Digital love- a sci-fi romance short story

Tabitha had been single for two years now. At twenty-seven, she was a beautiful girl with very long blonde hair. She had bright blue eyes and a gorgeous face with a kind expression written upon it. She was quite chubby at a UK dress size eighteen. But she wore it well and felt confident.

Tabitha sat in her modest yet extremely modern smart flat. It was the year 6026. Her property, which was a new-build one-bedroom in Milton Keynes, was connected to her Android phone.

She had a modest mortgage on the one-bedroom flat. She had moved in the previous year. Her parents had helped save up for the deposit. Yet the property was in a relatively affordable town in Buckinghamshire.

Milton Keynes was full of modern skyscrapers, busy shops and restaurants. Along the highway, billboards with holographic images advertised the latest political campaigns or things for sale.

Tabitha had a driverless car; she had owned it since she was eighteen years old. It looked a bit like a white beetle, yet the modern car allowed her to have really great independence.

Her flat was decorated with girly decor from B&M and Ikea. She had got her mortgage and been so proud when she purchased the property. Her flat was worth £140K, which was a lot to her.

Her father and mother lived in an ex-council house in Chesham which they had purchased through the Right to Buy when she was young. Her dad was a cleaner and her mother, a shop assistant.

Many cleaning jobs in this day and age had been taken by robots. But her father worked for a human-led cleaning team, which were more rare at this time.

Tabitha was the first person in her family to go to university. She had a degree in illustration, which she had studied online from the Open College of Arts. She had done her degree part-time over six years while working in Tesco. She had achieved a 2.1 in her degree, which she was dead proud of.

She liked living on her own. Before getting the smart flat, she had lived with her parents. She had wanted to move when her relationship with Eric had ended.

Eric was handsome and kind. He was the only boyfriend she had ever had since sixth form. She had loved him for all those years. But as time went by, over the last six months of their relationship, they grew apart. Their love had evaporated until two completely different people were together.

Eric had lived in Chesham all his life, too. He had studied accounting at Bucks New University in High Wycombe. He had a good job at the local Barclays bank in Amersham.

When Tabitha had broken up with Eric two years ago, Chesham didn’t feel the same to her. Eric had rented a flat in the town and she would often spend time there. But now she had only her parents’ home to spend time in. Chesham felt hollow to her.

When her mother suggested she move to the more affordable and modern Milton Keynes, she jumped at the idea. Her parents had saved twenty-thousand pounds over the years for when Tabitha was ready to buy her own home.

Tabitha got an admin job that was working from home, as she had excellent IT skills from her time doing an online degree. She enjoyed her work. It also gave her time to concentrate on her passion, which was selling illustrated mugs and plates on Etsy. Although she didn’t make enough to sustain a mortgage and a good lifestyle from this, she made a cute amount of royalties that fuelled her creative passion.

*****

Tabitha knew that she needed to make the next step in her life. She was fully settled into her flat. She visited her parents often. She had a good life. But romance was missing.

As she looked at her mid-range Google Pixel phone, she downloaded a dating app. She had never been on them before, as she had met her only boyfriend in life during sixth form.

Many of her friends had found their husbands on such apps. Tabitha had downloaded Match, which was a popular dating app.

As she filled out her profile, she felt a little nervous. For the first time since becoming single, she felt self-conscious of her size. But she didn’t let it stop her.

She uploaded photos of herself wearing pretty dresses. She knew she had a beautiful face and uploaded one of the photos where she was wearing no make-up.

In her details on the app, she mentioned her dress size, knowing that the app catered to people of various sizes and shapes. Yet she was aware she wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

After filling in her own profile, she swiped on a few others, looking at what Milton Keynes and the wider area of Bucks had to offer for single men in their late twenties.

A lot of them were attractive. Some were beautiful like Eric had been. She wasn’t deeply bothered if her next boyfriend was as handsome as her ex was. She wanted someone she could fall in love with. Someone witty and intelligent. Someone independent and creatively alive.

*****

A few days passed. Tabitha had matched with three guys on the app from swiping on their profile and viewing their holographic videos, which came alive in the room, being able to see them in her flat as though they were actually there, through the power of modern technology.

