The Chance

He bit his lip as he looked at the empty message bar. It wasn't like he didn't know what he'd want to say to her. He'd followed her for years on Instagram, just to have something nice to look at. But now, slightly drunk in a room that was slowly spinning, his conscience had told him this was a good idea, letting this beautiful stranger know that he was into her. Nothing will come of it, he was assured. She probably has a boyfriend and won't even see it. So, there he sat, fighting autocorrect and his blurring vision to tell her he found her attractive and would love to take her out since they don't live too far away.

A day later, she gets a message. She gets them all the time but this one is different. Though slightly misspelled, she can read, "Lemmr hsve thr chanxe to se benteath yur beauthful." It makes her giggle, but she can't possibly be considering being with a stranger. The last time she tried ended up with her bruised up and him in a cop car. Months of therapy made her see it wasn't her fault, but now she's always hesitant to do anything. Yet there's no harm in responding, right? her brain says. She writes back and sends it, then finishes putting on her lipstick so she can go to work.

He awoke to a message on the floor of his friend's house surrounded by bottles, condom wrappers, and random people he'd never seen before. His phone, laying under a woman with only underwear on, had barely startled him. He looked, his jaw-dropping. The beautiful woman he'd seen for years has written him back. "Work on your spelling and I'll give you a chance ;)" His heart jolted, hammering against his chest. It had been years since he'd had a date. His last girlfriend left him scarred and afraid of trying again, but that was years ago, right? This one won't be like that. His brain could be so persuasive. He wrote her back, then raced to the bathroom without a second glance.

She is startled while at work by her phone's buzzing. No one texts her back that quickly. She looks and a smirk appears. The man has wrote her back. She opens it and reads quickly. "I was REALLY durnk when I wrote that (I kinda still am). I think you're beautiful but I dunno if I'm raeady for all of this. My ex hurt me bad, so I want to get to know you first. Make sure there's more to you than a pretty face. I hope this doesn't sound to bad. If it does, I blame the alcohol." Giggling, she writes back and tries to focus on work despite her racing mind.

He returned from the bathroom to see his phone on the floor, lit up. He opened the message to see her reply to the unintentionally emotional message. "I'd love to get to know you better."