USHI's POV
By the time I get home at seven, the rest of the day has eroded the worst of my morning memories. Another hour of classes, five hours at the library...my mind only has so much emotional space. The events of the morning are impossibly far away
when I open my laptop. The hinge catches; I adjust it and idly check my email.
From: Maria Lopez
Subject: Something you're not telling me?
For a second, I have no idea what she could mean. Maria is my best friend and roommate. She knows everything about me—or at least, as much as any one person can know. Then the events of the morning come rushing back: me opening my big mouth, the class, Christian Stirling.
I thought I was safe from the prospect of Facebook blowing up—but then, Blake did know my name. I open a new tab, check my notifications...
Mabel beat my score in an online game. Jen from high school tagged me in a three-year-old photo. There's a half-dozen likes on my post this morning about wearing my lucky sweater. Other than that? Nothing.
I let out a breath of relief, switch tabs, and click on Maria's email. You left your phone at home, the body of the message reads, and your mom called seven times that I could see. Everything okay with them?
Oh, thank God. Just that.
No worries, I reply. That's just Mom. I'll talk to her. After a moment, I add: I had kind of a shitty day though. Someone got mud on my sweater.
Her response comes a few minutes later. Noooo!! Will it wash out?
Don't think so. It's okay, though. See you soon.
I pick up my phone. Sure enough, there are twenty-three missed calls and no messages. My mother is not the most patient person in the world. It's a good thing she and Dad are happily married, because if she were in the dating pool, she'd be the sort of person who would call the guy she liked a dozen times in a half-hour.
But instead of calling her back immediately, or even starting on my second project like I should, I pull up a third browser tab. A multicolored search logo greets me.
I'm going to regret this, but...
Christian Stirling, I type. The search result pulls up a brief entry to the right, which features a fairly recent shot of Christian , alongside several of his younger photos. This includes a baby picture that is unfairly cute. Christian is the Vice President of Interfaces at Cyclone Systems, currently on leave. His birthday is February 14th. Of course. Even the universe thinks everyone should love him.
Beneath that, there are links to a smattering of news articles, his official page at Cyclone, a book review, and a YouTube playlist titled "The Best of Christian," maintained by Christianfan1283. With some trepidation, I click on the last one.
It's a collection of ads, product launch clips, and interviews.
The first item in the playlist, of course, is the famous and now well-aged Cyclone ad, the one that broke them out of the server business when they started in on consumer electronics. The computer depicted reflects its age—this is obviously a high-end machine for the time, with a bulky CD-ROM drive and dual floppy disks. The camera focuses not on the tower itself, but on the user: an adorable, pudgy, blond toddler.
