Chapter Text
I’m the kind of person who follows their school’s Twitter account. Maybe that’s what you’d expect from a Harry Potter-loving theater buff with too much free time, I don’t know. To be honest, I might even just follow them to show that I actually go there. Like, I can still feel the rush of excitement that hit me when I got into Columbia. Not only was it the only university I applied for, so for that fact, I was pretty relieved I didn’t have to find a sucky job to pass an eventual gap year by, but it did also mean I would live in New York.
Like, New York City. Which is a total upgrade to Atlanta, Georgia. Especially when you’re gay.
So that’s something. I’m gay. Let’s just say I haven’t been out for long, and definitely not voluntarily. All I’ve wanted to do for the majority of Senior Year was wanting to run away to a place where people wouldn’t shut their mouths and look me up and down with eyes big as saucers as soon as I enter a room.
And now I’m here, in New York. In Brooklyn to be exact, in a tiny apartment, I share with my best friend Leah. Leah doesn’t actually go to Columbia, she just attends some classes voluntarily as she’s a freelancing artist, and I swear to a God I don’t believe in, the only thing we have more of than different sorts of cereals in this flat is canvases. Our walls are basically taped with drawings of familiar book or movie characters, and I can even find myself in some of them. Like the sketch of me and Leah sitting on the floor of our empty apartment the night after we first moved in. Our voices used to echo even though the compartments are rather about the size of little cabinets than actual rooms.
I’m currently laying on my bed, with my laptop propped up against my thighs. I have soft music playing because Leah throws a tantrum whenever I turn it up too loud. She says she likes to lose herself in her art, and she can’t do that when Carly Rae Jepsen is playing for the hundredth time in the span of two hours.
I’m scrolling up my Twitter timeline when a new tweet from Columbia pops up at the top.
@ColumbiaNYC Our Psych Seniors are doing a social experiment based on Arthur Aaron’s theory that everyone could potentially fall in love with anyone just by answering 36 question!
@ColumbiaNYC If YOU are between the age of 18 and 28 and would like to take part in the experiment (and maybe fall in love!) please visit our website columbiapsych.com for further information!
I raise one eyebrow, a thing Leah always makes fun of because ‚It looks ridiculous!‘, and open up a new browser tab. A quick Google search later I’ve skimmed the thirty-six questions that could apparently make me goofy for anyone.
Just for the record, I like to tell myself I’m a very realistic and cynical person. Truth is, I’m just not. Honestly, it doesn’t take thirty-six questions to make me lose my shit over someone. Usually, it’s enough for a cute boy to look at me for longer than three seconds and I’ve already named all of our three future children.
Regarding that, you might think I’ve had tons of boyfriends in the past. I mean I definitely had, but they were also definitely all up in my head. I’ve had, for example, a totally cute, and totally fictive, relationship with the boy who used to play our mascot at school. He was a total dork with dark, curly hair and warm brown eyes, and so, so adorable. Except he had no idea I even existed because he was a year ahead of me and my interest in sports usually ends with hot guys in shorts with soccer calves.
I’d like to think I’ve had felt love in my life, but truly, I think I’ve only felt what the idea of love would be like.
Before I know better I’ve already clicked on the website linked in Columbia’s tweet. It’s pretty clear that it’s been designed by some experienced IT guy. The background is a bright blue and the font of the text is popping up whenever I let the cursor slide over the words.
In his recent study, psychologist Arthur Aaron stated that asking thirty-six specific questions plus four minute of sustained eye contact is a receipt for falling in love — with anyone, at any time, at any place.
His method has since been tested various times under laboratory conditions and with the use of time limits.
We, the Psych Seniors of the Columbia University, want to go a step further. What does this mean? We’d like to explore whether the physical appearance and presence of the partner is necessary for the process of falling in love. For our very own specific experiment we’ve thought about the factor of complete anonymity a lot, and came to the conclusion to use the internet in our favor.
With help from fellow students we’ve created an app, called Thirty Six, which you can download in the App Store if you’d like to be a participant in our experiment. Before you can use the app and fall in love, though, you will need a code to sign up. To get the code you simply need to fill out this form which will then be emailed to one of us. Within the span of twenty four hours, you will receive the code per email.
We, the leaders of the experiments, will be the only ones who have your name and info, and we won’t be giving it to any third parties.
Please notify that the communication with your partner will be over your personal email account, so the email you’ll use to sign up for the app will eventually be the one your partner is going to see (you might want to avoid your real name for the sake of anonymity).
Just know you are completely free to quit the experiment at any time, you won’t even need to tell us/your partner why. We do suggest, though, to inform us as soon as possible if there is any form of harassment, insults, or the like happening towards you from your partner.
We’re looking forward to having you as a participant!
Here’s to love!
„This is utter bullshit“, I mumble to myself as I click on the next link. I’m directed to a new, very minimalistic side with a few questions for me to answer if I wish to participate.
Full name (only for our own use, will not be shown on the app, or to third parties)
Simon Irvin SpierSex (please choose one)
[x] male
[ ] female
[ ] other
[email protected]Birthday + Age
November 17th, 18Sexual Orientation (please choose one)
[ ] straight
[x] gay
[ ] bisexual
[ ] pansexual
[ ] asexual
[ ] other
Once I clicked send on that, the next thing that pops up is a ‚Thank you for participating, Simon! You can now download Thirty-Six in the app store. We will send you a signup code to your email address [email protected] within the next 24 hours.‘
„What have I just done.“
„Are you having another existential crisis?“ Leah’s head peaks around the door. „Because if so, I’m going to leave since we’ve run out of both, Oreos and Pop Tarts, and I can’t handle this right now.“
I close my laptop and shove it to the side. „I might have just signed up for some online dating thing.“