At First Sight (6 page)

“Click through!” Britt ordered, leaning so close that she was practically resting her chin on my shoulder. “See what he says!”

I obeyed, clicking on the message link. It opened immediately, filling the screen. Mostly with blank space.

Hi Lauren
, Riley had written.
Nice to hear from you
.

That was all. No proclamations of love at first sight. Not even a proclamation of like, lust, or vague interest. Just hi-how-ya-doing. It wasn't quite what I'd expected after that sweet, romantic “searching” post.

“Wow,” I said. “He doesn't exactly sound thrilled and overjoyed to hear from The One, does he?”

“So what? Your thing was short and boring too. Just click through!” Britt bounced up and down on the edge of my bed. “OMG, this is so exciting! I can't wait to see what's on his page.”

I shrugged. She had a point. Maybe Riley and I had more in common than our taste for MTIAB. Like not knowing what to type to a perfect stranger on a social networking site.

Reaching for the mouse, I clicked on the link to take me to Riley's profile page. It popped up on the screen.

The first thing I saw was his profile picture. He looked even better full-size than he had on Britt's BlackBerry. The photo showed him standing with a bicycle on a wooded trail somewhere, a grin on his face and the wind blowing his hair around. Nice.

Next I turned to the text, scanning down the latest posts. And suddenly I started to understand why he hadn't sounded more excited to hear from me. Because his wall was positively flooded with messages from girls who'd read his “searching” post.

And almost every single one of them was claiming to be The One!

“I can't believe this!” I exclaimed, outraged. I scrolled down the page. Farther and farther. There had to be dozens of entries on there from all different girls. I scanned a few:

Hi Riley! I'm The One ur looking 4. Would luv to c u again!

Riley: When I said we should stop meeting like this, I already knew we were 2 of a kind. Would luv to meet u again — and show u how much I liked meeting u. BB4N!

Hi again cutie! Would love 2 get 2gether & hear the song u wrote after we met. Luv, yr Planetarium Girl xoxo

There were plenty more along the same lines. I just shook my head, suddenly overwhelmed by the weirdness of it all.

“How can all these girls just out-and-out lie like that?” I wondered aloud. “Especially to such a cool guy who, like, laid his heart out there so honestly and everything?”

“That's sort of the point, I guess.” Britt was reading along over my shoulder. “Who wouldn't jump at the chance to snag such an amazingly romantic guy? Hey, if I saw his message and didn't know you were The One, I might've tried responding myself.” She grinned weakly as I shot her an evil look.

“Well,
I'd
never do anything like that.” I turned my glare back to the screen, feeling annoyed. “Maybe I should just forget this whole thing. I hate playing games.”

“What?” Britt looked alarmed. “Babe, you can't give up now. Not when you just found him!”

“Yeah, me and the entire female population of southern Maryland,” I said sourly.

Britt was scanning the entries again. Suddenly she gasped. “Check it out! Some chick used my idea to say meeting him was out of this world.” When she realized I was glaring at her again, she sat back. “But that's not important right now. What
is
important is for you to let him know that you really
are
his planetarium girl.”

“Why bother?” I slumped in my chair, feeling cranky. “If he doesn't realize it's me on his own, maybe this wasn't meant to be after all.”

“Sure it was. Come on, you can't give up now! Seriously.” Britt crouched down and grabbed me by the knees, staring up into my face with a totally sincere expression. “Look, Lauren. I've never seen you react to someone like this before. That has to mean something, right? Isn't this guy worth at least a little more effort?”

My gaze wandered back to Riley's profile pic. I shrugged.

“You
know
I'm right,” Britt said. “I mean, what if this Riley guy is the love of your life, and you just sit back and let some other Facebook hussy grab him?”

“Love of my life? Let's not get carried away here.” But I had to admit she had a
point, maybe. Was it too soon to give up? “I guess he admitted himself that he doesn't really know what I look like,” I said slowly. “So how would he know it's really me and not just another faker?”

