Making Love

by Aidan Wayne

  Leeta thought, brow creasing in concentration. “I like to read,” she said, after a long moment. “It’s not usually a favorite pastime of my species, but well . . .” She hesitated before adding, “Romance novels. Don’t tease me.”

  “I wouldn’t!” Carla gasped at the very thought. “Romance novels are wonderful. Of course I’ll put that down.”

  Leeta nodded.

  “Okay,” Carla said, once she’d written all that up. “Now, hobbies and interests? What are things you do in your spare time right now? When you’re not, ah, eating.”

  “I dance,” Leeta said. “Being able to move well is essentially a requirement for a succubus, but I dance on my own time too. And I read and take walks, as I already mentioned.”

  “Dancing,” Carla added. “Excellent. What sort of dance?”

  “At this point?” Leeta’s lips quirked up again. “Everything and anything asked or required. But I am particularly fond of ballroom dancing.”

  “Oh, that must be beautiful.”

  “I find it so, yes. And properly challenging.”

  “Great! Next question: absolute dislikes and turnoffs. What are things that you won’t accept under any circumstance? That helps to narrow the field a little.”

  “Ego,” Leeta said, curling a lip. “I have enough as it is; I don’t need more in my partner. But I also won’t accept no self-confidence. They should be able to keep up with me. And I must be attracted to them. That isn’t up for debate. On the same note, they should be willing and able to have relations. I want this match to be all I need. I don’t want a partner who will have to watch me get my meals elsewhere.”

  “Right! Of—of course that’s important.” Carla looked down on the tablet in her lap. It was good that Leeta was being so candid. She’d been worried that Leeta wouldn’t be able to open up enough for the questionnaire. “All right, so, what do you want in a partner, above all else, would you say?”

  Leeta’s expression turned wistful. “Conversation. About everything and anything at all.”

  Carla paused in her note-taking to look at Leeta. Her expression was very sad and very real. Nothing like the smirks and posturing from before.

  “Is it . . . Do you have a hard time talking to people?”

  Leeta shrugged. “I look the way I do. Sound and act the way I do. What do you think?”

  “Oh,” Carla said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

  “It is the way it is. And that’s what you are here to do, isn’t it? Find someone with whom I can talk.”

  “Right!” A new wave of desire to make this come out right washed over Carla. Not only for her work and reputation, but because Leeta was counting on her. Carla might really be her only chance. She couldn’t let her down, not when True Love was at stake!

  With new motivation in mind, Carla dove headfirst into more specific questioning. It took the better part of an hour, another cup of tea for both of them, and even a small plate of pastries. Leeta seemed to like the custard tarts a lot, and Carla glowed with the simple, blunt praise. The actual question-and-answer session was easy though; Leeta was as honest as she’d made herself out to be, was forthcoming with her words, and didn’t beat around the bush for answers. She really was an excellent candidate to be matched. It was obvious she was trying really hard.

  “Oh! And finally, do you have any sort of gender preference?” Carla asked. Leeta actually laughed.

  “I wouldn’t be very good at what I do if I had that.”

  “No, I—” Carla felt herself blushing again. “I meant for you. Do you have a preference? Aside from eating.”

  Leeta was quiet for a long time.

  “I prefer women,” she said eventually, voice soft. “Over most men. But I’m open to anyone who might work for me. I would like to be matched with someone whose mind and body work well with my own. I care quite less about said body, as long as I am able to be attracted to it.”

  “Okay.” Carla put that down as open to all possibilities but skewing it toward women. “Anything else you’d like to add to what we have so far?”

  Leeta shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well!” Carla looked over her notes and lists. “Then I think I have all I need so far.”

  “I do have a question, however,” Leeta said, flicking her hand.

  “Oh! Of course. Yes?”

  “Not that I’m complaining, but this all seems very . . . involved. You did say you used arrows to . . . make the interest happen. Was I mistaken?”

