you think about that?”
He rubs his head on my pant leg, which I take as his way of telling me to go for it.
“Once I go on a couple of these ridiculous zodiac setups, I’m going to tell everyone on Wake Up America! that this star sign crap is a total hoax.” I give him a scratch behind his ears. “While Serafina seems to be nice enough, she’s duping people into paying her to ‘live their star life’ instead of figuring things out for themselves — which is the best part of living, if you ask me.”
Spock closes his eyes and starts purring. “I see you agree with me.”
I look back at my phone. My mom wants to sign up on this damn app which means she’ll be one of the people who gets fooled into giving Serafina her money in exchange for nothing. Well, worse than nothing really, because she could be put in harm’s way again if she picks another loser like Phil. He was the guy who took her car and all the money he could find.
I sigh, then hit the create profile button and sit back while the app pretends it’s tabulating my answers.
A text comes in from Alec:
Dude, I got my first date on the app. Her name is Candy and we’re going bowling on Saturday.
* * *
ObiWan: Sounds awful.
* * *
Alec: Are you serious? I’ll be out on a date with an actual woman.
* * *
ObiWan: Just be sure you don’t go back to her place and let her roofie you.
* * *
Alec: Dare to dream. I was matched with four women already, had conversations with two of them, and I have a date. All in one day. You should really look into this.
* * *
ObiWan: I’ll take a pass.
* * *
Alec: That’s such a Gemini thing to say.
* * *
ObiWan: ???
* * *
Alec: Just messing with you. I have no idea what that even means.
* * *
ObiWan: Hilarious. Not signing up for a dating app. Certainly not that one. I have no time for dating and certainly no time for crazies. I need to prepare for Florida.
The thought of going to Florida feels like a gut punch. I’ll be meeting with the greatest minds in astronomy, but I have to bring along the very last person who has any business at the mothership — Serafina Lopez.
I open the PowerPoint presentation on Gliese 486 and get back to creating more slides. After about fifteen minutes, my phone pings and I see that I have a match on the Star Sign app. “Okay, here we go,” I tell Mr. Spock.
The woman’s name is Gwen. Apparently, she’s thirty, has one rescue cat, and is a dentist. Huh. A dentist? On this stupid app? She’s already sent me a message:
Gwen: Hi Ben, I saw your profile. Pretty cool that you work for NASA.
Weird. That’s not usually the response women have when they find that out. Maybe she thinks I’m an astronaut. They’re the only ones who get all the babes.
ObiWan: I’m not an astronaut.
* * *
Gwen: I know. Your profile says you’re an astrophysicist.
* * *
ObiWan: I just wanted to make sure. A lot of people are disappointed when they find out I’m not going to pilot a shuttle.
* * *
Gwen: Really? That’s weird. Astronauts are just glorified pilots. It’s the guys like you who really make things happen.
She’s not wrong about that.
ObiWan: What type of dentistry do you practice?
* * *
Gwen: Pediatric. Most people find that strange because kids don’t exactly love the dentist, but I really enjoy it.
Ha! She enjoys torturing children. See? The app is a failure. It set me up with a sadist.
ObiWan: Sounds challenging.
* * *
Gwen: That’s what I love about it. I can usually calm them down and make it fun for them, which is actually very rewarding.
Hmm … why does that disappoint me so much?
ObiWan: So you have a rescue cat?
* * *
Gwen: Yup. Miss Pearl (as in pearly whites. #lamedentistjokes)
* * *
ObiWan: I have a rescue cat named Mr. Spock so…
* * *
Gwen: Laughing emoji face. Maybe this crazy app works.
* * *
ObiWan: You think it’s crazy too?
* * *
Gwen: Definitely. I’m not at all into astrology. My sister put my profile up and made me promise to go on at least two dates. She’s getting married in a few weeks, and she wants to make sure I don’t spend my life as a desperate spinster. (TMI? Did I scare you off?)
Okay, hang on. She’s obviously intelligent, loves cats,