Justin held his breath, waiting for Emily's response. He really shouldn't have brought it up…but the look on her face when she talked about how the friendship she valued so highly was disregarded broke his heart. She hadn't done anything wrong! He wanted her to understand that.
"Wasn't who I thought he was?" Emily repeated his words back to him, perplexed. "What, like he's some old guy masquerading as someone my age?"
"Maybe…or he might actually know you in real life," he hedged, busying himself with putting a batch of cookies in the oven so he didn't have to see her reaction.
She seemed surprised at his words but quickly dismissed them. "That doesn't make sense. If he knew me, why wouldn't he say anything?"
"This is all hypothetical," he said as casually as he could. "But he might be worried what you'd think of him since you've talked about so much personal stuff. Maybe he thinks you'd be embarrassed or something. I don't know."
