"I didn't tell you because I felt pressured." And she wouldn't have caved if she had felt pressured. But she's already told B more than she's told anyone else, and he's never gotten weird at her over it, and maybe it's kind of nice to have just one person who she doesn't play the My personal life isn't anyone's business game with. It's not an approach she's regretting in the least, but having an exception - one exception - is maybe okay.

"Her name's Root," she says, curling her fingers around the empty space on her wrist. "My friend."

Maybe he'll make the connection between that and her babbling about root directories keeping computer files safe and organized and sane, and maybe he won't. But right now, this is the closest she can get to telling him that she loved her.