Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Suzi ran her forefinger over the touch screen again and again.

Jail bait. Too young. Pass.

This guy looks like he's kissing his dog. Is that an open mouth? Passssss.

Black and white headshot. Clearly 20 years older than he says he is. Pass.

Her finger began to get hot as she swiped past the emo loner, the aspiring mega-preacher, and the one who compared himself to Ted Bundy (wtf?) she landed on a page that seemed... decent. Cade, 24. It didn't hurt that his profile quote was funny:

"My friends say I need to get over myself and consider dating online. So here I am bashing at this keyboard 2 beers in. They are standing over me watching me bash the keyboard 2 beers in. Help me make them stop."

A laugh came out of her as she began to swipe the cute boy away, but then ... she stopped. There was something about the photo that seemed genuine. He truly seemed like a nice person being hounded by his friends to meet people. Suzi could relate. For more than a year well-meaning friends and loved ones had been hounding her to 'date a nice boy.' Her mom wanted nothing more than to marry her off to some boring valley guy. She read the profile again before looking closer at the photo. This Cade character did seem to be in a sucker position, with a beer clad arm of a second man over Cade's right shoulder, and a friendly-looking girl photobombing him on his left with a Post-it that read, 'Total catch ladies!'

"What the heck," Suzi thought. She swiped right and to her amazement discovered she had a match. The next thing she knew, they were meeting at a South Bay beach beer dive where Cade and his friends hung out after a day of sand volleyball.

Scanning the crowd of tanned beach bodies, she suddenly felt overdressed. Most of the guys had no shirt on. Most of the girls were blonde with big boobs. Just as she turned to walk out, the friendly-looking girl from the photo approached her.

"Hey! Are you Suzi? From the dating site?"

She looked down, "That's me! Guess I didn't get the memo to dress casually."

"Screw that," the girl said. "I'm Pam. I'm Cade's friend. Well, actually, my boyfriend Curt is Cade's best friend. The guys are just washing up. You know- it's hot on the beach. They'll be here in a sec. C'mon!"

Suzi followed Pam through the crowd of impossibly beautiful beach people. The sweet smell of Coconut, blended with the sour stench of beer, and salt air.

"You want a drink?" She asked.

"Sure."

The two women were making small talk when a man walked up to Pam and kissed her. Suzi recognized the tattooed bicep from the background of Cade's profile picture.

"Hey, babe!" Said Pam. "This is Suzi. As in Cade's Suzi," she winked. "I'm sorrIt'sIts just that there are never decent normal girls on that site, and these jack-holes don't know how to judge a nice normal girl, so I chose a couple for Cade, and look at that," she said punching her boyfriend, "She's awesome. I did great, right?"

Suzi practically spat out her beer while laughing.

"To be honest," Suzi recovered. "I was only on there for like a day. My friends kind of did the same thing. Well, my sister actually. She said I needed to get out and meet people, or our mom will just keep trying to set me up. And no one wants that."

Curt looked down the bar, "And here he comes now."

====

Suzi took a deep breath and turned around. The handsome man in front of her was easily ten times better looking in person than the off-kilter desktop camera would have him seem."

"Uh," he said looking down and extending his hand. "Hi. I'm Cade."

"We'll leave you to it!" Cut and Pam laughed at the stupid joke and disappeared into the bar crowd.

"These idiots didn't make you uncomfortable did they?" He asked.

"No. They were very nice."

"They mean well."

A drunken girl pushed past.

"This place gets a little intense on Saturdays during volleyball season, especially towards the end of summer. Practically all of USC is here. Let's go out on the patio. We can breathe out there. And I won't have to scream in your face to get a word in."

Cade instinctively grabbed Suzi's hand and led her through the crowd to an outdoor patio. A tingle went down her spine. So far so great.

The sun was just beginning to set as they set their beers down at a weather baked picnic table.

"So... Damn. I swore I wouldn't open with 'So.' Curt made me promise to drink every time I said "So." Anyway, so.... Crap." He gulped some more.

Suzi laughed again.

"Its OK. Its weird I know."

