Socially Distanced

Chapter 17

The weeks spent in quarantine passed surprisingly quickly. I slowly began to see why Brett liked emailing so much. Each day I logged in, I looked forward to seeing a new message from him; each one getting more and more flirtatious. It gave me something to enjoy instead of just receiving coronavirus updates and assignment due dates.

We began to use email as if we were texting; each message becoming less and less formatted. Neither one of us bothered adding a subject line anymore, although it was getting a little exasperating. Each time I went to send a message, I got a notification saying: Subject line blank, send anyway?

"Yes!" I yelled at the computer for the millionth time, hitting my hands against the keyboard.

Suddenly a new email popped into my inbox. I knew it wasn't from Brett because this one had a subject line. I clicked 'open.'

Dear staff and students,

We regret to inform you that the remainder of this semester will remain online only. It is our top priority to continue to provide you with the utmost education. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you are struggling.

Stay safe, happy and healthy!

I mumbled sarcastically. "Didn't see that coming, oh wait. Yes I did." I rolled my eyes. Of course the rest of the semester would be concluded online. With the state of the world, we weren't going to be having in person classes for a long time.

I opened a new email to send to Brett.

Did you hear the news?

I clicked send and refreshed my inbox. I received another email from a professor titled, 'Reminder.'

"Now what?" I questioned while clicking on it. It read:

Hello,

Just a friendly reminder that the internet is not anonymous, nor is it private. I hope you're doing well during these new and uncertain times.

-Professor Williams

"What the heck?" I muttered to myself. I checked the top of the page seeing who else received this message.

To: you and one other

"That's it?" I was now carrying on a complete conversation with myself. I looked at who else received this strange message. Brett. Then it dawned on me. Oh crap.

Brett and I never bothered to switch to our personal emails. We had been using our school emails to communicate this entire time. Our professors had access to what we were saying to each other. They must've read everything. Every. Single. Thing.

I opened up a new email to send to Brett.

Call me

A few seconds later my phone rang.

"Mabel? Is everything okay?"

"They saw everything."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you open the email from Professor Williams?" I asked, confused. "Our emails," I continued. "We never stopped using our school emails. I just got a message from my professor saying 'the internet is not private,'" I sneered. "They read everything. This is so embarrassing."

"Oh, I saw an email from Professor Williams, but I didn't bother to open it. Same with all the rest of my school emails. Most of the time it's just stuff about the pandemic. It gets old. Your emails are top priority. Anyway, those snoopy little-"

"Brett!" I panicked. "What are we going to do?"

"What can we do? It's too late now." He was quiet for a minute. "Ah, well. I hope they were entertained."

I paused and suddenly burst out laughing. Now we were both laughing hysterically. I didn't even know why it was so funny, but it was. I laughed and laughed until I was out of breath.

Once I regained my composure, I spoke again. "Seriously, though. They had no right," I huffed.

"I guess we can stop using email now," Brett concluded.

"Yeah. Oh, by the way, did you say you don't read any of your other emails?" I inquired.

"Nah, most of the time I just ignore 'em. I'll get to 'em eventually."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm guess I should be flattered that I'm more important," I joked.

He laughed, then there was silence on the line before he spoke again.

"So... I was thinking, it's been awhile now. You've made a lot of progress and as long as you're ready, I think you should face your fear. You know, your big fear," he said, while trying to dance around the words that set me off, but I knew what he meant, and he was right.

These past few weeks had been a game changer for me. I was able to drink pop for the first time in years, not worried about it slowing down my immune system. I was able to effortlessly hold hands with Brett without rushing to the nearest sink to wash my hands. I was able to wear my hair down in public, without the fear of someone's germs latching onto my long locks. I was ready.

"I think you're right," I told him.

"You've been through so much, Mabel," he began. "You've come so far, and the fact that you're doing all of this in the middle of a pandemic? Well that's just phenomenal, if you ask me." Even though I couldn't see him on the other end of the phone, I could tell by his voice that he was smiling, and so was I.

I was about to speak when he started saying something else. Something that completely caught me off guard. Something that I didn't know if I was ready to hear.

"I love you."

I dropped my phone on the ground. "Shoot!" I yelled, frantically scrambling to pick it up. By the time I had it back in my hands, the call had hung up. Unbelievable. I hit 'redial' and nervously awaited hearing the receiver pick up.

"Hey, Mabel, I'm sorry if I-"

"Brett!" In interrupted. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hang up on you. The phone call dropped," I lied.

"You left me on a cliffhanger there," he nervously chuckled.

"I know, I know." My mind raced as I thought back to the first week of school that I met Brett. That was already a month ago. I had known him for a month. Was it too soon to be feeling this way? I didn't care. I figured there was no sense in lying to the person that helped me turn my life around, so I told him the truth.

"What I wanted to say... before the call dropped, was that... I love you too."