“That's the spirit!” Britt bounced to her feet, grinning like a fool. “All you have to do is be your gorgeous, witty self and he'll figure it out.”

“Maybe you're right.”

I still felt kind of irritated at all those deceptive girls out there in FB Land. But my moment of hopelessness had passed, at least mostly. Maybe Britt was right. Maybe it was worth at least trying to show Riley who I really was. What was the worst that could happen? At least it was a little easier to be brave over the Internet than in real life.

I took a deep breath. “I guess I could write him back and see where things go from there.”

“Definitely!” Britt exclaimed, looking as thrilled as if she'd just won the lottery and landed a date with Orlando Bloom at the same time. It doesn't take much to make her happy. “So what are you going to say?”

“I don't know.” But my fingers were
already reaching for the keys. I clicked on the Send Riley a Message link beneath his photo.

This time the words came pretty easily, and I just let them flow, trying not to overthink things too much. When I finished, I sat back and read over what I'd just typed:

Hi Riley, thanks for friending me back. Meeting at the planetarium like that was crazy, huh? But mostly I'm just psyched to find someone else who appreciates MTIAB like I do. Did u see the latest update on their blog? Funny pix from their last show down in VA.

I sent the message. “There,” I said. “Maybe that'll make him realize it's really me. I bet all those other girls have never even heard of the Beast.”

“Yeah,” Britt said dubiously. “Unless they actually, you know, read Riley's info page. There's stuff about that crazy band all over it, including a link to their site and a bunch of downloads. Guess he's really into them. But then again, nobody's perfect.”

Glancing back at her, I saw that she had BBB out. She was lounging on my
bed, scrolling away, having clearly logged onto FB using my password. I guess that's what I get for giving it to her. Chairman Meow, who had reappeared once again, was sitting there watching her intently, probably wondering if BBB was some kind of exotic mouse that he should attack and wrestle away from her. For his sake I hoped he didn't try it. Britt would fight a cougar to keep BBB safe, let alone a spoiled Siamese.

“Oh,” I mumbled, as what Britt was saying sunk in. “Guess I never thought of that.”

At first I felt kind of stupid. Of course. Any girl who was willing to lie like a rug about being Planetarium Girl was probably willing to put in a little research effort to make her story sound good. In fact, when I clicked back to Riley's profile page and scrolled down a little farther, I saw that Britt was right. Several of the earlier responders had mentioned MTIAB somewhere in their posts. And when I got back to the first few alleged Planetarium Girls—the ones Riley had actually replied back to a few times—I saw that there had been a few conversations about the band. Including at least two who
claimed that “Squid for Breakfast” was, like, their favorite song ever in the history of the universe.

My heart sank. It seemed it might not be easy proving I was the real deal after all.

But I quickly shrugged that off. “It doesn't matter,” I told Britt. “He'll realize soon enough that I'm a real fan and not a poser. The main thing is getting to know him, and him getting to know me. That's the only way we'll be able to tell if we're right for each other.”

“You already know that.” Britt glanced up from BBB and waggled her eyebrows. “Love at first sight, remember? Pheromones never lie.”

“Whatever.” I turned back to the screen as I heard a blip. Riley had just written back!

Hi Lauren! Saw those pix on the blog. 2 funny! I can't believe someone squirted Ty w/shaving cream! So great that he kept it on his head 4 the rest of the show. Those guys r a blast! So I guess ur really into the band, huh?

I smiled. He sounded a lot friendlier already. Better yet, he sounded every bit as
enthusiastic about the Beast as I was. That made him seem even cooler.

Britt stood up and stepped closer to read over my shoulder, leaving BBB defenseless on the bed with Meow. The cat crouched down and stared at the helpless PDA with narrowed blue eyes, his long, slender gray tail twitching. But I barely spared that little drama a glance before turning my attention back to Riley's words.

“Sounds like he's a true fan,” I murmured.

“What are you waiting for? He's obviously hanging on your every word. So write back already!” Britt poked me in the arm.

“Ow!” I slapped her finger away. Then I turned back to the keyboard.