  Carla shook her head, “Oh no, see, arrows are what we use to spark an interest, or to encourage someone to make a first move if the possibility of a match is there. We create love through connections, not force! It also gives two strangers a reason to take that step to say hello to each other, or to nudge friends into realizing there might be something more. But we can’t do anything if the love doesn’t end up being equal on both sides, or if the Spark fizzles.”

  “I see,” Leeta said. “Then how would it work with me, since I specifically requested to be matched up?”

  “We keep a database of everyone who has ever requested a match, exhibited a sign for a Spark, or come up on our radars as being potentially ready for a love match, cross-referenced by distance,” Carla explained. “The first step is to see if any of those people ping for you! It’s easy enough to connect you, once we find out who may be a good fit. It’s just best to work your way out; start with the closest matches and move from there. And you’ve got so much going for you! I just know that this is going to be a breeze.”

  “If you say so,” Leeta said doubtfully.

  “Come on,” Carla wheedled. “Let’s be optimistic, right? It’s obvious you really want this a lot. When that’s true, it’s only a matter of time before your real match comes by. Now that you’ve taken these steps, you might not even need my help. Sometimes it ends up working that way.”

  “Let’s keep it just the same.”

  Carla grinned. “You bet! Any other questions?”

  “Just one,” Leeta said. “How long have your other matches lasted? I am hoping for the long term.”

  Carla drooped. “Oh . . .” she said. “Um. Well. It’s complicated?”

  “Try me.”

  “My personal matches don’t, um, they haven’t all ended up very well,” Carla mumbled. “I’m not as good at chemistry as I’d like to be, and I make mistakes over Sparks. But! I’ve also never personally matchmade someone before with the questionnaire and everything. With all this, I’m sure I can find you a match.”

  “So I’m your first, is what you’re saying,” Leeta said, voice dry.

  Carla nodded, blushing darkly. “B-but I really, really want to!” she added in a rush. “So I’ll be extra motivated to make sure things work out for you. Everyone deserves True Love, if they want it. And like I said already, you have so much to offer! Your match is out there, definitely.”

  “I do hope so. That is why I’m here.”

  Carla smiled. She was learning a bit more about how Leeta expressed herself. She was getting that the wit and mild abrasiveness was part of it. It was interesting. She would definitely make a good match with someone special.

  “Just give me tomorrow to go in and start looking through our database, and I’ll get back to you later tomorrow night. I’ll call you to let you know, if that’s okay?”

  “Calling is fine,” Leeta said. “Though I can’t promise to respond when you do. I might be having dinner.”

  “Th-that’s fine! I’ll give you the details, and you can always call me back. My phone is always on.”

  “Do you not text?” Leeta asked. Carla wrinkled her nose. Leeta’s lips quirked up.

  “I just— It’s better to say it in person,” Carla said, feeling the need to defend herself. “Texting is for . . . short things.”

  “If you say so,” Leeta said, but she was hiding a smile behind her hand.

  Leeta was beautiful and had a beautiful, interesting personality to match. Carla had n
o worries at all. This was going to be easy-peasy.

  It was not going as well as Carla had hoped.

  She’d told Leeta from the start that most matching felt spontaneous to the person being matched. Leeta went about her day, and Carla followed, in her matching state of tiny and invisible, firing her arrows at Leeta and others when Leeta came across someone who Sparked up as potential match. She only ever fired her arrow if there was a fifty percent chance or higher of True Love, barring outliers, and if the chemistry charts all looked good, since that was very important to Leeta.

  Carla had explained to her that she should be open to the idea of random happenstance. If someone approached her to say hello, or she suddenly felt the urge to do the same thing, she should take that as a sign to keep moving forward, since those feelings were probably happening because Carla had seen something and fired off a couple of arrows.

  The biggest problem was that an awful lot of people that Carla didn’t shoot said hello to Leeta. And tried to flirt with her. And continued the conversation even though Leeta made it clear she wasn’t interested. Mostly men, a few women too.

