“No, it’s a steed named Bike. Her trusty steed, Bike.”

“She has a steed, but there are also buses?”

“Yes.”

I glanced from my laptop up at her. She was looking at me defiantly.

“Alright,” I allowed. “Let’s commit it. What should the message be?”

“ ‘Introduce character based off of Monica,’ ” she said proudly.

I sighed and typed it in, trying not to fixate on the words kind and pretty. “My turn now.”

I typed while she watched the words unfurl on the projector above.

The second girl was tall and brave. There were rumors she had some giants’ blood in her, and perhaps some lion, too, for her bravery was the talk of all the bus stops. Her only flaw was that she was rather scared of her steed, Car, and so they set off on their adventure both on Bike.

“Describe her more,” Louise requested with dancing eyes. “What’s the relationship between the first and second girl?”

The blinking cursor challenged me.

The first girl really looked up to the second girl and deemed her a perfect adventure buddy, I wrote, then paused. My fingers began to stick to the keyboard. Typing was always easier than talking, so I continued.

She thought if they went on an adventure together, she’d work up the courage to tell her how much she liked her new haircut.

I couldn’t look at her, but heard her laugh, a beautiful sound that made my hands tingle.

I gave it a commit message of “Introduce second character and establish relationship.”

She did not need prompting to continue the story.

“They were on a quest to find the cutest dog in the land of Cambridge. It would have floppy ears and be very derpy and would be wearing a fall-themed bandana.” She paused. “ ‘Introduce character goals.’ ”

I continued.

Bike creaked under their weight. After all, the second girl was part giant, and Bike was only used to carrying one rider. They had seen many dogs, but none with quite the right bandana or the proper amount of ear floppage. They were running low on rations, and the first girl feared their adventure might not end in success.

I added a commit message of “Things get dire.”

“Where are we going with this?” she asked, crossing her arms. “What’s this rebasing thing you mentioned? Or are you just trying to show off your typing speed?”

It wasn’t my intention, though I was pleased she noticed. I’ve always thought my typing speed quite formidable.

“Finish the story,” I said.

“Fine. Just when all hope appeared lost—”

“Chad showed up,” I interrupted.

“Who the fuck is Chad?”

I continued typing.

Chad came to the bus stop with his dog bouncing eagerly behind him. This dog had the floppiest ears either girl had ever seen.

I nodded for her to take over. She took a moment to think.