Shayne Mallory’s eyes widened as she digested the news her friend had just told her. “You what?” She exclaimed at
her friend. “Why in the world did you do that for? Do I look that desperate?”

“I thought it would be a good idea.” Gina Shaw replied, defiantly defending her decision. “How was I to know
that you’d take it the wrong way?” She straightened her blue knit shirt. “I mean, it’s not like I set you up with a lunatic or
anything. I haven’t heard anything; so don’t worry about it. Maybe you’ll be lucky and no one will apply.” She leveled a glance
at Shayne. “Though you would consider that being lucky. I’ve never understood you.”

“Obviously not.” Shayne shot back. “Have you any idea how humiliating it is, to have your friends sign you up for
a dating service? An online dating service at that! Now people will think I’m desperate, if they haven’t already!” She sank
back into her chair and put her face in her hands. “Didn’t you have enough faith in me that I could get a date myself? I’m not
ugly, I have a nice personality, so I could have gotten a date. By myself!”

“Your friends and family can’t wait that long.” Gina retorted. She ignored the heated glare that Shayne shot at
her. “It’s the truth, Shayne. I honestly didn’t see the harm in it. Lots of people sign up for dating services and they meet
the person of their dreams. So I thought, what the heck, and I signed you up. If you want me to, I’ll cancel the service.”

“Part of me keeps wondering what Chad would say about all of this.” Shayne mused aloud.

Chad was a scum ball that you broke up with! He’s out of your life. Finito!” Gina exclaimed. “Don’t worry about
what he would think. He hasn’t been contacting you again, has he?”

“Not lately, but I’ve begun to wonder if it would start up again.” Shayne replied. “I just wish he would leave
me alone. It’s like he just can’t accept the fact that I broke up with him. It’s kind of creepy.”

“Yet another reason I signed you up. You also need someone who’d protect you from the demented wonder!” Gina
said. “It’s not like I don’t think that you’re capable of defending yourself, it’s just nice to have the added protection.”

“All right, Gina, I’ll go through with it. But the guy you hook me up with had better not be a sleaze ball!”
She shuddered. “I’ve had enough of that already.”

“Don’t worry, I’m personally hand-picking him for you. He’ll have to go through my stringent check system. He’ll
be nothing short of Prince Charming, I assure you.”

“I hope so.” Shayne replied.

“You what?” J.C. yelled. “Have you lost your freaking mind?”

Joey shrank back from J.C. “I didn’t think you’d care,” he replied. “So sue me for trying to help you land a
decent girl. I thought you’d rather have someone nice, rather than the barracuda from hell!” He crossed his arms over his chest
and glared at J.C. “You got a problem with that?”

J.C. sighed. “No, I guess not. But I hope it’s at least a reputable online dating service. I don’t want to end
up with the date from hell!”

You couldn’t get worse than what you’ve previously dated, Joey thought, but he didn’t voice his thoughts.
“I checked. It’s on the up-and-up. Trust me."

"That’s not the two words that I associate with you, Joey.” J.C. retorted. “But if you say so, I’ll believe you.
So how does this thing work?” He said as he and Joey walked over to his computer desk.

“I’ve already signed you up, and if someone meets your criteria, then they’re considered a match.” Joey replied.
“Let’s see if we’ve got any catches.” He scanned the screen. “Here we go. Her user name is midnight_phoenix. Let’s see what
her profile says.” He clicked on the link. Joey heard J.C.’s indrawn gasp behind him, and he smiled inwardly. Joey watched the
screen as midnight_phoenix’s profile came up. “Not bad.” Joey mused. “Not bad at all.”

The picture was of a young woman in who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Her blondish-brown hair lay sleek
against her head. But it was her eyes that drew you in. It was hard to distinguish whether they were brown or green; the color
was so dark. Her red, full lips were lifted in a smile that bespoke of her sweet nature. You could tell by her clothes that she
didn’t dress trendy, but favored classical looks. The navy blue sweater that she was wearing contrasted with her smooth ivory
skin.

“Says here her name is Shayne Mallory. She’s only a year younger than you, J.C. She works as a computer
instructor.” Joey scrolled down some more. “And she has the same interests that you do.” He slapped J.C. on the back. “So?
You gonna write her or what?”

J.C. looked back at Shayne’s photo. What have you got to lose? He thought to himself. “I’ll do it.” J.C.
replied. “Let me write down her information.” J.C. grabbed a pad of paper and jotted down Shayne’s information. He looked back
at Joey. “I assume that you put correct information about me. Right?”

“Sure I did. I made sure that they knew how serious and boring you are.” Joey joked. “I’m kidding, geesh!” He
said, as J.C. shot him a dark look. “Everything on there’s factual, no lies at all. So are you gonna write her tonight?”

“Do I have to tell you everything?” J.C. asked.

Joey feigned a mock hurt expression. “You wound me, J.C. And here I thought I was your best friend.”

“You know what I mean, Joey.” J.C. replied. “But yeah, I’m going to write her. The sooner the better.”

"So how does this work, Gina?" Shayne asked.

"I've already got your information in there. All you do is log on and see if you've got any matches. Here's your
login information. Now let's see if we've caught one." Gina typed in Shayne's login info and scanned the screen silently.

"Yes! You've got a match!" Gina exclaimed. "Let's see his stats. Hmm...no photo huh? Must be shy. He's only a
year older than you, Shayne, and it looks like you've got quite a few things in common. That's good. Here, let me write down his
contact information."

"Gina, let me print that out." Shayne replied.
"It'll save you the trouble of writing it all down." Shayne pressed
the Print key and soon the printer was humming as it printed the document out.

"Are you going to contact him, Shayne?" Gina asked.

"Since you've gone to this much trouble to find me a man, how can I say no?" replied Shayne. "I'll write him
tonight."