“Good morning Bradley,” Alice politely greeted Brad, as she did every morning before taking her seat in front of him. 

Bradley was Brad’s actual first name, however he preferred the shortened moniker the same way he liked his shorter body in VR. He liked small things. The bell rang signaling the start of the period. Brad, immediately feeling anxious, raised his hand.

“I’m sorry, can I use the restroom?”

“You couldn’t go before class started?” his teacher asked, annoyed.

Brad looked apologetic and started fiddling with his nails from nervousness. The teacher sighed and let him go. Brad awkwardly left the room and strode to the restroom while putting his earpod in. Once he reached the bathroom and saw no one around he lightly tapped the earpod twice and started to speak.

“Sonder…”

A charming beep played and Sonder’s robotic voice started speaking, “Yes, how may I help you?”

“How...how do you cheer someone up quickly, Sonder?”

“Well there are two ‘quick’ options, but one may be difficult for you.”

“What is it?”

“You should ask them about it, listen intently, and give them a hug and let them know you’ll always be supportive of them and…”

“You’re right, I can’t do that, what’s option 2?”

“Option 2 is to distract them from whatever is bothering them. It won’t fix the root issue, but it can help people feel better until they can finish processing and internalizing their feelings.”

“How do I distract them?”

“Humor and entertainment are good options. Brad, may I ask whom you are referring to. I can create a custom plan catering to them if…”

“No you may not,” Brad quickly took his earpod out and put it back in its case. He looked at himself in the mirror. He could barely see his own face given how long he let the hair grow. He splashed some cold water on his cheeks and took a deep breath. 

“Humor, huh?”

He walked nervously back to the classroom. He put his ear up to the door, a habit of his before entering any room. He opened it slowly and walked back to his desk. They were learning about the colonization of Mars, it was a super interesting topic, but Brad was focused on trying to find a way to make Alice laugh. She was diligently taking notes, but her posture felt lethargic. Brad thought back to the humor and improv classes he took as part of therapy. An easy way to be funny is to respond with something unexpected he remembered. He listened to the lecture and waited for his opportunity to answer one of the teacher’s questions.

“On Mars the gravity is only about 38% the equivalent as on Earth. In order to prevent bone density loss on longer stays the Mars Health Association recommends wearing a special, weighted heavy suit that makes you heavier to offset the low gravity. Does anybody know what it’s called?” Brad’s teacher asked.

Brad quickly raised his hand and answered before even being called, “a number 3 with extra cheese.”

The classroom went silent with an unexpectedly awkward energy as no one expected him to crack a joke. He didn’t usually talk unless spoken to or called upon in class and he never made a joke or trolled his teachers in any of his classes. Then his teacher started to chuckle and the rest of the class along with her. Alice looked back with a small smile and this made Brad slightly blush and look away avoiding eye contact.

“Very funny Bradley, do you know what it’s actually called?”

“Uhm...an Atlas Suit ‘mam.”

“Correct, the Atlas suit is named after the Greek…”

Brad retreated inward. Was that good enough? She smiled, so it probably worked. Right? The rest of the lesson proceeded smoothly as Brad was distracted by his own self-consciousness. To Alice it was nothing more than a funny moment and it didn’t really help with any of her actual problems, but to hear something funny and unexpected so early in the morning helped lighten up the rest of her day that she had premeditated to be miserable. The rest of the week proceeded as usual without anything exceptional happening. Brad noticed that Alice wore lighter and lighter shades of lipstick throughout the week and this helped ease his nerves a bit for their date.

They continued to exchange pleasantries through text, each expressing excitement over their plans this weekend, until finally, it was Friday, the day before their date. 

“Good morning, Bradley,” Alice greeted Brad as she usually did every morning. She wore bright red lipstick. This looked like a similar color to the one she wore when they met after the concert Brad thought to himself. 

“Good morning, Alice.”

Feeling a bit conversational Alice turned around and asked Brad, “hey, do you have any plans this weekend?”

“Me, oh umm…” Brad felt flustered as he didn’t expect the question. He looked away and answered, “no nothing this weekend, what about yourself?”

A typical Bradley answer Alice thought. “That’s cool, I’m meeting someone this weekend.”

“That’s uhh, nice. I hope you have a good time.”

Alice flashed a smile at him and the bell rang signaling the start of another day. Brad felt his hands, they were clammy again. He would need some extra simulator training with Sonder when he got home tonight he thought to himself.