Her Love System Rated Me Zero

My girlfriend, Lauren, once told me she could see a number floating above people's heads. A "need index" from some cosmic system, she called it. A real-time gauge of how much they depended on her.

In the beginning, she looked at me with red-rimmed eyes, her voice trembling. "Your number is only thirty, Ian. Do you even love me?"

I told her, "Not needing someone to survive doesn't mean you don't love them."

But then the shifts started. She began holding her umbrella over her assistant, Connor, in the middle of a downpour, driving miles out of her way to drop him off at his apartment.