Emotional Matchmaking App

Emotional Matchmaking App

Well, the good news was he hadn't seen her yet. The bad news was the wedding ceremony was only half over. Five or six more hours and he would be able to sneak out of the wedding reception and return to his hotel room. 

Jamie could not wait to go back to his suite, peel off his black tuxedo, throw the boutonniere in the garbage and go to bed. Yup, he was definitely looking forward to climbing into the super comfortable king bed where he would spend the night tossing and turning and feeling sorry for himself. 

For now he had found a spot behind the reception tent where it was nice and quiet. Jamie flopped down under a great big maple tree and took his jacket off. 

He planned on staying under the leafy shelter until enough guests had filled the tent and he could no longer avoid going inside. Right now, there was a break between the church ceremony and the reception dinner. Jamie was happy to take advantage of the break.

Currently the weather was clear and warm, but there was a storm warning for later on. Jamie wasn't going to worry about that right now. For now, he was going to enjoy the shining sun and warm breeze. He needed to stay focused on his plan.

The plan was to give the obligatory best man speech, eat his meal, dance a few dances and then bolt. All the while avoiding the most beautiful woman in the room. Well, mostly avoid her. He wanted a photo for a project he was working on but that was it.

Jamie's brother and his new wife made a great couple and the wedding ceremony had been lovely. The problem was that one of the guests was a former girlfriend.  And she wasn't just any girlfriend, she was the one who got away.  

She was the one who set the bar for all the women he had dated after her. She was the one who inspired his work during the days and who crept into his dreams at night. When he had last seen her fifteen years earlier she had been young and beautiful.  He felt sure that she was even more stunning now.

Jolene, even her name was beautiful. She had just turned twenty-one when he left her or rather she told him she didn't want to come with him. She had luxurious long auburn hair, a tiny waist and a very contagious laugh. He decided long ago that she would always live in his memory and that gave him some comfort. 

Jolene and Jamie met in junior high and had been pretty inseparable for most of high school. In college they remained close and were quite happy together. They probably would still be together if Jamie hadn't gotten the job offer of a lifetime. 

Jamie was a techy guy, always fiddling with something. He had some success as the guy who figured out how to reduce the amount of water that dishwashers used by twenty three percent. A decent accomplishment by any standard.

Shortly after that Wixco, an up and coming tech company offered him ten times his current salary to relocate. He did so, even after Jolene begged "not right now, baby, not right now"

The first few years working at Wixco were great.  He worked long hours but it paid off. He was credited as one of the game developers of the game Belladonna. That had been exciting. Jamie had won the prestigious "Content creator of the year" award for his work on that game. 

There were other successes along the way and they all led him to the project that he was working on now.  Currently, he was working on a dating app called Emotional Matchmaking App aka Emma. He expected the name to change when it went to market but it was the working title he wanted for now. 

The idea was this, the client would answer questions and describe "feel good" events, then the app would populate a match for them based on how the activity made them feel.  

For example if two people both answered that they enjoyed fishing they would not necessarily be matched up. If one liked the "thrill of the chase" of catching the fish, more than the catch and another said they liked the "satisfaction of cooking" their catch they had different needs. The app would differentiate that need and match couples accordingly. 

Jamie was using the memories he had of Jolene as sample test memories to use as content to load into the app. The reason why he was hoping to get a photo of her was because he planned on creating an avatar in the app that resembled his high school sweetheart. 

Jamie decided enough time had passed and he should probably join everyone at reception. He had been eavesdropping and listening to the D.J's planning the evenings set list. They were just on the other side of the tent where he had been sitting.  By the sounds of it they were getting ready to play the music for the bride and groom's entrance. He figured he had better get in there before they did. 

The timing was perfect. Jamie walked in and took his seat at the head table just as the music began to play. He waved a waiter down, ordered a drink and watched his brother and his wife walk in holding hands. 

