have been allocated a short farewell period with an individual of your choosing.”

Lauren quirked a brow. “Farewell period? Like I get to say goodbye to someone?”

“That is correct. Data shows this can help provide-”

She didn’t need an explanation. Lauren already knew who she wanted to see one last time. “Camila!” she shouted abruptly. “I choose Camila.”

“Your choice has been registered.”

Lauren clutched the AI system and walked towards the end of the pool. She took a deep breath.

“Ally?”

“Yes, Lauren?”

“Count to four.”

As the AI system began to count to four, Lauren flung the system into the pool so it skipped four times. She smirked in satisfaction as the system sunk to the bottom of the pool. Lauren turned on her heels and walked out to change into something more presentable.

Camila waited in the same booth that she sat in when she first met Lauren, the same one where they found out that they were matched together again. The system found her ultimate match, but she didn’t care about that. She was more focused on the fact that she was given a chance to say goodbye to someone and Camila chose Lauren, and Lauren chose her.

“Third time’s a charm” was what they said, right? But Camila messed things up twice and she was pretty darn sure she could do it again. Lauren forgiving her so easily didn’t seem right.

She wanted Lauren, not her stupid match. Camila was completely convinced that Lauren was the one for her.

Camila played with the fork on the table and breathed heavily. She was so nervous and scared. Just then, Lauren came bursting in with a determined look on her face. She looked livid, upset, Camila was sure she was about to be told off. If Lauren wanted to yell at her, she would accept it. She deserved to be criticized for her dumb actions anyways.

She didn’t have a chance to stand up properly before Lauren’s arms were around her and their lips were back together. Camila sighed happily and kissed her back. She was in disbelief because she missed Lauren so much that she felt like crying the moment Lauren’s body touched hers.

They broke apart reluctantly, but Camila wasn’t finished yet. She brought their lips together again and mumbled her confession to missing Lauren so much. Lauren groaned in response and tugged Camila closer to her.

The two of them fall down into the same side of the booth. Neither of them want to be separated from each other. Their shoulders were pushed up against each other and there was absolutely no space in between them. “How long do we have?” Lauren asked breathlessly.

“I don’t know,” Camila said as she looked at her AI device. 2 minutes flashed across the screen. She swore loudly and banged her fist on the table. Lauren glanced at her with mild amusement and surprise. “Fuck! Sorry. I just don’t want who the system picked for me. I want you!”

“I want you,” Lauren replied lovingly as she took one of Camila’s hands into her own.

“Failure to comply with the system may result in banishment.”

Lauren hissed and turned Camila’s AI device over. “You can fuck off!” Camila didn’t try and hide the grin forming on her lips. Lauren turned back to her expectantly. “Camz, I’ve been thinking… can you remember where you were before you came here?” Camila shook her head. No. The only thing she remembered was walking up to the hub for the first time and then meeting Lauren. There was no recollection of her life before the system whatsoever. “You can’t, can you?”

“No,” Camila said, pursing her lips. “I can’t at all. Why can’t I think of it?”

“I can’t either. It has to be a test! Do you remember the first time we were together?”

Camila smiled at the memory. She could never forget the way Lauren smiled at her when they first met or how she totally made a complete fool out of herself in front of her. “Of course I do, Lo. How could I forget?”

“How did you feel?”

“I felt… happy. I was so safe with you. I felt comfortable. It felt like something just locked into place, you know? Like we’ve met before,” Camila explained.

“Like it happened before, like it’ll happen again, like it’s happened before a thousand times, over and over again!” Lauren gushed. She smiled brightly. “Do you know what this means?”

Yes, Camila did. Camila chose Lauren once before. She would choose her again, and she’d probably do it thousands and thousands of times more.

“Yeah, I do,” Camila answered as she looked around the restaurant. Some couples were looking at them with no expressions whatsoever. A guard took a step towards them.

“Ever since we met, the world has been toying with us, trying to keep us apart. It’s a test. I’m telling you, Camz. And the two of us, rebelling against it together…” Lauren brought her forehead to Camila’s and squeezed her hands, “...has everything to do with passing it.”

“We have to go, we have to blow this whole thing off!” Camila said in hushed tone.

Lauren nodded excitedly. “Exactly! Fuck the system! We can break it, Camila. We just have to go… over the wall, together.”

“Over the wall, no matter what’s out there,” Camila agreed.

Lauren grinned and brought her their joined hands up to her lips and kissed them gently. “No matter what, we have to go.” The AI system beeped, signaling that their time was up. Camila snorted. Fuck the AI, she was about to run off with the hottest chick in the world.

The timer ran out and Lauren pulled them from the booth. Everyone was staring at them. Camila swallowed nervously and clutched onto Lauren’s hand. She watched Lauren march forward confidently and followed after her. The same security guard from before advanced forward and brought his taser up. Lauren chuckled quietly and stuck her hand out. She touched the taser. Nothing happened. In fact, everyone around them just froze in place. Lauren glanced back at Camila and grinned.

This escape just became a whole lot easier.

Lauren and Camila ran for their lives. It was rather exciting. She felt like a teenager sneaking out with her girlfriend after curfew. They passed the frozen couples, the frozen security guards, the frozen waiters and bartenders, until they were out into the fields. Even the self-driving golf carts were frozen. Lauren felt all-powerful because of the fact that Camila and her could move but not everyone else.

They were almost there. The huge wall of the whole place was towering over them. Camila panted tiredly and they skidded to a stop in front of a metal ladder.

“Fuck, okay… After you?” Camila offered with a smile.

“Wait,” Lauren said. She took a step forward and kissed her briefly. “I might be in fucking love with you too.”

Camila grinned. “Girl, get on my level. I upgraded to totally in love with you when you touched that taser without even batting an eyelash.”

