A Grave Problem

42. The Meeting

"I let Luke know I told both of you about him." Mia announced to her friends. "Well...actually, I told him I was going to tell you, but..." she shrugged; it was close enough, as far as Mia was concerned.

"What?" Carmine asked.

"Why?" Anna said at the same time.

"I thought we decided it was better if he didn't know we knew." Carmine added.

"Because I thought it was fair." Mia said. "If we're going to be friends with him for a while, it only makes sense to tell him we know."

"Yeah, but why?" Carmine asked again.

"Because what happens if he tells us later on? Would you act surprised or would you tell him, 'Oh, I've known for three years already.'?"

Carmine pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Mia wasn't surprised; what else could Carmine say? Mia knew she was right.

"What did he say when you told him?" Anna asked.

"He was really worried."

"I'll bet he was." Carmine said, giving Mia a look that said that was obvious. "Did you tell him we wouldn't tell anyone?"

"Of course." Mia said; she wasn't stupid. "But that wasn't the only thing he was worried about."

"Why else was he worried?" Anna wondered.

"You know what people usually think werewolves are like?" Mia asked. When her friends nodded, Mia told them, "He's worried you're going to think he's like that – he was worried you wouldn't talk to him anymore."

Mia knew Luke would have hated to hear that she'd told them that, but oh well. She decided it was more important to make sure everyone was on the same page than to worry about whether or not she'd embarrassed Luke behind his back.

"He was really concerned?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. I told him you wouldn't mind him being a werewolf, though."

"And he believed that?" Carmine raised her eyebrows. Mia decided to ignore her.

"I told him we could hang out together this weekend, so he could see that everything was ok. And Zev and Conner are probably going to come too."

"That's a good idea." Anna said.

"It is." Carmine agreed. Then, under her breath, Mia heard her mutter, "This'll be one of the strangest times I've ever had."

Mia couldn't agree more.

***

When Mia let Luke know the next day that she'd told her friends about him, he started looking sick all over again. When she said they'd been ok with it, she was greeted with a mixture of relief and skepticism.

"Really?" he said in a way that let Mia know he was trying to decide if she was playing a trick on him.

"Really." she told him. "They were...surprised...at first." Mia said, remembering how they'd reacted when she'd actually told them. "But I explained it to them. And they still want to hang out with you."

"So they were ok with getting food with us?"

Normally, going out to eat was about the last thing either Mia or Anna would want to do. But they'd decided to make Luke comfortable, so they'd all agreed to say yes to whatever activity he chose to do.