  So far, in the week Carla had been working with Leeta, she’d shot her arrow three times. Leeta, on the other hand, had been approached seventy-two times. In a week. And out of both those groups combined, nobody had been right for her.

  Carla was beginning to really see why Leeta had asked for the service.

  On top of that was how Leeta got her main source of nutrients. She accepted some of those seventy-two offers because that was how she ate. For a succubus, it really did make sense to be aromantic; things were so hard for them otherwise. Carla’s heart ached for Leeta.

  And for herself. The three shots had all ended in failure. One of them, Leeta was unattracted to, and the two others ended up only pinging for Puppy Love after Carla reran the numbers upon the two meeting for an actual date. When Carla sadly told Leeta this, she ended both interactions, not wanting to waste her time on something that, more than likely, wouldn’t work out.

  Carla was feeling a lot like a failure, to be honest.

  Work wasn’t going much better. She had been paired off with a Matchmaker again, on top of having to retake Chemistry, and it was a punch to the gut every time he calculated a good match and directed her to shoot. All those matches were ending up good ones, and two seemed to be headed into at least Long-term Commitment. Carla hadn’t even seen those two when she’d looked for chemistry.

  “I’m sorry I’m so bad at my job,” she told Leeta sadly that evening. “I’m trying my best. I really am. And I want you to find someone so badly, I really do!” She covered her face in her hands. “I’m worried that maybe I just can’t match you up and that you’re counting on me and I’m not going to be able to do it. Even though it’s obvious your match is out there!”

  Leeta fluidly sat down next to her on the couch and handed her a cup of tea. Wildberry green, sweetened with rock sugar. Carla’s favorite. She sniffed and took it. “And you shouldn’t have to be comforting me either!” she wailed after a sip. “I’m the one making it all go wrong!”

  “It’s not your fault that I’m a difficult match,” Leeta said, looking at her nails. “I knew that I would be when this venture started. I’m happy to be doing this at all. I’m certainly better off with you helping me than I would be without. Remember, it isn’t as though I can waltz back into Aphrodite Agency to get another cupid.”

  “You’d be better off with another cupid,” Carla mumbled into her teacup. Leeta used teacups, not mugs.

  “Another cupid wouldn’t have me,” Leeta said, matter-of-fact. “I’m quite fine with the one who will. I’m a tough case. I understand that.”

  “You know, you’re so much nicer than you were at the agency,” Carla blurted. “I mean, maybe if you went back and—”

  “And not act like myself?” Leeta asked, raising an eyebrow. “I am standoffish. Many of us are. You’ve seen how often I get approached.”

  “Yeah . . .”

  “If the agency did not think I was fit to match up, I do not want to work with them,” Leeta said. “You want to work with me, I want to work with you. That’s enough.”

  Carla tried for a smile. “Right,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “And I can’t help you if I’m just being gloomy.” She patted her hair puffs, making sure they were at full floof, trying to get her bubbly back. “I think from now on I’m going to be focusing harder on you.”

  “I thought you already were?”

  “No, I mean—I’ve shot my arrows at you both if I thought there was a Spark. But you get approached so often that that’s not fair to you, with you always wondering if the next person who comes along might really be it. So instead, I’ll focus on being more specific! I’ll only shoot if it pings at least seventy-five percent. That way it at least gets rid of the problem of weeding through all your, ah, admirers? And you’ll know that there’s something there that might turn into more.”

  “That would work better,” Leeta said slowly. “I admit that I was disappointed when the few you did shoot turned out not to be worth pursuing.”

  “Okay! So from now on, I only shoot at that percentage. I’ll find that Spark yet!”

  “I appreciate you being so optimistic about it.”

  Carla shook her head, hair bobbing with it. “Of course! That’s who I am. And I wouldn’t be trying if I didn’t think there was a match at the end. You definitely are going to end up with someone wonderful. And it’ll be as long-lasting as I can make it.”

  Leeta chuckled. “You say that an awful lot.”

  Carla shrugged. “I just believe in it, that’s all. True Love is wonderful. I want anybody who wants it to get it. Everyone deserves to love and be loved.”

