Jay: It is his style, but I don’t think he’d do that to me. Then again maybe he would. Jack’s a bit of an enigma. He has his demons too.
This isn’t making sense. Jay seems to be telling me to stay away from Jack while acknowledging that Jack may be involved in his disappearance.
Aleeza:So you don’t think I should go to the party?
Jay:Honestly, I would consider anyone who would turn up at Jack’s party a suspect. But there has got to be a better way to get access to them.
Aleeza:I’ll be fine. Gracie and Aster are coming too. Emma said Bailey talks a lot when she’s drunk, and she knows who the Birdwatcher is. It’s the best place to get her to confess.
Jay:I don’t like the idea of you being there.
Aleeza:Why? I’ve been to huge parties before. I went to a party at the campus pub for Halloween dressed as Dr. Watson, and people laughed at me, and Mia ditched me and yet I survived.
I close my eyes. I do actually care what people think of me. I hated being the object of ridicule that night. I try not to think about that Halloween party too much. The memory is ... unsettling. It was the beginning of the end for me and Mia.
Jay:The crowd at Jack’s are vultures. You’re sweet and small town, and you love books and octopuses. You’re too pure for their world.
Aleeza:You think I’m a naive child.
Jay:I don’t think you’re a child at all. I don’t mean that you’re too pure in a bad way. Far from it. You’re
He doesn’t finish that sentence.
Aleeza:You don’t even know me. And don’t forget, I’m going to this party for YOU. I’m trying to save you.
He doesn’t write back for a while. I get ready for class—I’m not going to miss my politics lecture because my roommate decides to go all overprotective of me. Outside of our conversations, he doesn’t know a thing about me. I’m the one investigating him, not the other way around.
Jay:I DO know you. We’re talking right now. We’ve met.
Aleeza:I mean in the real world. In the same time.
Jay:I saw you yesterday.
My butt falls heavily back on my bed.
Aleeza:What? When?
Jay:I was in the library looking for books on temporal paradoxes and the Novikov self-consistency principle, and when I turned a corner, I full-on crashed into a very cute girl wearing an octopus sweatshirt. You dropped your notebook.
My breath hitches. Irememberthat. It happened. I remember him smiling at me when he apologized for the collision, and I remember thinking that his smile looked too big for his face. I even remember thinking that I didn’t have a lot of meet-cutes, and bumping into someone in a library should have been my meet-cute. But I was too scared to say anything and ran away.
Jay:You turned the cutest shade of pink. I’d seen your Instagram, but you’re different in person. If I said something more than “sorry” to you, I thought I’d blow up the universe or something.
Aleeza:I remember that. It happened.
Jay:Really? So sometimes what I do does happen for you too. I’m flattered you remember me. You probably bump into a lot of people. Why do you look down when someone talks to you?
This is awkward and weird.
Aleeza:I don’t with everyone, but you’re cool and good looking and I was afraid to look at your face after coming into physical contact with you.
I can’t believe I said that. Why don’t I have a filter on ResConnect? It takes him a bit of time to respond.
Jay:You think I’m good looking?
Aleeza:You know you’re good looking. And I can’t believe I admitted that. Can I retract a message across time?
Jay:You’re cute, too, but also kind of sexy in your tentacle wear. Like ... I kinda get it now. All those arms. The suction cups.
