She wouldn't make that mistake again. Jackie liked to learn from her little stumbles on the early road to adulthood, thank you very much.

Finally spotting her prize, she snatched it up from beneath his bed, crumpled the tee into her purse, and forced herself to kiss his cheek before she made her way out of his dorm. Even left him with a: "Take care of yourself." It served him right. He'd second-guess how he'd handled her, then he'd notice she was never around the usual hangouts on campus, and then... he'd call.

Except, now she wouldn't answer.

This whole experience had leadened her gut tonight. It hadn't been the first time she'd been given the polite brush off, or the "too special to rush things with speech," but it would be the last. Jackie was done with his particular brand of asshole. And she was also done leaving the ball in the court of men. If she wanted companionship, she'd just go out and get it. Like a freaking adult. And she'd be careful not to leave her precious things at the apartments of any of her future bed mates.

Passing out of the lobby, the dorm hall doors slammed closed behind her with a punctuating clang, and the cool dusk air swept her glossy, black hair from her face as she rushed through the parking lot. Pulling the buzzing phone from her pocket, she lifted it and frowned.

That was quick. She'd only just left, and he was already calling. Frowning, she swiped the screen and sent the call to voicemail.

No more overgrown boys. Jackie wanted to know what it felt like to be with an actual man for once.

~

So, the night was shaping up to be a boring one, and she was still annoyed. Watching a rerun of Iron Chef while she stroked Merlin absentmindedly, she glanced down at the orange, fur ball, and smiled at her greedy-gummed friend.

Even when she wasn't letting him try this dish or that, he was sneaking into the cupboards and ripping into the gourmet trail mix she'd recently masterminded with her mother.

He was probably the only cat in existence with a regular jones for raisins and cashews. Gatekeeper of the cupboards: Merlin Grey.

Lifting him up half-way, she gave him a smacking kiss on the nose that he didn't scrunch away from this time, and set him back on the couch, rising up herself with an exaggerated stretch. It was Friday night, and she was starting to lose respect for herself for letting Colin get under her skin, even a little.

Because no matter how she framed it: he had - even with her masterfully playing off her disappointment with his lacking maturity. The fact was, he didn't deserve her discontent. Come to think of it, no man deserved it.

If she had it her way, men would suffer the same expected behaviour that they expect from women, such as having Häagen-Dazs nights, in their PJs, watching syndicated reruns, while they battled with the haunting imagery of the objects of their affections flirting with this guy or that.

Stereotypes relegated those kinds of bullshit experiences to women, and Jackie for one was done with them. Women could play it aloof, too. It wasn't like she didn't have a ton of studying ahead of her, and the increasing workload involved in building a miniature snack empire didn't leave her with a lot of playtime.

All she really needed was a sometimes-companion, anyways. A fuck buddy. A sizzling, hot demi-god who made her forget the pressure on her shoulders, but wasn't too dumb to hold a conversation that stimulated her mind.

She could find one of those, right?

Maybe, on one of those dating sites? Jackie's face took on a measuring expression. It worked for her friend Lela. Hell, she and Paolo were still together. It had to be better than speed dating, which she'd tried once, and absolutely loathed.

What Jackie wanted was a night she'd never forget, with a guy whose presence captured masculinity in the raw. Someone she didn't necessarily want a future with who claimed her like a women needed to be claimed.

Popping the top on a gourmet soda her mom wanted her to try out, she leaned back against her kitchen counter with her thoughts consumed by the prospect of it. She was being silly, no? It was brazen, as hell, and it wasn't the kind of game she should be playing unless she was absolutely sure she wouldn't turn back the minute she got her heels on.

Jackie tended to be mercurial like that, true to the definition of the sign of the twins. But when she was fired up, she could get past her fickleness and set her mind on a course she'd stick to.

And this was a course that made sense:

She'd get what she wanted out of the deal.

He'd get what he probably only wanted.

No hearts would be twisted up or bruised in the cruel illusory maw of possibility, as it wouldn't even rear its head because an arrangement is an arrangement. Like a business deal. The more that she thought about it, she couldn't help but smile at how perfect it actually was.

Downing more of her peach soda, she set the can on her counter with a glint in her dark eyes. What was she waiting for? Waiting would turn to second-guessing, and she was doing this (one step for womankind, damn it).

She was joining the man-eater club.

What was that site Lela had used?

Something hearts, she puzzled. It would come back to her.

Nipping her lip contemplatively, Jackie strolled down the hall to her computer with a sense of renewed purpose, the earlier shame of having been half-rejected by a complete simpleton fanned away in the winds of a brilliant new solution. It was simple, but perfect: Romance, hot and sticky, but with no strings. This time with the woman in control.

It couldn't fail.

Everyone won with that kind of arrangement.

Sliding into the computer chair parked at her bedside, she cracked open her netbook and logged past the privacy guards, her heart thumping a little more heartily all the while. There'd been a time when she'd found the idea of dating sites relatively repulsive, but she'd been younger then and inclined to prejudge everything and file it under: #ewww.

A little older now, she saw how much sense it made. You input your interests and what you liked, and site algorithms matched you up with a man who fit the bill. The beautiful part was he was looking for qualities that matched yours, so it was win as long as everyone was entering the truth about themselves.

Fast food romance for the win. Customized exactly to your tastes.

Typing in Two of Hearts, she waited while the DSL connection loaded, reminding herself to upgrade to cable when the promo period was up. She was making far better money now and deserved to leave the world of optimized dial-up in the dust where it belonged.

Her chin ticked up.

She was going to be changing a lot of things.

It's funny how some setbacks can inspire you to clean house, and rearrange your approach to life. Curses, which at their heart were assuredly blessings. Jackie was feeling like a new woman already. She liked where this was going, this... empowerment angle.

Clicking on the dating site's splash page, she sat back in her swivel chair as it offered up several rows of checkboxes, dials, and multiple-choice questions.

A slow smile spread over her face, and she leaned forward, ready to tell the site about herself and what she was looking for. Yep, she was in, and she wasn't turning back. Settling in, she resolved herself to the half-hour it was going to take to fill out the entry form.

Which was just as tedious as it sounds.

But barely an hour passed into her site browsing experience when a ding-notification sent a flush of anticipatory heat to her cheeks. Efficient. The site was set up to allow you a peek at different users, even those who didn't match your preferences while you waited for match-reports.