Wednesday was supposed to be full of nervous butterflies and light joking until her date that night. Her English class was cancelled, and she traded shifts with Jeffrey from when he was sick, so she was completely free. The only thing she had scheduled was lunch with everyone. But for whatever reason, things were...strange.

Kelsey cancelled last-minute with a picture of her face shoved behind a giant cup of tea and a Nyquil bottle, and Hannah was late grabbing food because the lines for ramen were so long. It seemed to put her in a sour mood when she finally sat at the table.

"Everyone and their mother is out today," she muttered as she picked at the wrapper holding her chopsticks. Cam would have normally made a joke, but he didn't reply at all, just kept his gaze at his sandwich, head on his fist. His hair was still a little damp from water polo, but he wasn't in his usual excited state that practice usually put him in. Cat remained quiet, uncertain how to handle this. She'd never experienced both Hannah and Cam in bad moods. She didn't even notice that Peter didn't touch his pizza, either, until Hannah joined them.

Hannah's mood settled quickly enough, and after a completely silent minute, she glanced to Cat, as if to ask what happened.

"Um," Cat sounded, hoping to get their attention, "what's going on?"

"Nothing," Peter was quick to answer. His tone sounded genuine, but the rest of him, slumped, frowning so hard that his dimples came out--He was in a terrible mood. Maybe practice went poorly?

"Are you guys fighting again?" Hannah asked.

Cam let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. He gave a quick glance to Peter, then thought better at replying. What was that?

"Nope," Peter answered again. Cat and Hannah exchanged uneasy glances.

"So what's wrong, then?" Hannah's voice was gentle, but prodding. It was almost like a warning; if they didn't tell her right now, she'd put on her Detective Hat and find out, herself, and then she'd lecture them about not telling her in the first place.

Cam looked like he was boiling alive, his fist closed tightly on the table. Peter kept his face smooth, distant, like he normally did when he was beyond pissed off. Cat opted to stare at Hannah until Cam slammed his fist on the table.

"This is fucking stupid." And, in a dramatic fashion that only Cam could pull off, he scooted out of his chair and stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving his sandwich untouched on the table. Peter's careful expression cracked for just a moment, betraying his attempt to look cool and collected.

"Yeah," Peter muttered.

"What..?" He ignored Hannah and stood up from his chair, and followed out the same door that Cam went through. The girls stared at the untouched food, then to each other.

"What was that?" Cat asked, as if her roommate had any insight. The guys were normally starving after practice and had two lunches, regardless of whether or not practice went well. But now their food remained completely untouched, and they went away in the direction of the dorms.

"They weren't like this yesterday," Hannah said, shaking her head. Cat almost agreed, but stopped herself. Agreeing would have meant she had to confirm that she saw Peter yesterday, and admit he was tutoring her. Yeah. Not happening.

The two ate lunch in silent confusion, theorizing different reasons as to why both of them would be mad. A bad practice didn't seem like enough. Cam would maybe be frustrated at it for a while, but he wouldn't let food go wasted. Their coach had them on an extra thousand calories to balance out the increased practice schedule, and they had no issue scarfing down even more food to match.

As Hannah started to clean up her bowl, Cat hesitated in front of the untouched sandwich and pizza.

"We should probably still make sure they get those," she said absent-mindedly. Hannah hesitated. "No use wasting food just because they're in a bad mood."

"Oh! That's thoughtful of you."

"What? No, I mean--can't afford to be wasteful…." Cat had already grabbed a pile of napkins by the time Hannah returned with extra plates to place upside-down on the food. Hopefully it was enough to just set on the floor in front of their dorm. Worse came to worst, some random guy would snatch up the food and eat it. But at least it wouldn't just go to a landfill.

"I bet something happened at practice," Hannah decided once the girls made their way to Casa del Sol. "Like I bet someone got hurt or someone said something stupid about someone else's mom or something." Cat hesitated as they approached the elevator. Her stomach turned to ice.

"Do you...do you think it maybe has something to do with…?" She couldn't bring herself to say his name. Hannah gasped.

"No! No, they'd tell us, wouldn't they?" she insisted. "I'm sure it's nothing that bad." When they got inside the elevator, Hannah pressed for the third floor, but Cat pressed for the second.

"Would you mind--?" She handed off Cameron's sandwich to her roommate, her other hand white-knuckling the strap of her bookbag. Hannah took the extra plate on top of Peter's pizza. Cat continued, "I just--I don't want to deal with--"

"No problem," her roommate said. "I'll try to get to the bottom of it so I can come back to you and tell you it was nothing." They exchanged nervous smiles. "Maybe we can all go out or something, get them in better moods." Despite the immediate urge to say no, Cat shrugged and stepped out of the elevator doors.

"Thanks, Hannah."

----------------------------------------

Cat somehow managed to get a little bit of homework done while she waited for her date. Peter gave her practice problems to try out; after a full two-minute rant about how the professor was an idiot for not at least encouraging practice problems, Cat reluctantly agreed to add "practicing math" to her To Do list. She felt a little stupid, sitting at her desk and giving herself extra work--worse, letting Peter give her extra work--but if it got her out of the hole she dug herself in, well...that was probably for the best.

Sunset came and went before Hannah returned to the dorm.

"Well," Hannah said as she threw her bag down, "No luck in convincing the guys to go out. But did you want to do something? Or--wait. It's Wednesday. You're busy…." She squinted, trying to remember. "You have work! Why are you here?"

"Jeffrey's making up for his shift from Sunday," Cat answered without missing a beat.

"Oh! Well we can go see a movie or something!"

"Um, maybe next time."

"Ugh, fine. No one wants to hang out with me today."

"It's not that--"

"I was kind of joking. I've got a midterm coming up anyway that I should prepare for. Maybe I'll see if my study group is up for a last-minute sesh." Hannah plopped on her bed, with her shoes still on, much to Cat's disgust, and started texting away at her phone. But, an hour later, when Cat was starting to get nervous about the time, she announced she did have a quick study session with her group and that she'd be back in a couple of hours.

"Okay," Cat said, trying not to sound relieved, "I'll be here."

"Do you want to grab dinner really quick?" she asked, hesitating at the door. "I hate to ditch you for dinner."

"Oh, nah, I'm good. I've got something I bought earlier so I could keep studying," Cat said. She wasn't totally lying. She did buy a sandwich earlier so that she and Pumpkin could have a "dinner and a movie" thing. They agreed to get the same thing so it was more like a "real date" without it being...real.

She kept glancing to her phone for the time. Half hour….

"Alright, well, see you in a couple hours."

"Okay, see you." And right when Hannah shut the door, Cat flipped open her dinosaur-of-a-laptop to let it start booting up. It usually took a long time, and she didn't want to be late.

Nothing got done the entire time she waited for her computer. Her phone said that it only took ten minutes to show her desktop this time, but she'd checked on the progress maybe twenty times. She sat there, bouncing her legs, sitting on her hands to strop herself from button-mashing her keyboard in a stupid attempt to get it to load even faster. Eventually, she was able to click on the internet icon and type in the address to the agreed site. Pumpkin sent her a code to get into "their private room" earlier, and she typed that in. With how slowly everything else went with her computer, she definitely thought it would take longer to load, but it popped up almost instantly.

The right side was a long, skinny chat log that only read, InsultCatapult has joined the session. The rest of the screen was a gray sad face with text indicating they had to hook up a Netflix account to watch anything. Cat nervously watched the clock. Eighteen minutes until their date was scheduled to start. Well, she could maybe get another couple problems down, now that she was all set up, before Pumpkin arrived. But right when she opened her giant book again, her browser blipped.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

PumpkinKing has joined the session. The grey screen flickered to the login screen, where Pumpkin selected the only profile, a picture of a robot with the name ME over it. Original.

Hi :), Cat typed immediately. If the butterflies in her stomach flew any faster, she'd levitate right off her chair.

Hi :) You're early.

So are you.

Lol I've been looking forward to this all day.

Me too, Cat agreed. God, she felt so stupid, smiling at her screen. You'd think I'd be used to this feeling by now, she thought to herself. After a few flirty comments, Pumpkin finally navigated to his Favorites List. She tried to get a better look of the other titles in his selection, but he clicked too fast and she couldn't see anything she recognized.

So, he started, the three dots indicating he was continuing animating, I was thinking maybe for my pick, we could watch this documentary on the wonders of the human body. We can watch the trailer and you could tell me if you're okay with it or not? He hovered over the title after Cat agreed.

She would have agreed even if it didn't look cool, but the trailer showed this group of scientists claiming to show how everyday humans were superheroes. They visited a guy that could beatbox, and showed through medical science how it was possible and impressive. They visited a guy that had been struck by lightning twice and won the lottery, just to prove that he was still functioning totally fine.

It looks really cool to me, Cat said when it was over. I'm curious. She'd never been much into medicine, but Pumpkin's other suggested titles were also biology-related. Before he could finish his thought, she asked, Are you a bio major? I can't believe I never asked. He erased his reply and started again.

I'm not, but I just like it a lot. I've been toying with the idea of maybe going into physical therapy.

Really?

Yeah, sports medicine sort of stuff. Been watching a lot of these documentaries, and taking a couple classes that sort of look into it this year. Not sold on the idea, but it's one of my choices.

Cat smirked. So you'd be a doctor, then?

Lol maybe. Maybe not. What about you? Does this sort of thing usually interest you? He was checking to see if she was lying or not.

Never gave it much thought, honestly. My mom's really into the home remedies, so as a kid, rather than going to the doctor or anything, I slept with onions and garlic in my socks when I got sick.

That's one way to warn me that you smell bad. Cat laughed out loud. Pumpkin had more to say. That actually works, though. Not as much as your mom probably hopes, but the onions and the garlic help boost the immune system. And if they're potent enough, might help with symptoms of a cold like a stuffy nose.

So you've heard of that remedy before, then?

Pumpkin continued, I went to the doctor as a kid. But I did have some family that when visiting, would tease me and say to get my socks ready. Never actually did it, though.

It took a full half hour of chatting before they remembered that they intended to watch a movie, and even during the movie, Cat hardly paid any attention to what was happening on the screen, because she kept anticipating Pumpkin's responses and fun facts that he had to add to the narration.

She could still hear everything, but it was admittedly a bit difficult to pay attention. She'd type a response, and wait impatiently for the three dots to be replaced with his. The hour and a half documentary went by too quickly, even with a short pause for them to grab their sandwiches and complain to each other about how the convenience store food never had enough seasoning or sauce. The documentary had been over for maybe ten minutes before a text from Hannah startled her out of her thoughts.

Heading home. Want ice cream? Got a craving. Ooo…. Asking for something would delay her at least another minute, so she could continue talking to Pumpkin without having to answer to Hannah about anything.

Something with coffee in it, she typed back, smiling. She swapped to her chat with PumpkinKing. Guess who's getting mocha ice cream for dessert. He responded with a surprised emoji, then a crying one.

iNot me?

Laughing, Cat continued, Me! My roommate is on her way back...so… A few seconds passed by before Pumpkin found a reply.

So now is the time I find out if you kiss on the first date? Cat exploded into a fit of giggles, then replied with a kissy emoji.

Can we do this again? she asked instead. This was really fun.

You free next week?

Thursday? She did possibly have Real Tutoring with Peter next week, but that was closer to dinnertime. She could do something after.

We could do a dessert version of this. Cat hardly had time to read his response before more came flooding in. Omg, sorry--that--that was creepy. I just meant we should eat ice cream next time instead of sandwiches.

Lmao so after dinner, then? Maybe 8? She could sneak away to the library, claim she was studying, to avoid having to answer to Hannah.

Sounds like a date to me :) He punctuated even more with a kissy emoji, so she responded in kind.

I'll tty tomorrow. Gunna catch up with my roomie and go to bed.

Going to gossip about me?

If I told her I was semi-dating a stranger online, she would literally call my parents to warn them that I'm being catfished.

Pumpkin replied, Pumpkin fished? King fished? King Fisher? That's a fish, isn't it?

That's a bird.

Oh yeah. They eat fish.

No more stalling, Cat typed, though she desperately wished she would have more time. Night night :)

Tty tomorrow <3

Cat allowed herself one little screech of excitement before she closed her laptop and giggled to herself. She was acting like an idiot, like a pre-teen. But it was so nice, after an awful winter break, to finally feel something that made her bubbly and excited, that made her feel like the oxygen in the room was pure helium. And, if she was by herself, no one could make fun of her for it. So for a full minute, Cat stood out of her chair and let herself dance, just a tiny bit, until she heard Hannah's jingling keys in the door. She immediately sat down in her chair, heart in her throat.

"Hey!" Hannah called. "Ice cream delivery!" And right as Cat turned around, she held out her hands to catch the ice cream bar.

"Thank you!"

"Oh, are you out of breath?" Hannah noticed as she shut the door. Cat seized for a fraction of a second.

"No--uh, you just startled me, is all."

"Sorry." They shared a laugh, and Hannah strode in to sit on Cat's bed to catch up. She hesitated though, as she opened the wrapping to her ice cream. "Is that--have you been on the same page for two and a half hours?" What? Cat glanced to her pre-calc book and her homework, then back to Hannah. "I remember thinking that picture of a duck was weird before I left. Are you struggling that much?" Well. What would she prefer, Hannah think she was an idiot at academics, or just socially?