"I don't know how to do this. I mean, I'm not anywhere online. No Facebook, no Instagram. Nothing. Guess I'm old fashioned like that. So into the deep end I go," he said taking a gulp. "I mean, no offense if that's your thing. It's just that this whole idea of meeting people online is weird. You know?"

"I do," she giggled. "I've been trying online dating apps for a month, and to be totally honest, it's still a bit strange."

"Really? Wow. Thanks! Yeah, I got so weirded out by the women liking my profile I deleted it already."

"You did?"

"Yeah. So our date –of this is a date- will be my first and last. Crazy huh?"

"Not crazy. I deleted mine too."

"Really?"

"Swear."

An awkward moment passed before Suzi took the lead, "Tell me the story that led up to your friends making you put a dating profile up."

"Oh, well, that," He took a sip. "I moved here from New Jersey for a job last year. Not a lot of girls in accounting. I work for a studio in Hollywood."

"That sounds exciting."

"That's what I thought until I took the job. See Hollywood! Meet the stars! The closest I ever got to meet a star was when some diva pushed her way into our office and demanded money."

"Wow! Really?"

"Really. Apparently, she had her waged garnished by the state, and when she didn't get the whole amount she was pissed off. So much for being a beauty queen."

"Holy cow."

"Yep," Cade gulped another sip, before looking directly at Suzi.

"You want to know who it is?"

"Of course I want to know who it is!"

""Ah," he said. "I'm not at liberty to say." He took another gulp before continuing, "But her name rhymes with Smellifer Snorance."

Suzi just couldn't take it anymore. "You are hilarious!" she laughed.

"So I'm told. Damn!" Cade finished his beer off.

"OK, miss." He said putting his spent beer down. "Your turn. What's a seemingly normal girl like you doing online looking for a date? Are you a serial killer of something?"

"No," she said. "I'm boring. What about -----" the words were thrown from Suzi's lips as the bar brawl began behind her. Cade's face dropped, and in an instant, he was there alongside her, shielding her petite frame from knuckles and punches swinging in every direction. Beer flew about them. A pint glass hit his temple. Somewhere a girl screamed as bodies fell to the floor.

They locked eyes, there on the wooden floor, a dozen feet, and Vans sneakers kicking them from head to toe. Suzi looked into Cade's eyes, his face crushed in pain. She saw sweetness, strength, heroism, and vulnerability. Above them the fight endured. Now bartenders and other men were above them trying to break the brawl up.

This is it. She thought, seeing the fear in her new acquaintance's beautiful eyes.

His warm chest beat down on her, cushioning the stomping on his own torso. Just as a finality of it all began to cross her mind, Cade yelled in her face, "Hold on!"

The corners of his mouth clenched. He closed his eyes, and then with all his might did a push-up, fighting to get to his knees. Under him, he held her until the crowd split, allowing them to stand. Finally.

"Oh wow! There are people down here!" Someone yelled. By now the crowd rushed to their aid, the brawlers safe-tied by stronger men who held their arms behind them.

A security guard approached her. "Are you all right miss?"

Shocked, she could only nod. She was still silent as the paramedics took Cade away on a stretcher.

The next thing she knew, Suzi was being questioned by a police officer. She answered his questions as best as she could. The ambulance sirens came on as it faded down the main thoroughfare. She stared until it rounded the corner.

"Miss," the officer said grabbing her attention. "What's your friend's last name?"

It was then that Suzi realized she had never asked. The online app didn't allow anything beyond an initial, and when the date had finally begun, it had literally just begun. She looked around for Cade's friends, but she knew they had followed him to the hospital.

"I... I don't know."

In a daze, Suzi walked to her car after the officer was finished with his questions, still nursing the area on her forehead where someone had accidentally kicked her. By the time she got home, she closed the blinds, curled up and cried. It was dark by the time she shuffled to the kitchen and ate cold pizza for dinner.

Her phone rang, and she ran to it. It was her mother the first time; her sister the second. She let both go to voicemail. She didn't feel like talking. 

@katycage