“I’m that way.” Matty pointed right. They were at a fork in their path.And what a fork it was.
Coop took another second to look into Matty’s eyes. “Thanks for not narcing on me tonight.”
* * *
Matty triedto get a little studying in before bed. Books sprawled out on his blankets. He read up on breakthroughs in haptic technology, which involved robots who could perceive touch. It was one of those developments that average people wouldn’t think was anything important, but if you actually sat down and thought about it, it was pretty astounding. Robots could determine what something was just by touching it.
A bolt of memory lightning struck Matty’s head. Coop’s hand, touching his arm. Yes, a robot would be able to determine human skin, but could it determine what that contact meant?
“It was nothing,” Matty said aloud. Coop was saying goodbye, and in those situations, a hand can naturally brush against somebody’s arm. He shook it off and returned to his textbook.
He read over the section that differentiated between kinesthetic and tactile feedback within haptic perception. He wondered if emotions played a part in haptic sensations.
Emotions?
Matty blinked his eyes. He was staring at his textbook in his lap, but his mind had flown elsewhere. He reminded himself how pointless and futile thinking about Coop was. All it did was drag focus away from his real pursuits. The great minds who changed the world didn’t let trifling emotions stand in their way.
“Focus,” he whispered to himself.
* * *
Matty wokeup with his book still in his lap. A ray of morning sun hit him directly in the eyes. He didn’t remember when he fell asleep, but he had a feeling Coop was the last thing on his mind.
He needed to talk to somebody about this, even though he couldn’t say much, and that left only one option. He texted Aditi to see if she was available to Skype.
“Hey, baby brother!” She waved to him over her morning coffee. Just seeing her smiling face perked him up. Matty thought of the best way to approach what he needed to say.
After they exchanged pleasantries, and Aditi gave him an update on their parents, Matty launched into his dilemma.
“There’s this really annoying guy. He bothered me at the library, and the other night, he showed up at my Catan group.”
“Uninvited?”
“Yes! Well, no. Technically, he reached out to the group, and they let him join. But it was under false pretenses.”
“Maybe he was looking for a group to play with?”
“He’d never played Catan a day in his life! And now he wants to join an intense group of players?”
Aditi didn’t say anything. She smiled heartily, that same smile she used when she knew she was about to win gin rummy. “I think this guy wants to be your friend, Matty. Or more.”
“More?” Matty sat up straight in his chair. He swallowed a lump.
Aditi shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe he has a crush.”
“On me?” The idea of Coop having a crush on Matty sounded ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.
“He obviously joined the group to be around you.” Aditi searched for the right way to phrase what Matty knew was coming next. His stomach tightened into a fist. “How do you feel about that?”
It was code for a question she was too scared to ask, and Matty was too scared to answer. The words sat in the back of his throat. Despite how close he felt to his sister, saying that seemed too close. It would be like the wall of a house just crumbling to the ground.
“I just want him to go away.” He was saying it to himself as much as to his sister.
“I like him,” Aditi said.
“You haven’t even met him.”
“He’s actively trying to be your friend. He’s a brave soul.”
