63 Hypothetically

Justin held his breath, waiting for Emily's response. He really shouldn't have brought it up…but the look on her face when she talked about how the friendship she valued so highly was disregarded broke his heart. She hadn't done anything wrong! He wanted her to understand that.

"Wasn't who I thought he was?" Emily repeated his words back to him, perplexed. "What, like he's some old guy masquerading as someone my age?"

"Maybe…or he might actually know you in real life," he hedged, busying himself with putting a batch of cookies in the oven so he didn't have to see her reaction.

She seemed surprised at his words but quickly dismissed them. "That doesn't make sense. If he knew me, why wouldn't he say anything?"

"This is all hypothetical," he said as casually as he could. "But he might be worried what you'd think of him since you've talked about so much personal stuff. Maybe he thinks you'd be embarrassed or something. I don't know."

Ah, Justin felt like an idiot trying to explain himself hypothetically. He knew his reasons perfectly well.

He was afraid, plain and simple. Afraid that she would be disappointed it was him. Afraid she would think he was creepy for finding her Blogr and never saying anything in the first place.

He didn't think it was possible to play it off as a coincidence at this point. Not after making such a big deal about keeping his identity secret. She would know. Even worse, she would probably figure out that the girl he had been obsessed with for so long was actually her.

She knew he had designed Sink or Swim…she might get suspicious about his finances. His goose would be truly cooked if she ever found out about the scholarship.

Too much could go wrong. Wasn't it better to just be her friend the way things were now? He could still look out for her the way he always had.

Emily was quiet for a while as she finished cutting out the last batch of cookies and started making frosting for the ones that had already cooled. When she spoke up she didn't seem happy.

"Say your theory is right. If he does know me, has he known the whole time? How did he find my blog? Has he just been messing with me this entire time?"

His heart sunk. It was exactly as he thought. He was better off letting RoboCat fade into obscurity. If she ever found out, she would hate him for sure.

"I doubt it was done maliciously. After all, you were best friends for six years. That's a really long time to mess with someone."

"It seems more likely that he's some old creep. Heck, he may even be a girl and didn't want to get caught in a lie," she said as she added more powdered sugar to the mixing bowl. Justin choked on the piece of cookie dough he had sneakily popped into his mouth but she didn't notice and continued. "Whatever. It's not my problem anymore. Who needs online friends when I've got people like you right here?"

Burdened with guilt, Justin couldn't speak. He shot her a weak smile before offering her the last scrap of cookie dough, which she gladly accepted. The conversation shifted solely to Emily making various requests to help with the frosting, all of which Justin completed without complaint.

She noticed him hovering in the corner of the kitchen once she started making her stiff frosting outlines and smiled. "You can watch me if you want but you're free to go back to website-making. I don't need any more help."

"Thanks," he said and swiftly turned on his heel and went back to his computer.

After all that he had no idea what to say to her. Justin was better with actions than he was with words. He could help her start a cookie decorating business, buy supplies, build the website, and fetch things for her to show he cared but he couldn't tell her the truth.

No matter how much he did to help her, he would never fully be able to make up for hurting her as RoboCat. That didn't mean he wouldn't try. Even if nothing else ever came of it, Justin was determined to be the most helpful person in her life.

At least two hours passed before either of them spoke again. Emily concentrated fiercely on her cookies to ensure they were filled perfectly. Justin still had nothing to say.

He glanced at the clock. It was about dinner time. He peered into the kitchen and saw that she was hard at work.

Only half of the cookies were finished. Each individual cookie took up so much time!

"Hey, I was thinking about ordering Thai food. What do you want?"

She didn't even look up from the cookie she was working on. "I could go for some spring rolls and coconut soup. Thanks, Justin!"

He cracked a smile. It seemed like she was getting less resistant to him paying for her food. Either that or she was too focused on her decorating to realize what she was saying. He hoped it was the former.

Justin would happily treat her to all the food she could ever want. Anything to relieve her financial burden.

Emily was still working on the cookies when the food arrived 45 minutes later. "I've got it!" Justin called, not wanting to break her concentration. When he pulled the door open he was surprised to see Dominic standing there with two bags of food.

"What are you doing here?"

"My job," he said dryly. "You live here?"

Justin shook his head. "I live upstairs. My friend and I are working on a project and got hungry."

Dominic glanced inside. This was clearly a girl's apartment. "Alexa?" Before Justin could say no, his friend's eyes widened. He lowered his voice and whispered urgently. "Is this the girl you like's apartment?"

How had he come to that conclusion so fast? Justin stared at him, dumbfounded, as Dominic grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. "Way to go, man."

"Can I just pay before she gets suspicious?" Justin pleaded quietly, looking over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't nearby. "She's in the kitchen right now. I'll give you an extra big tip."

"Sure, sure," he said with a grin. "Enjoy your dat—I mean food. Enjoy your food."

Justin took the food and waved him off with the other hand. "Get out of here!" Dominic chuckled to himself as he walked away and Justin knew that the rest of the club would hear about this before the day was over. Fantastic.