Out of the three profiles, Rodger sounded the most interesting. He was thirty-two and worked as a luxury estate agent in Buckinghamshire and London. He lived alone in High Wycombe with his dog who was a Border collie.

As the day went by, Tabitha messaged with Rodger, who seemed confident and chatty in their initial interactions.

As they talked, he sent her a video note on hologram of him with his dog. She in return recorded a video of herself in her flat. He shortly replied that she was beautiful and stated how he was enjoying chatting with her.

As the days went on, they talked every day. Soon their conversations moved from the Match app, as they had exchanged phone numbers.

Through WhatsApp’s holographic chat, it was like Rodger was in the room with her. She enjoyed talking to him and laughed at his jokes. He was very good-looking but so different from her last boyfriend, Eric.

Rodger was muscular and medium height. He had dark brown hair and chocolate-coloured eyes. He wore white designer shirts and jeans. He poured love and affection into his dog, which Tabitha enjoyed watching when they would video-chat for over an hour each evening.

After two weeks of chatting, Tabitha was excited to go on a first date with Rodger. She hadn’t replied to messages from other guys on the dating app, wanting to give Rodger a chance at love before she considered someone else.

Tabitha met with Rodger for the first time in Milton Keynes city centre. He drove a luxurious driverless car. It was a silver sports model. As she waited outside of the café and watched him exit his car, she felt butterflies of anticipation dance in her stomach.

‘Hey,’ Rodger said.

‘It’s good to meet in real life,’ replied Tabitha.

‘Shall we grab a coffee?’ he said.

As they entered the Costa coffee shop, Tabitha was aware that Rodger was wearing very strong cologne. It smelt pleasant but was very overpowering in scent.

When they purchased their coffees, he didn’t pay for hers. Tabitha was a little surprised at this.

As they talked, she enjoyed his company. He seemed to be a chatty person. But she found it weird how he remarked that there was no point in her having gone to university, considering she had a modest-paying job. He also seemed uninterested in her describing her side hustle of selling illustrated mugs and plates on Etsy. He rolled his eyes as she described these things.

Still, Tabitha enjoyed the date as the evening went on. After Costa, they went to Frankie and Bennies. Again, he only paid for his half. He seemed more interested in talking about himself then what Tabitha had to describe about her own life.

When the evening was closing, he kissed her passionately on the mouth. It was the second man in her life to ever kiss her. She felt excited to kiss him back.

When he drove off after the date, Tabitha was unsure, feeling mixed feelings about the experience of going on a first date with Rodger.

*****

The next day, Rodger texted her, asking her what her favourite sex positions were.

Tabitha felt hurt and disappointed. She unmatched with him on the dating app and blocked his number.

A day later, he messaged her on another phone, stating how he was sorry and had just been so attracted to her. He expressed how he was a very sexual person.

Tabitha replied that she needed someone who would take things slow. He called her up and apologized, stating he really liked her and that he did want to take things slow.

So, Tabitha gave him another chance. For their second date, he didn’t mention sex again, only flirty messages about her beauty. Sometimes the messages felt a bit creepy to her.

On their second date, she enjoyed herself very much. They went to the Buck’s Museum of History in Milton Keynes. It showed how technology had advanced through the years. For example, how modern medicine had advanced light years.

Tabitha expressed to Rodger how she couldn’t imagine a time when her phone couldn’t scan her for any ailment in human history.

‘We do live in fantastic times,’ he replied when she made this comment.

As they walked around the massive museum, they enjoyed each other’s company. He kissed her goodnight at the end of the date but with less force and passion then the first kiss had been.

Yet by the third date, he was messaging her to ask how they were going to ‘fuck’, wanting her to describe every detail. She was unsure about him.

She asked a close friend, who expressed it could be to do with his star sign. She also stated that the third date was usually when people slept together, anyhow.

But by the fourth date, the energy had popped in their courting. It was clear Rodger was unhappy with their lack of ‘fucking’. He was also obviously bored by their conversation.

Tabitha had learnt how he had only one GCSE. He didn’t seem to value education and they weren’t intellectually matched. They never went on a fifth date.

