Free Little Lola by Ellen Dominick

“Why don’t you try this, sweetie?”
    Lola’s mother placed a ripped-out flyer on top of her job listings stack. The monitor bathed Lola’s face in colorful light as she rapidly clicked in the tabs and windows open on her desktop. Nearly every pixel was crammed full of rainbow colored, candy-based games. Without even taking her eyes off her precious cookies, candies, and unicorns, she spoke.
    “What?”
    “I just thought, maybe you could find a nice boy. You know, to take care of you. I know it’s been hard for you finding a job...”
    “No thanks. I’m kind of busy.”
    When her mom left the room, Lola sighed and closed her colorful windows. Instead she opened up white, black, and blue windows full of job boards. She slowly clicked around, looking at one listing for only a few moment before moving to the next. Fast food? Gross. Secretary? Boring. Elementary school teacher? Lola smiled as she thought about reading children’s books and singing nursery rhymes all day. But when the job requirements listed a degree in children’s education, Lola closed that window too.
    After a while, Lola was tired. She looked longingly at the bookmarks for her games. There were just too many boring jobs out there.
    Her gaze fell to the speed date flyer. Lola picked it up. It started in just an hour, and there would be snacks. Already, she was salivating. Why not? Maybe she might meet someone. Maybe she’ll get some yummy candy. But at least it would be less boring than looking for a job the rest of the night.
    Lola jumped up from her computer desk and made her way to the closet. She stripped off the teddy bear printed pajamas she had been wearing all day and shrugged on one of her mother’s hand-me-down clothes. Her rough fingernails snagged the fabric, making little loops of thread appear on the dress. It was faded, saggy, and made her look like a middle-aged housewife from the 80’s, but Lola didn’t care that much.
    She grabbed an oversized leather bag, stuffed her cell phone into it, and headed to the bathroom. Lola splashed her face with water, barely looking in the mirror. Then she called her mom.
    “Mom! I decided to go to the speed date!” she said. “Can you brush my hair?”
    Her mom rushed over. She scrapped the brush through Lola’s long blonde hair, smiling the entire time. Lola winced with each stroke, and when her mom was done, her hair seemed slightly less frizzled than before. She pulled it into two pigtails, tied off with shiny plastic baubles, and hopped into her mom’s car.
    When they arrived at the building, Lola’s stomach started to tie itself in knots. It looked like exactly the kind of place she never fit in. The women had impossibly smooth hair and walked with ease in high heels as tall as stilts. The men had slick backed hair and stubbly beards. Lola was just about to tell her mom she wanted to go home when she pushed her out of the car.
    The door slammed behind her, and her mother waved.
    “Have a great time, sweetie! I’ll be back to pick you up,” she said. Then she drove out of the parking lot. Lola stood there, fighting the tears welling in her eyes, before she decided to go inside. What other choice did she have?
    The room was packed with people. Men and women stood on opposite sides of the large hall, and in the middle, an old lady was yelling at a microphone.
    “All right! Here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” she said. “Ladies, take a seat at one of these tables. In a few moments we will start the speed dating. A man will come to your table, and you will have just two minutes to fall in love.”
    Lola rolled her eyes. She walked over to a table and found just what she’d been looking for. In the middle of the table was a bowl full of candies. She wasted no time unwrapping one and letting it’s sweetness dissolve in her mouth.
    When all the women were seated, the old lady spoke again.
    “All right. Ready, set? Date!”
    A loud bell rang, and the men ran to the