6 Chatting

After Valentine's Day, Justin's freelance projects took up most of his time. So he ended up with several thousand dollars in his bank account as a fifteen-year-old.

Things seemed to get worse for Emily at home. She didn't say so specifically but she reposted a lot of sad things on Blogr.

He kept dropping nice notes and little treats in her locker but he had no idea if it was actually helping or not. He wished he could talk to her for real. But he knew too much about her.

What if he slipped up? She would think he was creepy and avoid him like the plague. He would rather be invisible than have that happen.

When prom rolled around, it turned out that she didn't have a date. Justin had assumed someone had asked her so he was surprised when she posted about her life as a dateless loser on prom night.

He commented 'don't feel too bad, we can be dateless losers together' with a smiley face.

'Your prom is tonight too?'

'Yep. I've never been to a dance in my life'

'Trust me, they're overhyped. You're not missing out on much'

Justin sighed. She was probably right. He would still really like to go with her to one though. If he had known she didn't have a date, he would have found a way to ask her.

'But wouldn't it be fun if you could go with someone you like?'

'I guess so. I don't like anyone though so I wouldn't know'

'Really? A pretty girl like you?'

'How do you know I'm pretty?'

Crap. She never posted pictures of her face on Blogr. He came up with something on the spot. 'Intuition? Besides, you have a secret admirer. Someone must think you're pretty'

'That's true. I wish I knew who it was. He's been one of the only good things that's happened to me this year'

Justin's heart clenched. It was good hearing that she thought of him as a good thing but… 'What's going on?'

She didn't respond for a while so he sent another message. 'Sorry if that was weird. But sometimes it helps to tell strangers on the internet your problems. I mean, who am I going to tell?'

Emily was still online because she replied to that one quickly enough.

'Fair point. Things are really stressful at home. My parents are always fighting and my dad has been really nasty to me lately. Nothing I do is good enough. I feel like it's my fault that things are so tense in my house'

Justin didn't know how to respond but got another message from her while he was thinking. 'Wow, complain much? Sorry about that'

No, no! He loved talking to her! 'Complain away. I've got all night'

'Ha, you really are a dateless loser'

'Thanks…'

From comments, they moved to private messages and talked late into the night about everything from school to family to funny stories about themselves barring personal details like names.

'You're a riot, RoboCat' Emily typed with a laughing emoji.

'Why thank you. No one else thinks so'

Justin didn't have many friends, especially since robotics club had ended in middle school. He still hung out with those guys occasionally at lunch but usually he was on his own in the library.

'Nah you're messing with me. You're hilarious! Anyone who doesn't think so is lame'

Justin cracked a smile. 'You just called everyone I know lame'

'Well, they are. Anyway, it's super late so I better go to bed now but I've really enjoyed talking to you'

His heart thumped unevenly. 'Let's do it again sometime?'

'Sure thing' was the last message Emily sent before logging off but she did one more thing. She finally followed RoboCat back.

Justin flopped back on his bed in perfect bliss. His cat jumped up and sat on his chest, which hurt, but he was too happy to care.

"Ah, Cookie, she's wonderful. She's the best person I've ever met!"

The school year ended and Justin wasn't able to see Emily anymore but they still talked a few times a week about random things. He found out that she wanted to be a marine biologist but her dad said she would never get a job doing that so she was trying to figure out what to do instead.

He encouraged her to do what she wanted to do and told her about the time he was to the biggest aquarium in the country with his cousins.

'There were these jellyfish that were bigger than your head and sardines that swam around the room because the tank was in the walls but only had window cutouts so you only saw them every once in a while and this baby shark still wiggling in its egg pouch. You would have loved it'

'That sounds amazing! And you went with your cousins?'

'Yep, three girls and they're all younger than me. I never really got along with them much until I got my cat'

'Your cat?!'

'Yeah, I didn't know anything about animals but found this kitten and my oldest cousin showed me how to hold it and stuff. She wanted to keep it but her mom said no so I did instead. He's two now'

'That's hilarious, you didn't even know how to hold a cat!'

'I've lived a very sheltered life'

Emily sent over a bunch of laughing emojis before logging off.

Justin sighed in contentment. Even if he could never talk to her in person, maybe this was enough. Chatting with her made him happier than anything else. Even programming was second fiddle to her now.

His mom hadn't noticed because he was always on the computer anyway but it was what he was doing there that was different. He was actually interacting with another human being. She would have been so proud.