Lauren giggled and kissed her forehead. “In that case, I love you too.”

Camila just smiled bashfully and pointed to the ladder. Lauren winked at her one last time ane began climbing upwards. Camila followed after her. The wall was very tall and menacing, but Lauren was determined to get to the top.

She glanced below her.

The landscape began to change. The fields of green soon became dark and pixelated and turning into nothingness. The pixelation began to climb up the walls too. Lauren bit her lip and reached down to grab Camila’s hand. Camila glanced down at the ground and then grabbed her hand.

The next thing they knew, Camila and Lauren were in a dark room, still holding hands. Hundreds of other couples were standing around them. All of them had apprehensive looks or were holding onto each other tightly. Numbers began to pop above them.

299. 405. 689. 700.

On a closer examination, Lauren noticed that it was them. Hundreds of copies of Camila and Lauren were standing around the room. She blinked and looked above her. The number 998 was above the both of them.

Camila looked at her with bewilderment and wide eyes. Soon the couples around them began to vaporize and shoot up into the ceiling. A number on the ceiling began to tally the total number of couples.

Eventually Camila and Lauren, the nine hundred ninety-eighth version of them, were sucked into the ceiling. The screen flashed the toal results.

1000 simulations completed.

998 rebellions logged.

Camila glanced down at her phone. Dinah told her that she should download the dating app because apparently she found her soulmate on there and there was this amazing algorithm that almost accurately predicted and paired everyone together. Since Dinah and Normani were both very adorable together, she decided to try it out.

The woman she was meeting that evening was absolutely gorgeous. She had wavy long black hair and vibrant green eyes. Her profile picture depicted her smirking. Camila found her to be very attractive. The best part was in the actual details.

Lauren Jauregui.

99.8% match.

It was almost perfect, and it seemed so unrealistic. This application did miracles apparently, so she decided to trust it.

Speak of the devil, there came the gorgeous beauty. She looked just like she did in her profile. Camila was relieved she wasn’t matched to an old man. Her date had a nose ring and a tattoo on her upper arm, which wasn’t featured in her profile pic, but Camila found her absolutely stunning.

She slid into the spot next to Camila. “Hey, cutie. I’m Lauren.”

“I’m gay,” Camila blurted out in response. Lauren raised a brow. Fuck, nice going, Cabello. “I mean, I’m Camila.”

Lauren just smiled sweetly. “I like you already.”

“Oh, really?” Camila smirked.

“Definitely,” she replied. “And it’s not because the app says we’re literally perfect for each other… it’s because of that ass of yours.”

Camila gasped and hit her shoulder harshly. “Hey!” Lauren giggled in response and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the dance floor.

“Panic” by The Smiths blasted as Lauren and Camila wrapped their arms around each other and danced. She had a great feeling that this date was going to be successful.

“I told y’all! I told y’all!” Dinah squealed as Camila showed her the diamond ring on her finger five years later. “What did I tell you? The system fucking works!”

Normani rolled her eyes. “Gosh, Dinah, can you be any louder?”

“Girl, the diner’s empty except for us.” Dinah brought her milkshake up to her lips and took a big gulp. She slammed it back down onto the table and let out a loud “ahhhh”. Lauren crinkled her nose in disgust. She really hated when Dinah did that.

Lauren smiled. “Yeah, Camz gave me a real scare. When I proposed, she said she couldn’t just yet.” Normani snorted in amusement and Lauren shot her best friend a glare. “And the reason? She told me that she couldn’t marry me until she could fit ten mozzarella sticks in her mouth!”

Dinah roared with laughter. “Ah, Walz… maybe it’s a miracle that Lauser even loves you. You’re such a dweeb.”

“Hey!” Camila whined and pouted. Lauren draped an arm around her soon-to-be wife. “We’re 99.8% compatible, so you can suck it!” Lauren grinned and kissed Camila’s pout off of her face. Lauren found it so odd, so weird that they were that compatible, but it worked out. Lauren and Camila rarely fought over anything.

Normani looked over and glared at Dinah. “99.8%? Dinah and I were only 98.7%... babe, you said that we were one of the top ones!”

Dinah nodded. “Yeah, Mani, we are! Because that percentage equals… normal temperature!” Dinah and Camila both hollered and screamed, banging their firsts on their table.  Lauren and Normani exchanged confused glances. It was best not to question the inside jokes of their significant others. Dinah accidentally knocked her milkshake over. Lauren cackled while Normani rolled her eyes.

“Hey, Ally! Dinah went bananas again,” Normani called to the short waitress that was currently wiping a counter down.

Ally huffed and walked over to their booth. “Seriously? Dinah Jane!” She leaned over and began wiping down the counter.

Lauren couldn’t help but grin. The past five years had been the happiest ever, and it was all thanks to UltimateMatch. Not only did it bring the couples together, but it gave her new friends and a closely knit friend group.

Normani crossed her arms over her chest. “Kind of wish I never used that dating app, I got stuck with a joke.”

Camila rolled her eyes. “Oh, Mani, we know you love Dinah to death. That’s a lie.”

“Yeah, Mani. And if you didn’t do it, then I would’ve never met Camz.” She pointed at her fiancée with a soft smile.

Normani huffed. “Yeah, but it’s so unlikely that my soulmate would be like her. I mean, I love you, Dinah, but you’re a slob.”

“Everything happens for a reason,” Ally said.

All four of them stopped and stared at her in confusion. Lauren couldn’t help but feel that there was something oddly familiar about that phrase. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

Ally winked at them and walked away.

The four of them returned to their next topic of conversation: Camila and Lauren’s wedding. Lauren was eagerly counting down the days until she could finally call Camila her wife. She never wanted to spend a day apart from someone she would do anything for.