35 He's The Jerk?

When Justin thought Emily was crying over that jerk Brandon, he was upset but that was nothing compared to realizing she was actually crying over him. He did this. If not for him she wouldn't have been sitting outside without a coat for so long. When he led her inside her hands were like ice. How long had she sat out there before he found her?

He remembered he hadn't responded to her. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"It is though," she sniffed. "He hates me now."

"No one could hate you," he coaxed gently, moving to sit down next to her. "It's probably just a misunderstanding."

"It's not!" Emily wailed before throwing herself into Justin's shoulder, making him freeze in shock. "It's not, it's not, he hates me and it's all my fault…" Her sobs grew louder and so hard that she shook them both.

Justin hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, it's fine, it'll be okay, shhh."

He really needed to learn how to comfort people. Not knowing what to do made the whole thing doubly distressing. His fault, this was his fault…she was sobbing her heart out because he hadn't said the right thing in their Blogr chat when he panicked.

"He hasn't talked to me in days and won't even look at my messages," she garbled out through her sobs. "He's never going to talk to me again and, and I can't lose him! I can't! He's all I've got!"

All she's got? What about her friends? Her family? Emily was a lot more social than he was. RoboCat couldn't truly be all she had.

He had tried to distance himself from her online so she wouldn't get hurt and he hurt her anyway. There had to be a way to make it up to her without being RoboCat anymore…things had escalated out of control and there wasn't a way back.

"You've got me," Justin said softly, tightening his hold on her. "You've still got me. I'm right here."

She only cried harder. They sat there for a while, both miserable in their own ways, as Justin desperately tried to comfort her.

He rubbed her blanket-wrapped back and made soft soothing noises. He had seen Aunt Rhonda do this to Kaitlyn when she was little and wouldn't stop crying after tripping over a rock and scraping her knee. After a while her sobs turned into hiccups again and he figured it was working.

"Justin?" she asked quietly. "Why are you so nice?"

Nice? He felt about as far from nice as he could get, knowing his deception had blown up in his face so badly and she had paid the price.

"I'm really not that nice. Anyone would have done the same."

She shook her head forcefully. "No, I've never met anyone as nice as you. Everyone else has an agenda but you're just…nice."

"How do you know I don't have an agenda?" he asked lightly.

He wasn't as altruistic as she thought. He wouldn't have done the same for just anybody. Emily was the only girl—the only person outside his family—that had ever evoked a real emotional response in him.

"You're not like that," Emily said before yawning. "I've seen you. You're quiet and get flustered easily but you're definitely the softest, sweetest person I've ever seen. You're kinda like a puppy."

A puppy? Was she still in her right mind? What about him screamed puppy?

"I think the tears have gotten to your head. Are you feeling any better now?"

She sighed. "Not really. I still have to deal with the consequences of my mistake. And Thanksgiving is next weekend too. My plans were supposed to be with Brandon so now I'm all alone with my thoughts."

"You could come with me to my aunt's house," he blurted.

The invitation was completely impulsive. He didn't think about what else could potentially blow up in his face. He just didn't want her to be alone when she was sad.

Emily's jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, she's up near San Francisco. I was planning on driving up by myself but you're welcome to come. She always cooks way too much food anyway. My cousins will definitely keep your mind off things."

She gave him a teary smile. "That sounds great. I'd love to come."

"Great! I'll let my aunt know." Justin glanced at the now cold hot chocolate on the side table. "Do you want me to heat this up?"

"Maybe in a bit. I just want to stay here for a while," she said tiredly, leaning back against his shoulder. "Is that okay?"

Justin's heart was about to fly out of his throat but of course it was okay. She wanted to use him as a pillow. He never could have dreamed of such a thing happening. Shifting his arm around her to make her more comfortable, she snuggled down under the blanket and fell asleep. As she slept Justin gazed at her tear-stained face.

Crying so much must have exhausted her. His heart clenched. Yes, this was his fault…but he had kind of made up for it by making her feel better, hadn't he? That was something he could do.

He could be her best friend in real life to make up for the lack of RoboCat online. After all, he was the same person.

It would be like she hadn't lost RoboCat at all if he could manage to follow Sam's advice and be his real self around her, disregarding his fear of embarrassing himself. He could do this. For her.

While she was out he ordered a pizza, thinking she would be hungry once she woke up. It was about dinner time.

When the doorbell rang he tried to wake her up gently. "Emily."

"Mm?"

"You need to move, the pizza is here."

That woke her up. "Pizza?"

"Yeah, I need to get it and you're kind of on me," Justin pointed out.

Her face immediately turned red. "Sorry!"

"Don't apologize," he laughed. "You looked extra cozy. But I thought you might be hungry too."

She pulled the blanket over her head to hide her embarrassment and he laughed as he went to get the door. Bringing the pizza inside, he pulled out a couple of plates and set them on the table next to the couch.

"Eat up! Pizza makes everything better."

She chewed slowly, savoring it. Grabbing a second slice, she smiled at Justin.

"You're right. Pizza does make everything better. But so do friends. Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you today."

Her smile had essentially turned Justin into a puddle of goo so he could only nod with his mouth full of pizza. Swallowing quickly, he choked a bit and got out "you're welcome" around his gasps for air.

She looked about ready to jump in and do the Heimlich maneuver but he got his coughing under control before giving her a sheepish smile. She burst out laughing. It looked like she really was going to be okay.