At First Sight by Catherine Hapka Read Free Book Online Page A

Luv, yr Planetarium Girl xoxo
    There were plenty more along the same lines. I just shook my head, suddenly overwhelmed by the weirdness of it all.
    â€œHow can all these girls just out-and-out lie like that?” I wondered aloud. “Especially to such a cool guy who, like, laid his heart out there so honestly and everything?”
    â€œThat’s sort of the point, I guess.” Britt was reading along over my shoulder. “Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to snag such an amazingly romantic guy? Hey, if I saw his message and didn’t know you were The One, I might’ve tried responding myself.” She grinned weakly as I shot her an evil look.
    â€œWell,
I’d
never do anything like that.” I turned my glare back to the screen, feeling annoyed. “Maybe I should just forget this whole thing. I hate playing games.”
    â€œWhat?” Britt looked alarmed. “Babe, you can’t give up now. Not when you just found him!”
    â€œYeah, me and the entire female population of southern Maryland,” I said sourly.
    Britt was scanning the entries again. Suddenly she gasped. “Check it out! Some chick used my idea to say meeting him was out of this world.” When she realized I was glaring at her again, she sat back. “But that’s not important right now. What
is
important is for you to let him know that you really
are
his planetarium girl.”
    â€œWhy bother?” I slumped in my chair, feeling cranky. “If he doesn’t realize it’s me on his own, maybe this wasn’t meant to be after all.”
    â€œSure it was. Come on, you can’t give up now! Seriously.” Britt crouched down and grabbed me by the knees, staring up into my face with a totally sincere expression. “Look, Lauren. I’ve never seen you react to someone like this before. That has to mean something, right? Isn’t this guy worth at least a little more effort?”
    My gaze wandered back to Riley’s profile pic. I shrugged.
    â€œYou
know
I’m right,” Britt said. “I mean, what if this Riley guy is the love of your life, and you just sit back and let some other Facebook hussy grab him?”
    â€œLove of my life? Let’s not get carried away here.” But I had to admit she had apoint, maybe. Was it too soon to give up? “I guess he admitted himself that he doesn’t really know what I look like,” I said slowly. “So how would he know it’s really me and not just another faker?”
    â€œThat’s the spirit!” Britt bounced to her feet, grinning like a fool. “All you have to do is be your gorgeous, witty self and he’ll figure it out.”
    â€œMaybe you’re right.”
    I still felt kind of irritated at all those deceptive girls out there in FB Land. But my moment of hopelessness had passed, at least mostly. Maybe Britt was right. Maybe it was worth at least trying to show Riley who I really was. What was the worst that could happen? At least it was a little easier to be brave over the Internet than in real life.
    I took a deep breath. “I guess I could write him back and see where things go from there.”
    â€œDefinitely!” Britt exclaimed, looking as thrilled as if she’d just won the lottery and landed a date with Orlando Bloom at the same time. It doesn’t take much to make her happy. “So what are you going to say?”
    â€œI don’t know.” But my fingers werealready reaching for the keys. I clicked on the Send Riley a Message link beneath his photo.
    This time the words came pretty easily, and I just let them flow, trying not to overthink things too much. When I finished, I sat back and read over what I’d just typed:
    Hi Riley, thanks for friending me back. Meeting at the planetarium like that was crazy, huh? But mostly I’m just psyched to find someone else who appreciates MTIAB like I do. Did u see the latest update on their blog? Funny