Grace rolled over in her bed, untangled herself from her sheets and reached for her phone. Unlocking it, she saw that she had a few new messages in a social app that she was frequently using. This app was aimed at people who were all part of a gaming community and it was Grace's escape from real life. She didn't have a bad life, it was just dull. Every morning she would wake up, get ready, go to work, complete the tasks that had been set for her that day, clock out at 5pm, go home, eat dinner, collapse in front of the TV then go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. She did have hobbies of course, but they'd stopped mentally stimulating her.
Opening the app, Grace saw a barrage of messages from the person she was hoping had messaged her; Kon.
Kon was a man that had exploded into her life, he was so full of energy and talking to him made her incredibly happy. He'd become such a close friend in a short amount of time and every day she was surprised with how much she was willing to share with this man.
Grace was 26, shy in real life and found solace in this app - in this man. A few months before, Grace and her partner split up and she was left living alone in a house that felt crowded when he was living with her. But alone, it felt big and lonely. Her life felt like it had come to a standstill until she became friends with Kon. She had friends in real life, but she didn't get to see them much due to their hectic real lives. One friend was a teacher, and one was a busy extrovert who had a lot of people to see. Sometimes Grace was forgotten about, although she didn't mind that too much because she was an introvert who enjoyed staying in at times, talking to people online who didn't make her feel on edge.
Pushing her long brown hair out of her face, Grace propped herself up on one elbow and read the messages that Kon had sent her. Each night they would send a goodnight message to one another; sometimes short, sometimes long. The long messages were becoming a regular thing. This time it was a long message again. Kon had written her a sweet chorus about how he enjoyed her friendship, how he loved talking to her and how much happier his life was with her in it. He would say those things to her regularly and it always made her smile. Amongst the sweet messages, he'd also sent her a photo of himself, showing off his latest tattoo. He was excited about the tattoo as he'd gotten it that day. Grace really wanted to be awake when he got the tattoo, however, they lived in very different time zones. She lived in England, while he lived in America. There was an 8-hour difference between the two of them and sometimes it was very inconvenient. The tattoo was an example of that inconvenience of time zones.
Looking at the photo, she could see Kon from the hips up. It wasn't the first time he had face revealed for her. Early into their textual friendship, they had given out some minor details about themselves, including first names and age. Kon was 20 years older than Grace, which didn't worry her at all. She had always found herself getting along with older men more than people her own age, so it didn't surprise her that she felt comfortable with him. At the beginning, she was wary about the things she told him, but as time went on, they both shared more and more information. Eventually that included photos.
Kon was a handsome man who looked after himself. He went to the gym a few times a week and Grace couldn't help but notice his big, strong arms. He clearly took pride in his arms as they were often on display in his photos. While she tried to keep her feelings platonic for him, she couldn't help but imagine what his chest and arms looked like outside of a t-shirt. His skin tone was often something she looked at intently. Kon had explained to her a while ago that he was Asian-American which explained his golden skin. Grace was jealous of his skin tone because it gave him the ability to tan. Being a typical Brit, her skin was pale and trying to tan was an impossible task.
The tattoo he had gotten this time was of Batman, her favourite hero. She smiled and wrote out her typical good morning introduction;
Grace:
Good morning from England!
She continued the text in her usual manner, excited but reserved.
Finally peeling herself away from her phone, she got up and prepared herself for another day at the office.
Arriving at work, Grace yawned, stretched then plonked herself down on her chair. Waiting for the computer to boot up, she removed her phone from her pocket and checked her favourite app again. Kon wasn't online and that saddened her, even though she knew it was 1am for him and he would still be asleep. The computer decided it wanted to update, so Grace sighed and placed her head in her hands, entering a daydream state.
As was common for her now, Grace found herself thinking about Kon and imagining what it would be like to meet him in real life. They'd talked about meeting up, but he lived a few thousand miles away from her, it just wasn't a realistic conversation. She'd join in with those conversations but deep down, she just didn't believe they'd ever meet.
Kon:
Good morning from America!
A message arrived from Kon. Grace quickly typed back a message;
You're up early, are you okay?
She waited for the reply.
10 minutes went by.
20 minutes.
Buzz.
Kon:
I'm fine, I just got woken up by the dog and had to let her out into the yard. How are you this morning? You're at work, aren't you?
Grace smiled to herself, she wanted to say that she was feeling amazing because she'd gotten an early reply from him, but she didn't say that.
Grace:
I'm fine as well, thanks! I am at work, I'm waiting for the computer to update, it's been at it for the past 20 minutes.
He replied immediately.
Kon:
That sucks! Hey, I dreamt about you last night. I don't wanna go into details, but it was interesting.
Grace almost choked on her tongue which for some reason she was very aware of. She licked her lips and decided to pick one question to ask, although she had many.
Grace:
Why don't you want to go into details?
She stared at her phone, she knew that Kon had a hard time saying no to her, and he would usually cave in and give her what she wanted. She wasn't a spoilt person, she was never demanding or confident in real life, but with Kon, she felt like she could really push things without worrying about consequences. She was curious by nature and with Kon, she could ask the questions that popped into her head and he would answer them.
His reply was slow coming in, but it was worth the wait.
Kon:
I dreamt that we had sex.
Grace's jaw dropped. He didn't play any games with her, he told her the truth and that was exciting for her. The answer was what she'd been expecting but seeing the words under his username thrilled her. She stared at the words. It was just a dream, she knew that, but something about it made her hair stand on end and she didn't know why.
Grace:
Men have those kinds of dreams all the time!
Her reply was a mix of humour and seriousness. She knew that it didn't mean anything and that it was true to a degree, but she liked giving him a hard time.
His reply was short.
Kon:
Ouch.
That was his go-to reply whenever she teased him or gave him a hard time. Grace smiled at the word, it gave her an opening to joke further with him. Her reply was quick and seemed to come naturally to her.
Grace:
