A Mousey Nerd Neighbor

“Alice? Is that really you!?” It took Alice a minute to recognize the one holding her, but the voice made it all click.

“DANNY!? Oh, thank heavens you were the one to find me!” Dan Conner was not a particularly handsome, strong, or charming person. Frail and skinny, with thick glasses, even his curly hair looked almost exactly the same as it did in high school. Alice always remembered him being a kind and considerate person, at least from what little she remembered of him. He didn’t stand out much when they were kids for obvious reasons.

“How did you get like this?”

“It’s complicated, um… Could you not stare so much? And can we please go inside for the rest of this conversation?” Danny opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but then stopped, a look of sudden realization hitting him. Alice became a little scared of that. She didn’t really know him very well and was entirely at his mercy. What he did next, settled the matter.