  “Mm.” Leeta shifted on the couch, recrossing her legs and curling her tail. “Have you ever been in love?”

  “Oh, me?” Carla laughed and waved a hand. “No, not yet. But that’s okay! A lot of cupids are late bloomers anyway. And a lot of the time we find a match on the job. I could tell you so many stories about how a cupid was sent to match someone, and ended up being that match. It’s just the way of things.” She gazed dreamily into her teacup. “I don’t mind waiting. I know that there’s someone out there for me, and I’ll find them one day. In the meantime, I get to help other people fall in love! Or . . . I should be, anyway.”

  “How do you know it’s so spectacular?” Leeta asked, a touch wistfully. “In real life, as opposed to stories?”

  “I’ve seen it enough times,” Carla said. “And oooh, it’s so wonderful, Leeta. I can’t wait for it to happen to you. My parents are a True Love match, you know. They’re both cupids too, which is a little rare. They met trying to pair up a couple, and it ended in two matches, not one.” She smiled just thinking about it. “And they’re so in love still. It was wonderful watching it growing up. That’s why I don’t mind waiting. It’ll be worth it, to have that in the end.”

  “To both of us, then,” Leeta said after a moment, raising her own teacup.

  Carla smiled and clinked it. “To both of us!”

  Carla watched anxiously as Leeta met up with her date. Holly was nice and pretty and very much an outdoors-lover. She liked hiking over strolling, and preferred dogs over cats, but she had pinged a seventy-nine percent match for Leeta, and Carla was willing to try if they were. This was the second time they were seeing each other, so it was already a huge improvement from the last matches Carla had made. After the first date, and Leeta’s evaluation, Holly had still scored as a possibility for Sweetheart if things continued, which was excellent news. And she’d only fired the arrow at Leeta a week ago. Two dates in a week was great news!

  And it was going well too, it looked like. Carla even caught Leeta chuckling a few times, and not the polite sort she did when she was working or humoring a potential meal.

  Carla, shrunken down and invisible like she always was when monitoring a match, waited and watched. It helped her when working on a long-t
erm case and besides, if things ever did turn into True Love, Carla wanted to watch that realization happen. She’d seen it a few times, when shadowing under others. Sometimes it was big, a grand eyes-meets-eyes connection. Sometimes it was little, when one casually smiled at the other and they went “Oh.” Each one had been a special, marvelous moment, and Carla was wishing for that for Leeta so badly.

  The two finished their walk and took a seat together on a nearby bench. Holly suggested that they go get a snack together. Leeta gracefully declined with a shake of her head, saying that she was sorry, but she had another appointment to get to.

  Holly smiled and kissed Leeta on the cheek, which Leeta allowed, and then walked off, heading out of the park. Once she was out of sight, Carla popped back into size and sight, joining Leeta on the bench.

  “I didn’t know you had another appointment now,” Carla said, pouting. “I wish you’d told me. We could have done this another day, and you would have been able to spend more time with her!”

  Leeta shook her head, hair swishing. “My appointment was with you. I agreed to the second date with Holly because I wanted to be sure, but I already knew that we wouldn’t work out. We may remain friends, and I do appreciate that as I don’t have many, but my match she is not.”

  “Oh no! How come?”

  Leeta reclined back on the bench, tail curling up. “Holly is what you would call . . . mm, a go-getter. And that is fine. But when we walked today, she set a speed and kept with it, even when I slowed. She has her own pace in life and wants a partner to match that. She was willing to walk with me when I made my feelings clear, but as a whole she prefers to go faster than I do, and gets impatient waiting. We might stay friends, but we would not be a good match. I require patience.”

  “Oh,” Carla said. “That makes sense. Okay.” And she hadn’t noticed any of that, too busy hoping that things would just turn out all right. Was this what she was missing when it came to chemistry? Looking for those details? It sounded like it. Leeta knew so well who she was and what she needed. Carla envied that, but more, she needed to keep it all in mind.