I am SO sorry that I didn't post this chapter yesterday, I completely forgot. Even though I was telling myself all day that I had to upload this when I got home, and then before I knew it it was after midnight. Clearly I'm not yet back in the grove of uploading, I'll have to set an alarm or something. Anyway since I didn't post yesterday I'll be uploading 2 chapters right now, and I'll still upload another one tomorrow (I'll totally remember this time!) On to the reading!

To: aleclightwood

From: simonlewis

Subject: Time to get some!

Hey, so I found a few dating sites you should check out…

Lavalife (Make Dating Fun Again) This is their motto, could be interesting?

eHarmony

GayCupid…. okay so this was Jace's idea as a joke, please don't kill us!

I quickly shut my laptop in an attempt to block it all out. I hadn't even agreed to this whole thing and now they were sending me site options, it was way too much. I also knew that I was probably overreacting to the whole thing and I should calm down.

I pushed the laptop further away from me and stretched, groaning as I leaned back. I've been sitting in this bed for the better part of the morning reading and my back was starting to hurt a bit. Getting old I thought, and then cast another look at my computer as a little slice of fear swept through me.

"Oh get a grip," I said out loud. "I'm only 27, I need to stop thinking I'm going to die alone." Chase lifted his head up from where he was laying at the foot of my bed, he looked at me as if to tell me I was being crazy. Which I guess I was to be honest. I glanced over at my clock and sighed before getting off my bed. I only had two hours before I needed to meet Maia and Izzy for lunch, and I wasn't even dressed yet.

"Well I guess I better get changed, who knows maybe I'll meet the love of my life while out to lunch," I said to Chase as I opened my closet. Going out would be good for me, I spend way to much time talking to my dog.

"So, what's wrong?" Maia asked once the waiter had filled our wine glasses.

"I don't know what you're talking about, nothing's wrong," I said, taking a sip of wine before looking around the restaurant. Anywhere but at her.

"It's written all over your face," Izzy insisted. "Plus, Simon already filled me in on the date you had last weekend. Clearly it has to do with that."

"Why does it have to have anything to do with that, and nothing is wrong," I said scowling.

"Oh there so is, spill," Maia pestered, leaning over to take my glass of wine. "You're not getting this back until you tell us."

"Ugh, fine," I gave in, reaching over to take my drink back. "Simon wants me to try online dating, and cue your laughter." I could see them both trying not to laugh, but then fail horribly at it.

"Oh we're not laughing at you."

"Yeah, just laughing at the whole you plus online dating. I really couldn't see you actually trying that hard at finding someone."

"Well thanks, it's good to see that you both think I'm a failure when it comes to dating," I humphed, draining the rest of my glass.

"Hon, no, that's not what we meant," Maia said once she caught her breath. "It's just I didn't peg you for the online type, but I guess you are pretty busy so it kinda makes sense once you think about it."

"What did you tell Simon, are you going to do it?"

"Well he brought it up last weekend and I hadn't heard from him since so I figured he dropped it. Then this morning I got an email from him listing different sites, I can't believe he actually looked them up."

"He's looking out for you, he knew you were bummed about that date he set you up on," Izzy told me.

"What would the harm really be in taking a look at them, let me see the sites he sent you," Maia said motioning for me to hand her my phone. Sighing I brought up the email and passed the phone to her. I waved the waiter over for a new glass of wine as they both huddled around my phone.

"The GayCupid one looks interesting," Izzy said smirking.

"Oh shut up," I said grabbing my phone back.

"But in all seriousness, I think you're best bet would be eHarmony. It is pretty popular, and out of all of them I think it's the one where you'll find the best pool to choose from," Maia said.

"How do you know so much about dating sites?" I asked.

"There was a dating article in one of the magazines I read, it listed the best sites to find love and eHarmony was number one."

"Ugh, 'find love', that makes me sound so sad," I said sighing. "Aren't dating sites only for desperate people?"

"Well, aren't you kind of desperate," Izzy pointed out. I just scowled at her, thankful that our food decided to show up at that moment. There was no other talk about the dating sites while we ate lunch, but I knew they were both biding their time.

0000

I turned out to be right, as they brought it up again later that afternoon while we were at the mall.

"Aren't you a little curious about who you might meet?" Maia asked as she handed me a red V-neck to try on.

"Ugh, you guys just love to torture me," I sighed, moving to look at the rows of dress shirts.

"Come on, you know we only have your best interests at heart," Izzy said resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I know, and I mean I guess it would be a little interesting," I confessed. "But I just don't really know if I want to start something right now."

"But you'll at least think about it?" Maia asked. I looked over at the two of them and couldn't help but smile at their hopeful faces.

"Fine, if it makes you happy. Yes, I'll think it over."

I did think it over, a little bit. There was a lot of reading I had to get done so that was more so at the front of my mind than anything else. I had finally got around to looking at the novel Julia gave me, and I did have to admit it was really hot. So hot that I ended up having to take a break from it and go distract myself by making some dinner.

As the vegetables were sautéing I pulled out some leftover chicken from the fridge to add to the stir fry, smiling a little when Chase perked his head up.

"No you can't have any of this, but I suppose you can have a milk bone," I said grabbing the box from the top of the fridge. Once Chase was settled I went back to cooking, pouring myself a glass of wine as I waited for everything to cook.

This was when the subject of online dating came back into my mind. My thoughts drifted back to the manuscript I had been reading, and even though it was mostly an erotica there were elements of romance and love between the two characters. And I must say it had me wishing for something. I groaned and grabbed a plate, dumping my food onto it I took my glass, and the bottle of wine with me into the living room.

As I ate and drank I watched episodes of Friends in an attempt to comfort me, and put these thoughts out of my mind. What really ended up happening was after my third glass of wine I grabbed my phone and sent a group text to Maia and Izzy:

I'm only sending this 'cause I've had like 3 glasses of wine. I'm giving in, come over tomorrow night to help me sign up for some dating… :p

Now onto the next chapter!