“‘Oh,’ Chelsea said, and almost said ‘Cool,’ as she had a thing— back in college, mostly— where she’d say, ‘Oh,” wait a moment, say, ‘Cool,’ and then grin self-consciously. It was her way of saying, ‘I have no idea how to respond to what you just said. I have no idea, but other people, I’m sure, do. It’s my fault, not yours. I know I seem disinterested, or something. You shouldn’t trust that. I just didn’t know how to react. The grin means I’m amiable.’”

— Tao Lin, “Sasquatch,” a short story within Bed