Me:Love and miss you. Can’t wait for our next gaming sesh!
There. That showed that I valued her and still wantedourtime and not just to gloat about the changes in my life. Because even if our connection was only online, I still valued Tweety immensely.
And I was worried about her.
Was I being paranoid? Probably. But it wasn’t like her…
My troubles must have been written on my face because when I returned to the living room, Rowan straightened.
“Is everything all right?”
“I…” My first instinct was just to downplay my worries, but Rowan had never once given me reason to distrust him, and paranoia wasn’t one of my usual personality flaws. “I’m concerned about my friend, and I’m not sure if I should be casual or intense about it.”
Just like I’d figured, Rowan was instantly all ears and didn’t dismiss me. “I usually tend to err on the side of caution. What’s got you worried?”
“She hasn’t answered any of my messages.”
“And is that out of character for her?”
“Yeah.Reallyout of character. Even if she for some reason slept through three sleep cycles, she’d still have time to get online. And she’s not the type to leave people on read. Especially not her best friend, who had a strange man in her house. No offense.”
“None taken. You’ve only known me for about two months. But do you have another way to contact her?”
I didn’t tell him that was the longest I’d ever managed to successfully date anyone, as there were far more pressingmatters at hand. “N—wait, actually, I do! I forgot we exchanged emergency contact info just in case. This really feels like a just in case.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you. You have excellent instincts.”
I didn’t think anyone had ever told me that before, and I really wanted a minute to relish it, but I needed to make sure Tweety was all right first. The reality of the situation was likely something completely banal, but I couldn’t stop that niggling feeling at the back of my head.
I pulled up her number and did something I’d literally never done before: texted my best friend.
Perhaps that was strange since I talked to her nearly every day, but we only used our main app or the game server. I was spoiled with unlimited data on my cell phone. I remembered when I’d saved up to get on my own plan because I didn’t want to be reliant on my family and give them one more thing to lord over me. Humans really were masters of innovation in that way, which was just one of the many things I admired about them.
I just wished my own people wouldn’t treat me like Iwasa human just because I couldn’t shift.
Me:Hey, sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to check in! You haven’t been online. Is your computer down?
There. That didn’t sound alarmist or badgering. Just a genuine check-in. And if Tweety’s computer was indeed down, I could understand if she was busy on the phone with support or actually out shopping to get whatever replacement part/repairs she needed. That girllivedon her PC, just like a lot of other disabled folks.
“How long do you think I should give her to respond?”
“That depends,” Rowan said, standing and crossing over to me. Although his presence didn’t exactly help the situation in a literal sense, his proximity was comforting. “What do you feelis right? If she’s in danger, ten minutes? If you’re worried she’s sick, half an hour? I’m following your lead on this; you know her best.”
Yeah, I did. And even if I sounded completely overdramatic, Iknewthat something was up.
“Five minutes,” I said finally. “Then I call her.”
“That’s good. Now, what do we do if she doesn’t answer? Do you know where she is? Is she reachable, or do you have the contact info of someone who can reach her?”
“I have her address. She’s a twenty-minute drive from me.”
“So would you want to go to her?”
I chewed my lip for a moment, debating, but it was an admittedly short debate. “Yeah. Five minutes, then call, and if she doesn’t answer, we go check on her in person.”
“Sounds like a plan. Do you want me to come with you? Or is this something private?”
“No, no, come with me, please. Honestly, it’ll be good to have someone else there just in case—” I cut myself off, the fear of jinxing the situation combined with the worry of being overdramatic mixing together to form an entirely new insecurity I had to kick to the curb.
