“Right, yeah. But I don’t get that with him. Jittery, I mean. We hang up and I feel better without even having to really share anything on my mind. It’s just our conversations, you know? I’ve never been able to talk like that before.”
“Wow,” Riley said, “I don’t think I’ve heard you talk like that before, either. Where’d you meet him?”
Pike shifted nervously. Why didn’t she just say, Yeah, same, after Lin’s comment about having trouble developing feelings? It still would’ve been true.
“Uh . . . online.”
It was actually kind of funny, the way Riley and Lin turned to her in perfect unison, eyes round with surprise. Pike couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on, you guys, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“You joined a dating site? We’re sixteen! We don’t need to be on dating sites yet.”
Riley nodded, visibly concerned. “And online is so . . . I mean, you have to be careful, is all I’m saying. And dude, you’re like . . . you don’t need to resort to the whole online thing. There are plenty of guys at school who would be into you. I’ve never told you this because I didn’t want it to be weird, but Blake stares at you for at least five minutes every day in biology. And he’s cute, too. Really chill. You guys would probably hit it off.”
We probably would, Pike wanted to say. We’d probably play video games and order pizza and nerd out over Bat-