Love in the Time of COVID-19

From Evan's perspective, the soft glow from the desktop monitor could have been misconstrued as candlelight. To get in the mood, he had poured himself a generous glass of Merlot (the bottle had been on sale at Trader Joe's, a practical steal as he saw it) before settling back into the chair he usually used for online gaming on his days off. But tonight was different, special even, because it was May 2020 and he was having his first date in what felt like ages. The lockdown in the city had made certain that he couldn't venture out to a bar or even catch a coffee date in the morning before work. Hell, he didn't even have to go into work, with his job as a book buyer for the local college moving completely remote till things...got back to normal.

(If he would even remember what normal was dependent on how long this pandemic lasted...)

As Evan waited for his computer to hum through its boot-up, he felt a bristle of anxiety spread through his body. He had only had a few chats over Tinder, spare nothings compared to the usual dating gamut, but at least they had agreed on a time and a place over Zoom. That dizzying feeling of pinpricks across his skin was still present, no matter if he was waiting at a café or being the first to click into a Zoom meeting.

Logging on, he found himself staring at a black screen, and he drummed his fingertips against his desk. His eyes darted to the time at the lower righthand of his screen; if he was stood up on a virtual date of all things...

"Oh, man, is this thing on?" a disembodied voice came from Evan's speakers. He leaned closer, as if that would do anything, but all he saw was his face reflected back at him while the adjacent square registered no video feed.

Evan smothered the urge to laugh; well, there was something to be said that he wasn't the one to make a fool of himself first on this date. "I think you have to give it access to your camera," he said, trying not to worry about the fact that he was being seen first (since his date had agreed they would keep the "element of surprise" by not sharing many photos of each other prior to the Zoom call).

"Bollocks, I think you're right," the voice said. A few moments later, Evan saw himself looking at the frowning face of a young man with dishwater blond hair that could have used a cut. (But who didn't need a haircut at this point of the pandemic?) When the other man finally looked up, a flash of a grin spread across his mouth.

"Evan," his date Jack said, "nice to meet you at last."

A tingle shot up Evan's spine. That smile paired with that voice did things to him. He had the sudden urge to down a gulp of his wine.

"Yeah, hey," Evan said, feeling as awkward as ever, "nice to meet you too, Jack."

They just smiled like idiots at each other until Evan cleared his throat.

"So, uh, how was your day?"

A laugh filtered through the speakers. The sound alone made his stomach do a quick somersault. It was nice to know the workings of attraction could still pull him in despite the current climate of the world.

"Like any other day at this point," Jack said, his tone dipping a little in its cheeriness. "All my graduate work has been moved online, so it's been driving me crazy not being able to leave the house as much. Molly's the only one keeping me company."

Molly? His roommate? As if on cue, though, a bark sounded in the background. Jack cringed a little, as if he were embarrassed. "Sorry about that. I put her in the kitchen because I didn't want her jumping on my lap while we had our date."

Evan almost laughed at himself. Here he was, ready to ask specifics about a potential roommate and the situation there, yet all he had to worry about was a dog. "You can bring her out," he said. "If things work out and we can hang out eventually, then I'll have to meet her, won't I?"

That was the right thing to say because immediately Jack's face brightened. "Okay, I'll got get her."

A quick dash to the kitchen and back, Jack held up a drooling bulldog with, as Evan observed, a face that only a mother could have loved. Or, in this case, an adoring owner, given the way Jack looked at the dog.

A dog person. Always a plus. "You look totally in love with her," Evan said, not being able to help himself.

Jack's smile dimmed slightly as he settled the dog in his lap. "Is that a bad thing?" he asked, his voice smaller than it had been only minutes ago.

And Evan knew what that meant: it was time to do some damage control. Why, oh, why did he have to open his big mouth on the ever-important first date? First impressions didn't just grow on trees. Idiot, idiot, idiot—

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," Evan said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Pet people just have a lot of love to give, I guess."

Jack was quiet for a long moment. "You don't have a pet, Evan?"

Why? Is that a deal breaker? But he would go along with the question as best he could without resorting to defensiveness this early in the game. What did they have, a few hours of texting and half a Zoom call between them? There was so much left to learn about each other, and Evan wanted that chance.

And getting through this goddamn pandemic would be lonely enough if he struck out in the changing dating field this early.

"I wish I did," Evan said. "I had a cat named Kiki for years, but she passed away before I moved out of my parents' house. She was a good girl."

The smile Evan already found himself loving returned to Jack's face. "Kiki? Don't tell me you named her after Kiki's Delivery Service."

Evan might have flamed with a blush in his cheeks, but he just laughed the dig off. "Hey, I loved that movie as a kid. There's something wrong with you if you don't like any Studio Ghibli films."

"All right, what can I say, they're art," Jack said, the grin back on his face, and Evan felt like he could breathe easy. Chatting. That was good. And they had a light banter going along too. This almost felt like a normal date.

"So did you get yourself a drink like I told you to?" he asked, and Jack responded by letting Molly back onto the floor and then sliding over a glass into view of the camera.

"I don't know if I like your idea of trying to get me drunk on the first date," Jack said, a teasing lilt to his voice, and Evan laughed.

"Not my intention, I swear," he said. "It just takes the edge off. What are you drinking?"

"Hell if I know. I just picked it up from the grocery store while I was out today. It was on sale."

"Mine was too!" Evan said, delighted. Jack's grin grew wider.

"I guess we know we're not big drinkers then if we don't even know what we're buying."

"Connoisseurs of wine, we are not," Evan said while Jack nodded solemnly.

"Well, here we go," Jack said, holding up his wine glass. "Here's to first meetings."

"And here's to a swift end to the pandemic so we can actually meet up in a bar like the good old days," Evan found himself saying.

"I'll toast to that," Jack said, and they both took sips of their cheap wine in unison.

It would be almost a full year till they had a real first date in person, but to Evan? It was well worth the wait.

And the pandemic, though stressful and life-altering in so many ways, had given them the chance to fall in love in a whole new way.