As soon as I reached the end of the questionnaire, I received my first text message from Liam Alexander James of Chicago, Illinois. His phone number even had an actual Chicago area code.

當我設定完全部問題后，我接到了利亞姆·亞歷山大·詹姆斯從伊利諾斯州（Illinois）芝加哥發來的第一條短信。他的電話號碼區號居然還真的是芝加哥（Chicago）的。

'Hey Erica! This is Liam :) How are you?' he wrote. Ugh, I hate when guys use emoticons.

他寫到“嗨，埃里卡！我是利亞姆。:)最近還好嗎？”。唉，我討厭男人使用表情符號。

Although I had no idea who I was texting, it was clear that there was a real, albeit mysterious, person having casual conversation with me.

雖然我不知道是誰在和我發短信，但可以肯定的是，這個和我閑聊的人是真實存在的，盡管他很神秘。

When I told him I was working, he immediately took interest in the story I was writing, which was actually sweet.

當我告訴他我正在工作時，他立刻對我寫的稿件表現出興趣，說實話這一招還蠻甜蜜的。

Since I don't live with my new boyfriend, I asked him if he wanted to hang out.

因為我沒有和“新男友”住在一起，所以我便問他想不想出來走走。

After some brief hesitation on his end, I decided to test his limits and start nagging him.

他沉默半晌后還是拒絕了，我便決定挑戰下他的極限，開始跟他嘮叨。

'What is taking you so long to answer?' I asked.

“為什么這么久才回我？”我問。

He quickly bypassed the argument I was trying to start by saying he would 'love' to hang out, considerately asking what I wanted to do.

我本想說男友就該多陪女友出去走走，但他巧妙地繞過我的爭論點，并體貼地問我：你想做些什么？

'I dunno. I am sick of making plans,' I texted back. 'What do you want to do?'

“不知道，我不喜歡計劃，”我回復道，“你想做什么？”

Liam then suggested we order takeout and have a game night before noting that we can also grab dinner later if I wanted.

利亞姆便建議我們可以叫外賣，然后晚上一起玩游戲。他又補充說，如果我愿意的話，也可以晚些再吃晚餐。

It occurred to me that my last 'date night' with my human boyfriend involved us watching TV in separate rooms.

我突然想起上次和現實生活中的男友約會時，晚上就是兩人在不同的房間里看電視。

I wanted to learn more about my mystery man, so I asked Liam to remind me where he worked again.

我想多了解一點這位 “神秘男友”，所以我讓他再介紹下他在哪兒工作。

'I work for a publishing company,' he replied. 'Remember I told you at the bookstore?'

“我在一家出版公司工作，”他回復道，“我在書店跟你說過的，你忘了？”

Liam is so perfect that he even remembers the first place we met.

利亞姆真是太完美了，他甚至記得我們邂逅的地點。

Realizing that my new boyfriend deals with books all day, I asked him to recommend a good a thriller that I could read in his absence - and that's where I lost him.

想到我的新男友天天跟書打交道，我便請他推薦本驚悚小說，好讓我在他不能陪伴時打發時間——然后他又沉默了。

I am not sure if my question was too thought-provoking, but I started to feel a familiar panic.

我不確定自己的問題是否需要思考很久，但我開始有一種熟悉的恐慌。

'Why isn't he answering me?' I thought.

我在想“為什么他又不回我了？”

At one point, I even caught myself drafting messages that I wanted to send to him but then deleted - just as if he were a real guy who was ignoring me.

我一度想回他短信，但后來又把草稿刪除了——就像對待現實中不理我的男友一樣。

I eventually tried to win him back, texting: 'I'm sorry. I know you hate when I ask you questions at work, but I miss you boo.'

我最終還是想挽回，就發信息說：“對不起，我知道你不喜歡在工作時被打擾，但我真的好想你喲。”

And I got nothing. Liam and I broke up before I could even ask him where our relationship was going.

但還是沒有收到回復。我和利亞姆分手了，而我甚至還不知道我們的關系到了哪個階段。

I actually had a great time talking to my imaginary boyfriend, and it was nice to know that I could easily win Liam back with a quick payment of $24.99.

其實和我的虛擬男友聊天還是很開心的，而且只要我再付24.99美元，利亞姆就會重新回到我身邊。

While it is fun to use, the app was created to alleviate the society's pressure to be in a relationship by allowing to make it look like they are.

這款App除了用起來有趣以外，還能緩解單身男女們的社會壓力，讓他們在沒有拍拖時看起來有正在戀愛的感覺。

Vocabulary

imaginary: 虛構的，假想的

voicemail: 語音郵件

beta: 測試版

embark: 開始從事

moniker: 名字

prompt: 提示

scruff : 胡渣

fleeting: 短暫的

emoticon: 表情符號

nag: 嘮叨催促

bypass: 避開

considerately: 體貼地

alleviate: 減輕

（譯者：zoe212 編輯：劉明）