How are you in Spanish?

17. Light blond missed whiskers, cargo shorts, and the high school basketball team logo on a pilled green sweatshirt. Patrick only has a semester left of Spanish III, and really should’ve remembered “como estas” by his third year, but senora Fitzpatrick of Regis Catholic Schools won’t know the difference..

Como estas

followed by the meek, bashful smiley emoji, that says “I’m cute and shy at first, but not arrogant”

Because this is the twentieth swipe right

Because everyone is starting to look the same

So what the hell

Why not shake things up, another way to twist the same empty questions into something punchy and exciting and mysterious?

Maybe you knew it was como estas. But you wanted to see it, to double check that your brain wasn’t tricking you, to forget a secret extra e or a or silent letter. You couldn’t bear looking like that idiot.

How are you? In Spanish.

How did you get into this Spanish? How are you here?

What connects my millions of silly searched tech issues and personality quizzes, mending broken hearts and recipe substitutes

What connected my infinite searches

with theirs

to make this little question drop down,

suggesting How are you

(in Spanish)

was what I was looking for at 10:21 on a Sunday night?