When their relationship frazzled and evaporated into the past, Tabitha felt relief. She had liked certain things about Rodger, such as his passion for his dog and how charismatic he was, yet they didn’t spark the way she knew romantic partners could. From her experience of her first relationship with Eric, she knew that her and Rodger didn’t have the ingredients for true love.

Tabitha gave herself a few weeks off from the dating app. She posted on the app how she would check her messages soon, having not replied to the twenty-something messages she now had on there.

When two weeks had passed, Tabitha checked her messages. She read through them all and looked at their profiles, trying to decipher if the person would be a good match for her.

One of them stood out particularly. He was a cute chubby guy with square glasses. He had a picture of him with a white cat in the profile. His name was Issac and he was a counsellor. His profile stated how he loved video games and was a little shy.

When Tabitha messaged him, he replied the next day, putting a ‘yay’ in his replies after a few short interactions.

Tabitha and Issac talked on the app for a few days before they had a video chat on Match. His holographic image filled the room. She saw how his white cat was sitting next to him in his flat in Aylesbury, which she could see through the hologram images.

He asked her how her day was. The conversation was natural and chilled. Tabitha liked how he was very chatty but in a down-to-earth manner.

Every other day, they would video-chat through the hologram. Tabitha had his number on her phone. He had told her how he had only ever had one other girlfriend in his life who he broke up with four years ago.

Issac was sweet and intellectual. He was understanding when she talked about things. She could see how he would be a good counsellor.

When the day came for her and Issac to meet, it was like magic. They met in Milton Keynes outside the bus station. Issac didn’t have a car. He lived alone in a flat he owned in Aylesbury with his fluffy white cat.

She thought he looked cute in his checkered shirt. He was plump and walked slowly, but he smelled of gentle male perfume. His hair was nice and his eyes lit up when she spoke.

She found herself in Costa again for her first date, this time with Issac. Yet the conversation was so much more natural than it had been with Rodger, who she was glad she was no longer in contact with.

As the dates when by, Tabitha really liked what she saw of Issac. He had done a GCSE in Japanese online and liked to show off with phrases in the language. He talked about his cat named Lotte who he loved dearly.

He was sweet and she was really keen on him. He didn’t pressure her about sex. It wasn’t until the tenth date that they even entered that element, by which time four months had swum by in happiness.

When they did make love, Tabitha felt like a beautiful woman. They were both plus size, but that didn’t seem to matter when she was with him in any shape or form.

She knew as the months danced by in merriment that she was falling in love. Issac was the most amazing guy. This was the second time in her life being in love.

Yet she was older and wiser now. She and Issac seemed to work well. Tabitha found she was always enjoying his company and could spend hours and hours with him and not feel bored.

*****

Two years passed. The couple sold both their properties and bought a joint two-bedroom house in Milton Keynes. It was a smart house and full of modern technology attached to their phones.

They were engaged and planning a wedding. But not only that, they were planning a family. Tabitha knew that babies born through the artificial womb were particularly healthy, so this was the route to pregnancy that they chose. It also meant that Tabitha wouldn’t gain more weight, as she wouldn’t be naturally carrying the baby.

The baby girl who they named Charlotte grew healthily inside the artificial womb at Milton Keynes Hospital. When nine months had passed, they took the baby home to their warm and cosy house in the busy city.

The years passed by beautifully. Charlotte was a bright little girl. As she grew up, the family shared their life with cats. Tabitha and Issac’s parents were both involved in Charlotte’s life.

Tabitha was glad that Eric married and found love, too. He also had a family and had three children of his own. They had become friends again. They occasionally talked on WhatsApp now. Even though neither of them romantically loved each other, they both recalled how they were each other’s first love.

Life with Issac was glorious. In the cosy two-bedroom smart house on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, Tabitha had everything she needed. A man who made her feel loved, beautiful and cherished. A daughter who was smart and creative. A pursuit of illustration that although never made much profit, it gave her art in her life.

Tabitha thanked the day she had downloaded Match onto her phone. She sometimes wondered if Rodger had found love. She hoped he had, but had lost contact with him. She believed that there was love waiting for most people, it just took the right person to see your light.

Married life with Issac was a beautiful masterpiece. A song sung so sweetly it filled her heart with beautiful music.