At First Sight

by Catherine Hapka

  “Tommo reposted an entry from his wall,” Britt explained. “Riley’s, I mean. Trying to help spread the word, I guess.”

  “Spread the word?” I stared at her, suddenly suspicious. “Wait, you didn’t tell that Tommo guy about me or—”

  “No, chill out! That’s not what I mean. Here.” She grabbed BBB back and scrolled down a bit.

  Then she handed the BlackBerry back to me, pointing. I gasped.

  “That’s him!” I exclaimed when I saw the profile photo beside the entry she’d indicated.

  Pinging was happening all over the place. The photo was miniscule, but that didn’t matter. I recognized him instantly. Riley. The guy from the planetarium.

  “Read what he wrote!” Britt was jigging and twitching like a monkey on speed.

  It was a challenge to tear my gaze away from that picture to look at the text beside it. I could hardly believe Britt had actually found him.

  “‘Searching for a certain girl,’” I read aloud. “‘I met you in the planetarium during the class trip this week and can’t stop thinking about you. But I never got your name, your school, or even a good look at you …’”

  There was more, but I had to stop for a second to process this. I stared at Britt, blinking rapidly.

  “Wait,” I said. “He’s talking about me, right?”

  “Right!” She started jumping up and down in earnest now. Unable to control her glee, she flung her arms around me and we both started dancing around right there in the crowded school hallway. Missy McManus, the most annoying teacher’s pet in the entire school, gave us a disapproving look as she swished past. Chaz Markus paused just long enough to whistle and call out something crude about Britt’s anatomy. Everyone else ignored us. The entire school is pretty much used to Britt’s exuberance.

  My heart was pounding and my throat was dry. I felt excited, nervous, and weirded out all at the same time. This was big. Huge, in fact. I wasn’t sure I was ready to handle it.

  Finally we stopped dancing. Then I read the rest of the entry:

  Searching for a certain girl: I met you in the planetarium during the class trip this week and can’t stop thinking about you. But I never got your name, your school, or even a good look at you. You fell into my arms and told me that we’ve got to stop meeting like this, but I can’t stop thinking about how we met. I keep humming the song I wrote about you, and it’s driving my friends crazy. So if you’re The One, and you want to talk about the Beast and have some of your favorite squid for breakfast, please get in touch … and maybe we can stop meeting like that, and meet for real.

  “Wow,” I said, stunned. “He wrote a song. About meeting me.”

  “Isn’t that super amazingly awesome and cool?” Britt exclaimed, clutching my arm so hard it hurt. “This has got to be the most romantic thing that’s ever happened in real life!”

  I wanted to respond to that, to tease her about putting my love life ahead of her many conquests. But I couldn’t focus on that.

  “I have to write back,” I said. “I should friend him and, you know, write something. I guess.”

  The very idea was daunting. Luckily, I was saved by the bell. Literally. The late bell jangled overhead, reminding me that I was supposed to be in homeroom.

  “Oops.” Britt grabbed BBB back and stuffed her in her bag. “Let’s pick this up later. If I’m late to homeroom one more time this year, Old Lady Watson is going to expel me.”

  “What are you typing? Come on, let me see!” Britt said.

  “I don’t know. Everything I write sounds so lame.” I hit the delete button, then glanced over my shoulder at Britt. She was sitting on the edge of my bed, tickling Chairman Meow, who was sprawled out on his back beside her, purring like a maniac.

  I’d had a yearbook meeting during lunch that day, and Britt and I didn’t have the same study hall. So we’d decided to head to my house after school so she could be there for moral support while I wrote to Riley.

  Unfortunately, once I’d sat down at my desk in front of my laptop, found Riley again, and clicked on Add as Friend, I’d realized I had no idea what to say to him. The little Add a Personal Message box blinked impatiently at me, once again as blank as the proverbial slate.

  “What?” Britt blinked impatiently at me too. “Why aren’t you typing? The sooner you write back, the sooner you get to start your fabulous new romance with Mr. Cutie Pie.” She tickled Meow under the chin, which made him yawn and stretch.

  “I just don’t know what to say that doesn’t make me sound like a total dork.” I sighed, closing my eyes to avoid that taunting blank box. “Nothing I try seems right.”

  “How about this: ‘Meeting you was out of this world’ …” She paused and grinned, waggling her eyebrows like Groucho Marx. “Get it? You know, because you met at the planetarium? Cute, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Get real. I thought you were supposed to be good at this.”

  “Okay, okay, give me a minute. I’m just getting warmed up.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully with one manicured finger. “How about, ‘Greetings from The One. Are you The One for me? Let’s see if One and One make Two of a Kind.’”

  “Are you kidding me?” I shook my head. “So totally not me.”

  She frowned. “Come on, you’ve got to write something! Oh! I know.” She sat up so fast she startled Meow, who leaped to his feet and dashed away, almost bonking himself into the wall as he jumped down off the bed. “How about, ‘Roses are red, violets are blue; I’ll be your One, if you’ll be my Two.’”

  “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “Maybe not. But it’s cute and catchy and sort of romantic.” Britt pursed her lips. “Well, actually, now that you mention it, maybe it’s a little corny.”

  “A little?”

  “Okay, a lot.” She giggled. “But guys eat that kind of crap up.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe when you say it,” I said. “Especially if you happen to be fluttering your eyelashes and giving them that hello, big boy look of yours at the same time.” I shook my head, glancing back at the blinking cursor on the screen. “Anyway. I think we may be trying too hard here. I’m just trying to let this guy know I’m out here, not wow him with my mad poetry skillz.”

  “It doesn’t have to be poetry,” Britt said. “Just something fun and clever to catch his attention.”

  I didn’t answer, instead quickly typing a few lines: Hi there! I’m the girl from the planetarium. My name is Lauren, and I thought you seemed really cool, too. Write back if you want to chat more.

  “There,” I said, sitting back from the keyboard and shooting Britt a look that dared her to argue that my note was too boring and straightforward. “That should do the trick.”

  “Are you sure?” To her credit, Britt didn’t say anything else as she scanned the lines. But she definitely looked dubious.

  I took a deep breath, nodded, then hit the Send Request button. “Why play games?” I said, feeling a shiver of nervousness as I saw the message blink away into cyberspace. “If those sparks—or whatever they were—really were some kind of hint that this

  guy and I are right for each other, he should be fine with the real me. If not, then oh well.”

  Britt shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Come on, I’ll give you a mani-pedi while you wait to hear back from him. Your nails look like hell.”

  “No they don’t.” I held out my hands to check. “Hmm. Okay, maybe they do.”

  Britt rolled over and grabbed a bottle of pink polish off my bedside table. “You’ll want to look your best when you meet Mr. Right.”

  It was only a few minutes before my e-mail beeped to let me know I had a new message. I jumped a little at the sound. So did Chairman Meow. He’d returned to his spot on the bed by now, but the tiny little beep sent him bolting back under the bed. Crazy cat.

  “What’s with him?” Britt said, staring after him.

  I didn’t respond. I’d just clicked over to my inbox, carefully avoiding getting wet p
olish on the keyboard. My heart jumped when I saw that the new message was from Facebook. Riley had accepted my friend request.

  “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!

  Five

  “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.