The Love Hack

Arty

"You missed some drool right about here," Ben said, reaching across the table and swiping at my mouth with his thumb.

I glared at him and swatted his hand away.

"You're so funny," I drawled out sarcastically.

"I'm really not seeing what you see. Despite, you know, the fact he is completely unaware you exist, he also looks like he could use a shower and about 48 hours of sleep," Ben commented.

His eyes scanned Leo up and down in a very obvious manner that was making my cheeks feel warm.

I'd spent my summer working out of this small cafe, my crush on Leo growing with each coffee he poured. We'd barely spoken a sentence. I wouldn't even know his name if it wasn't printed on his shirt.

Leo continued playing around with the espresso machine across the cafe, completely oblivious to Ben's gaze.

Ben wasn't entirely wrong. The bags under Leo's eyes were a dark purple, and his black hair, parted down the center, was looking a little stringy. But something about his grungy and disheveled look, paired with the tattoos splattered across his arms, just screamed tortured artist.

I finally gave up on my work, looking away from my laptop and giving Ben the attention he so desperately wanted. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Feisty," Ben said with a laugh, "But I'm actually here on business."

He reached into his tote bag—his infamous, much-teased about tote bag—and pulled out my laptop charger.

I blinked at it, then groaned. "Seriously? How do you always know?"

"Because you're predictable," he said with a sigh, placing the charger down on the table next to my computer. "I was impressed you remembered your laptop this time. This is like, what, the third time this week?"

"Whatever," I grumbled, shoving the charger into my laptop despite the cocky smile that was plastered on Ben's face.

"How's the whole matchmaking stuff going anyways?" Ben pried, curiously peering over to try to get a glimpse of my work.

My screen was full of Python code, which I guess to an untrained eye could look pretty intimidating.

"You look like some kind of hacker," he commented.

"I'm not involved in the matchmaking stuff, I'm simply the keyboard gremlin," I said, clacking on my keys as if to prove my point. "But it's okay. The post-launch is always the most stressful, because now I'm learning about all the mistakes I made and the pressure is on to fix them."

I'd been contracted by Judy, the local matchmaking shop owner, to digitize her matchmaking process. She couldn't keep up with the interest, and was hoping for an easier way to move through the data.

It had taken my entire summer working through this project, and I was just starting to see the end. I couldn't emphasize enough how eager I was to finish it. I didn't mind the development of the compatibility algorithm, but working with Judy had been a nightmare.

Bugs are expected in code, yet every mistake I'd made had her flying off the handle.

Ben leaned back in his chair, pulling up a leg. He was wearing washed-out grey cargo pants and a white band-tee. He was so effortlessly cool in a way that I had to admit I envied.

"So, how much longer are you stuck with it?" Ben asked.

"Not much longer, I think. Just a couple code changes here and there," I replied. "But I'm counting down the seconds. Judy is driving me crazy. For someone that can't figure out a computer, she sure knows her way around a phone."