Straight-Faced

almost the resolution

"She knows that we can see her, right?"

Luke sighed. "At this point, why are we still asking? Anna knew that Sage likes her, right? Nope, that's why we had to set them up. She knew that she wouldn't get rejected, right? Obviously not, that's why it took her so long to ask her crush out. So does she know that we can see her standing awkwardly by the entrance?"

"You could've just said no," I told him.

Luke sighed again and squeezed my hand under the table. "I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."

"Okay, what?" I stared at him in disbelief. "This whole time, you were the one who came up with all the ideas of how to make this work, and you were telling us that we had no reason to be nervous, and now you are?"

"I just remembered that Anna Lee still has no idea that we're dating, and she's about to find out."

"Oh." I frowned. "That's a bit of a problem. Who's gonna put up with me enough to date me when you're dead by her hands?"

Luke buried his face in his hands. "Don't joke about my death. She's actually gonna kill me, and you probably won't care enough to throw me a nice funeral because you'll be too busy laughing at my suffering."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate," I said.

"You're not helping," he mumbled.

"You got yourself into this," I pointed out. "You didn't tell her that you were dating me, and I had no idea that you were friends with her until a week ago. I'm sorry, you're taking all the blame for this one."

"You're not helping," Luke repeated. He lifted his head. "I'd threaten to dump you, but the last time that you thought we were breaking up, it... wasn't good."

I grimaced. "Let's not talk about that right now. Or ever."

"Okay." Luke tugged on my sleeve. "Look, she's actually coming in now."

We watched as Anna Lee pushed the door open and stepped through the doorway. She scanned the cafe, and her eyes widened when she saw us.

"This is how I die," Luke whispered, horrified.

"Oh, would you look at that. Time to ignore your cries for help and put on my innocent guy act."

Anna Lee stared for a second, and then she started storming toward our table. Luke tensed up.

"She's not actually gonna kill you," I whispered to him.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he muttered.

Anna Lee stood in front of us with narrowed eyes and her hands on her hips. I had to admit, she did look kind of terrifying.

"Luke Mitchell, explain yourself."

I put on a surprised face, as if I was just finding out for the first time that they knew each other. "Well, I was gonna introduce you guys, but I guess I don't need to."

Luke aimed for a sheepish smile. "Hey, Anna Lee. How are you?"

She ignored him and turned to me. "Cameron, your boyfriend's an asshole."

"Already knew that," I said pleasantly.

"Hey!" Luke elbowed me.

"I'm kidding! Well, not really." I slung an arm around Luke's shoulders. He gave me a warning look, but it was fine. Platonic friends could put their arms around each other.

I lowered my voice in case there were waiters listening. "Don't worry, you're still cute."

As Anna Lee watched our interaction, the shock and irritation started to fade from her face.