Meeting you
My phone buzzed on the bed beside me.
Mary: Aly, get on.
I smiled slightly and rolled onto my stomach, quickly typing back.
Okay, hold on.
I pushed myself up and grabbed my laptop from my desk. The soft glow of the screen lit up my dim bedroom as it powered on. I opened Google and typed Monkey App, clicking the first link that appeared. When the website loaded, I copied the join code and sent it to Mary.
A few seconds later, her face popped up on my screen.
“Hey girllll!” she yelled, way louder than she needed to.
I laughed and waved at the camera. “Hi, Mary.”
We started the app, letting random people appear on our screens. Every few seconds a new stranger popped up. Some of them were actually normal, and we talked for a minute or two about random things—where they were from, what they were doing, stupid jokes.
Others… were definitely weird.
Mary and I kept skipping through people, laughing every time someone said something awkward or strange.
Time passed faster than I realized.
After about two hours, Mary stretched her arms over her head and yawned.
“I’m gonna go to sleep, Aly,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I said with a small smile. “Goodnight. Sleep well.”
“Night.”
Her screen disappeared, leaving my laptop display empty for a moment.
The room suddenly felt quieter.
For a second I considered getting off too. But I didn’t really feel tired yet… and honestly, I didn’t have anything else to do.
So I refreshed the page and kept going.
Person after person appeared, and most conversations barely lasted a minute before one of us skipped. Some people didn’t even talk. They just stared at the camera until the timer ran out.
About an hour later, two guys appeared on the screen.
The first one I noticed was a Hispanic guy with short curly hair. He looked strong—kind of buff but still a little chubby. He leaned closer to the camera like he was curious about who had popped up.
Then my eyes shifted to the guy next to him.
He caught my attention immediately.
He was lightskin, skinny but with some definition in his arms. His curly brown hair was big and messy, falling slightly over his forehead like he hadn’t bothered fixing it. But what stood out the most were his eyes.
Hazel.
Even through the screen, they seemed bright.
While I was still looking at him, the Hispanic guy spoke.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I replied, smiling slightly. “How are y’all?”
The Hispanic guy and I talked for a minute or so, making casual conversation. The other boy stayed quiet at first, just watching the screen.
Then he finally spoke.
“Can we show you our performance?”
He didn’t break eye contact with the camera.
I laughed a little and nodded. “Sure.”
They grabbed a couple pieces of paper and suddenly started doing a small skit. It was completely random and honestly pretty corny—but the way they performed it made it funny.
I couldn’t stop laughing.
When they finished, they both leaned back toward the camera dramatically.
“Thank you, thank you,” they said jokingly, like they had just finished performing on a stage.
“That was amazing,” I said, smiling.
We talked for another five or ten minutes after that. The conversation felt easy, like none of us were trying too hard.
Then the Hispanic guy suddenly turned toward his friend.
“So… are y’all gonna get each other’s Instagram or can we leave?” he asked.
The lightskin boy smiled slightly before looking back at me.
“Can I have your Instagram?”
I hesitated for a second, then typed into the chat.
@axy_her20
After that, we said our goodbyes. A second later, the screen switched to the next random person.
I closed my laptop and laid back in my bed.
Honestly, I didn’t think much about it.
I didn’t really expect him to actually follow me.
But then—
Ding.
My phone lit up on the nightstand.
I picked it up and unlocked it. My eyebrows lifted slightly when I saw the notification.
@taee has requested to follow you.
“Tae…” I murmured quietly to myself.
I accepted the request and followed him back. Curious, I clicked on his profile and started looking through it—his pictures, his highlights, small clips of moments from his life.
Then another notification appeared.
A message.
hey.
I froze.
For a few seconds… actually longer than a few seconds. I stared at the screen, debating whether I should respond right away or wait.
Finally, I opened the chat and typed back.
heyy.
After that, we started texting more. We asked random questions, slowly getting to know each other better. The conversation felt natural, like it flowed easily without either of us trying.
Then another message appeared.
you wanna call?
I thought about it for a moment before replying.
sure.
A few seconds later, my phone started ringing.
I answered.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I replied, smiling a little even though he couldn’t see me.
We talked more on the phone, asking questions and learning little things about each other. That’s when I found out his name was Davontae.
And he learned mine was Aly.
The conversation kept going and going, and neither of us really noticed how much time had passed.
Eventually, I glanced over at the clock across my room.
2:00 a.m.
“I think I’m gonna go to sleep,” I said, already laying back against my pillow.
“Yeah, I probably should too,” he said.
We said our goodbyes before the call ended.
The screen went dark, and my room became quiet again.
I stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking about how random the whole night had been.
Just a few hours ago, he had been nothing more than a stranger on a screen.
And now…
we were actually talking.