DJ Chains turned out to be a fantastic emcee. He kept the evenings itinerary on track and played awesome party tunes. Jamie had been able to complete his speech and eat his dinner without making eye contact with Jolene. 

He watched her out of the corner of his eye, of course. He knew she was wearing a navy blue silk tea length dress with bright red pumps. Her hair was swept back in a loose braid and she wore no jewelry that he could notice. 

Thankfully, now that dinner was over the rest of the evening should go by quickly. That storm was rolling in and it had begun to rain really hard. Jamie anticipated that the change in weather would encourage some of the guests to leave earlier than they would have otherwise. That worked well for him because he wouldn't look out of place when he tried to leave early as well. 

The bridesmaid Jamie was paired with was a cute blonde named Missy She was his new sister in law's younger cousin. She was great fun, very easy going. Jamie and Missy had been enjoying the odd dance throughout the evening. So, he wasn't overly surprised when Missy grabbed his hand and pulled him out onto the dance floor.

They were laughing and smiling and having a great time when the song ended and a slow song began. Jamie loosely put his arms around Missy's waist and they began to sway to the music. 

What happened next is as difficult to explain as it is to believe. Jolene tapped Missy on the shoulder and cut in on the dance. If Jamie's heart could have jumped right out of his chest it would have. 

Of course he had been thinking about Jolene all evening. He had wanted nothing more than to be in the position he found himself in now. Holding her and dancing with her was like a dream come true. 

However, what he didn't want was to "catch up". He didn't want to hear about whether or not she was married. He was afraid she probably was. I mean who could possibly be as stupid has he had been. Any man would be more than lucky to have her. 

When the song ended Jamie reached into his coat pocket and pulled out this cell phone. He awkwardly asked Jolene if he could take her picture. It seemed like a really dumb question but what else was there to say? Other than "Jolene, I was an ass to leave you and I am sorry. I think about you everyday and I love you"

Jolene looked up at him and smiled while he stammered  something about needing her picture for work. The exchange was becoming quite embarrassing as he tried to focus on snapping a photo. 

He opened up the Emma app and turned the phone around to take a selfie style picture of the two of them. At the exact moment that he clicked on the camera icon a bolt of lightning struck the power box that connected the DJ equipment. For a few seconds you could hear the guests gasp at the same time the speakers were sputtering static.

Then it happened, in a clear voice Emma began to speak loud and clear through DJ Chains fourteen hundred dollar speakers. "Hello Jamie, this is Emma. After analyzing all the data I have determined that Jolene Matthews is your perfect match. 

"No, no, no" Jamie said over and over. He could not believe this was happening. 

Emma carried on "Jamie, based on the information you provided I have determined that you trust Jolene. You recognize your need to compromise with her and you respect her individuality". 

Jamie wished the dance floor could have swallowed him up. But, it didn't. Instead he stood there bright red in the face. He finally was able to power down his phone thankfully breaking off the bizarre connection that had taken place between the cell phone and the sound system. 

DJ Chains didn't miss a beat he fired up the music again as fast as he could. After some urging the guests began to order drinks and dance again. 

Jolene had fallen into the nearest chair and looked rather dumbfounded. Which was to be expected of course. 

Jamie overcome with emotion knelt down in front of her and said "Jo, I am not sure why that just happened but I do know Emma was right. I have always loved you and probably always will". Jamie looked away for a moment searching for the right words. "I will leave you now, and I apologize if I embarrassed you". Jamie took one of Jolene's hand in his and kissed it. Then he got up and walked out of the reception tent into the pouring rain.

He walked slowly into the parking lot and searched for his rental car. When he found it he got in and started it up. He sat for a moment and replayed the Emma debacle in his mind. He still could not process what had happened.

Jamie turned on the headlights and windshield wipers. He was just about to put the car in reverse when he saw Jolene running toward the car. Jamie opened the drivers door and out of the car. He wrapped his arms around his first love and held her while she wept in his arms.