I wait several minutes before I feel safe enough to uncover Morgan from beneath all the pillows and blanket. He shakes his hair and runs both his hands through it, taking a deep breath, cheeks flushed.

“The coast clear?” He whispers and I immediately shush him.

“I have to keep my door open.” I whisper, really quietly.

“What?” Morgan mouths the words without sound.

I move closer and try again.

“I have to keep the door open.”

He nods. He smells nice up close; a clean and pleasant smell that is discrete enough to go unnoticed unless you’re up close. “Should I go home?” He whispers, a little too close to my ear, and I get ticklish. I shake my head ‘no’, that I don’t want him to go home yet. Instead of talking I grab Viros and open notepad. I type:

I should at least wait unil my Mom falls back asleep before opening the front door to let you out, so she won’t hear it opening.

I pass him the laptop and he writes back.

                Makes sense. Is your Mom mad about the lights?

He hands me back the laptop and we continue writing back and forth in this way. It’s a lot easier for me to communicate in this way and I can say more than just one or two words. We get comfortable on the bed, moving to the back and leaning up against the wall with the laptop. I type:

Not sure if she’s mad yet. It's just that I nailed the lights into the ceiling and walls, and we don’t own this place, we’re just renting, so the landlord might not like it. But he lives in a tropical place so he doesn’t come up here to check on his rentals unless there’s a problem.

Is that why you didn’t want to invite me up earlier? Because you didn’t want me to know that you lived here?

I read the text and nod. Morgan writes again:

So you’ve never had anyone over before, ever?

Not since we’ve moved here, no.

You mean Lindsay never came over for a girls’ night sleepover? Like you said online last summer?

Haha. No. She didn’t. I kind of made that up.

Lol, I guessed as much ;)

I like to imagine that there’s a nice person inside of her that could possibly enjoy hanging out with someone as unimportant as me. I wouldn’t mind having a best friend. You’re lucky, you have two lifetime best friends.

Morgan reads as I type.

We’ve shifted close together, our shoulders and knees touching now. I didn’t notice at first because I was typing. Thank goodness, or I would have probably moved away, feeling shy. But now that we’re leaning against each other it’s the best feeling ever.

To my surprise Morgan doesn’t write back in reply when I hadn him the laptop. He just looks at the screen, thinking. I take Viros back and type:

Is it not awesome having two best friends?

It used to be. It’s just different now. We get on each others’ nerves. And they’re upset with me cuz I changed my look. They think I’m trying to be cool and that I think I’m better than them.

Why did you change your look?

Other than for you? I guess because you were right. How I looked affected how others saw me, and I wanted to… He thinks a moment, …to branch out maybe? It’s always been just us – me, Todd and Jay, for as long as I can remember. We did everything together and never let anyone else in. It was safer that way, especially when middle school started. But now I’m not scared of everyone so much. And I wish we did hang out with more people, maybe attended a party or two once in a while. But the guys aren’t ready for that I guess.

:/ So it’s like the ‘team’ is splitting up?

Yeah, I guess. It had to happen eventually anyway, because they’d never let a girl into the group and I’m ready to.

To let a girl in?

Yes

I hesitate.

Which girl?

Knowing my luck he’s probably talking about Lindsay or something.

Morgan takes the laptop back from me and types:

YOU

I look away, feeling shy. The laptop is between us now, sitting on one of my knees and on one of his. We’re both holding on to one side of it. Neither of us have anything more to type.