Honestly, I had no plans in mind when joining the app
By Tania Arora, Staff Writer
Two years ago, I landed in this city. Miles away from home and in a different land, I had no family or friends around me. Since I was jobless, I had nothing to do apart from my studies from school. The time difference made it difficult for me to talk to my family or friends back home—they were asleep whenever I was wide awake and free. I will be honest, when it comes to intimate matters, I am one of those “old-school” people. When I downloaded Tinder—an app which is well-known for casual sex—I had no plans of getting laid.
When I reflect on that time, I still am confused why on earth I even installed Tinder if I did not want to get laid. I was just looking for reasons to go out, meet new people who knew more about the city, and just have a companion for dinner or lunch at a place I wanted to try. It sucked eating all my meals by myself with no one around to talk to—or complain with about the ingredient measurements that went wrong.
My friend was the fourth guy I met. The first three dates were kinda okay-ish. I was, as usual, running late. Guys have their ways of trying to impress girls, and the same applied to him too. He was on time. When I met him, he got out of his car, greeted me with a hug, complimented me on my look, and opened the door for me. First impression: 10/10.
We met at 8 pm. The entire night we drove from one end of the city to the other, exploring every part. Long walks at the White Rock pier, glowing lights in Gastown, Stanley Park, and North Vancouver. Even Granville to Burnaby Mountain Park. It wasn’t any sort of sexual desire that led us that far. We had so much to talk about, and because of that the entire sprawling night felt short.
I have always been an extrovert; I can go hours talking about my experiences. This guy was an introvert. But he found his comfort zone—sharing his thoughts, dreams, and past. We shared as much as we could in the night, never shying away from any detail. It wasn’t liking or loving at all—it was pure friendship. It was a night in which we both realized we had found someone that we could call at night to share anything or everything without getting judged. We realized that we found a friend we must hold on to. Miles away from our families, we made a new family.
It was 4:30 am when I got back home. We shared a warm hug as we parted and there was no “three day” rule that we bothered following. We knew what we shared and both of us valued it. I can never explain to anyone my intentions of downloading Tinder and I don’t want to. I never explained our meeting to anyone and never would (until now). It has been two years now, and our bond has grown, and we are as thick as thieves. Two years ago, I’d call him my Tinder date, but today I call him my best friend.