"I, um, I took a break and caught up some more with that friend," she finally admitted.

"Oh?" Her slow smile made Cat's cheeks burn.

"Yeah."

"What'd you do? Did you remember to eat dinner?"

"Mmhmm. We just...watched Netflix. He shared his screen."

"He? Is this that guy from Talkative? Did you just have a date?" Her ice cream long forgotten, Hannah rushed to her feet and let out the most obnoxious screech. "Oh my God, Cat, are you dating again?"

"I--" But before she could fully answer, Hannah rushed forward to force Cat into a seated hug. If her wrapper wasn't still on her ice cream, she would have protested more, but Hannah squeezed around her shoulders and let out another screech, this time right in her ear. Cat flinched.

"You're doing so well!" That was not the reaction she thought she'd get.

"What?"

Hannah pulled away, beaming. "You're opening up so much you even had a kind-of date! I mean, it's not a real date, but that's so cute! It's such a big step!" The nerves that originally occupied Cat's stomach disappeared. Now she was a little uneasy. Was this a "big" step? Was this too fast? It didn't feel too fast when she was talking to him. And he respected her boundaries so easily, didn't even complain. He just took her excuse not to meet at face-value. She pursed her lips as Hannah retreated to her ice cream.

"What?" she asked upon seeing Cat's expression.

"I'm--is it a big step? Is this too much too fast? 'Cause what if he turns out to be--"

"'Turns out to be...'?" Hannah echoed, brow raised. "Just Google him."

Cat hesitated, lifting a shoulder for the tiniest shrug. "I don't know his name." All of the excitement from Hannah's face disappeared, and she smacked herself in the forehead with her wrapped ice cream.

"I take it back. Everything I said. You still don't know this guy's name?" Cat didn't respond. "And you had this little date thing with him? How come he's not super suspicious of you?" Well, that was a little closer to the reaction she was expecting originally.

"I just--he asked, but I said I didn't want to risk anything." And she knew he was going to ask again. Why wouldn't he? Hannah rolled her eyes, shook her head, and finally started to dig into her ice cream.

"Y'all are freaks. When people date online, it's usually after they know each other's name and can Google and Facebook stalk and all that. Not knowing his name is really dangerous." She didn't think of that.

"But," Cat started, uncertain, "how? He doesn't know mine."

"Well...I guess if it's even, it's not so bad."

"It's just a nickname. I know plenty else."

"What's his major?" Time for the interrogation.

"He's thinking of being a physical therapist," she answered, silently relieved she thought to ask, finally.

"How old is he?"

"Twenty-three, but his birthday is in August."

"And you don't know his name?" Hannah questioned again. Cat could almost imagine a detective hat appearing on top of her roommate's head. This quiz she could ace, no problem.

"I don't know his name, but I know what he's most scared of, I know all about his past relationships, everything he ever dreamed of as a kid." If it was one thing about quizzes and Cat, it was that she was very used to acing them. Even after this disaster of a school year.

Hannah squinted at her before she asked, "What's his biggest fear?"

"Not being good enough," she answered without missing a beat. Hannah's brows shot up.

"Oh. I was expecting, like, snakes or something…." Her roommate hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Alright. Well, you're a big girl." Cat nodded to her, and glanced down to her ice cream to start unwrapping it.

"Yeah. Nothing nefarious yet." Though Cat's tone took a more worried edge. Hannah just smiled at her.

"I guess if it feels okay, it is okay." The girls hesitated. "I mean, did you ever get...a bad feeling?" Even though breaching the topic of Nate was the exact opposite of what Hannah was supposed to do in exchange for knowing about the situation at all, Cat relented.

"I wasn't comfortable, if that's what you mean. I didn't know he was going to…."

"I mean, yeah. But that comfort is an important thing. It's like, if you weren't comfortable or whatever with this dude from Talkative, you should pay attention to it." Good point. Cat sighed.

"I--haven't," she said, shrugging. "I guess with--this didn't start off all flirty or anything. We were kind of just trolling. And I didn't--I didn't even think I felt this way until I took a break from the app. But when I came back, I don't know." Who started it, anyway? "It doesn't feel forced or anything."

"Well…." Hannah finally gave her a genuine smile. "Not all guys are monsters. Just enough to make us cautious, and if he gets it, I guess that's a good thing." She finally started to dig into her ice cream, satisfied with the amount of information Cat was willing to spill. "So it was a good date, then?" Despite herself, her cheeks started to burn, and Hannah's laughter only made it worse. "Oo-ooo-ooh!"