Def. way into the Beast. I've been a fan ever since I first heard their demo last year. Been 2 at least 5 shows since then. They r great live! Have u been?

“Aren't you going to talk about anything but that wacked-out band?” Britt complained. “You should try saying something romantic. Maybe tell him how cute
he looks in his profile pic. Or remind him how sexy his manly arms felt when he held you at the planetarium.”

“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. “Because if I want him to get to know the real me, that's exactly what I'd say.”

Just then there was a sudden flurry of motion behind us. Also a couple of dramatic growls and a weird little yip. Glancing back, I saw that Meow had just pounced on BBB and was doing his best to wrestle her into submission.

Britt saw, too. “Hey, get off of that, you mangy creature!” she cried.

I laughed as she lunged for Meow. He saw her coming and leaped straight up into the air, all four paws out like Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff. As soon as he landed, he zoomed off the bed and straight out of the room. I could hear his claws skittering across the hardwood in the hall outside and a few indignant yowls drifting back toward us.

By the time BBB was safely back in Britt's hand and she'd determined that her baby was none the worse for wear, Riley's response was up on my screen.

I've been 2 like 5 Beast shows too. Plus I'm going
2 see them this Fri. at the Cave Club. I can't wait!

“Wow,” I said. “He's going to see the Beast this weekend at the Cave? I can't believe he got tickets to that show! It sold out before I could get through on the site. He's so lucky!”

The Cave Club was in Silver Grove, the same town as Grove High, where both Riley and Tommo went. It was an all-ages club that hosted all kinds of local bands. I'd been there a few times, including once to see MTIAB. But the place was pretty small, and tickets were first come, first served. To my disappointment I'd been totally shut out this time.

“Mmm-hmm.” Britt didn't seem to be paying much attention. When I glanced at her, she had a certain look on her face. A certain thoughtful, rather devilish look.

“Hey,” I said. “What are you—”

Before I could finish, she lunged past me, knocking me away from the keyboard with an elbow to the shoulder like some crazed professional wrestler. She bent over my laptop, her fingers flying over the keys. All that texting and BBBing had made her a superfast typist. Before I knew it, she'd
written back to Riley and pressed send.

“Wait,” I protested. “Was that to Riley? He's going to think that was me! What did you just say to him?”

My stomach clenched as several possibilities flitted through my mind. What if she'd written something about how sexy and adorable he looked in his profile photo, or maybe changed the topic back to our planetarium meeting?

But when I peered at what she'd just sent him, I saw that it was even worse:

Cool! I'm going 2 that Cave show, 2. Maybe I'll c u there!

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed, more than a little annoyed. “Why'd you write that? Didn't you just hear me say that show's sold out?”

“Yeah,” Britt said, looking pleased with herself. “I heard you.”

I shoved her away from the keyboard. “So what's the big idea telling him I'm going?” I scowled at her. “With my luck, he'll show up and actually decide to look for me there, and end up meeting up with some other girl pretending to be me. Again.”

“Don't worry. You're going.”

I stared at her. She was smiling, though I wasn't sure why. Britt might not be a straight-A student, but she's no idiot. So
why couldn't she comprehend a simple English sentence?

“Listen to me,” I said, speaking slowly so she couldn't miss my point this time. “The. Show. Is. Sold. Out. Okay? And I. Do. Not. Have. A. Ticket!”

“I heard you the first time.” Britt leaned over the computer as it pinged.

I glanced down at it too. It was another message from Riley:
Cool, c u there.

Great. Now I was stuck. “What were you thinking?” I exclaimed.

“If you'll stop freaking out for half a second, I'll tell you.” Britt moved away from the laptop, flopping back onto my bed. “I'm just thinking that all this cyberflirting is nice and all, but you need to meet up with Riley again in person, ASAP. Once he sees you again, those sparks will come back, and then he'll realize you really are Planetarium Girl.”

I wrinkled my nose. “You know I'm not about the game playing … ,” I began dubiously.