Straight-Faced

almost the resolution

"I guess I'll be annoyed at you later," she huffed. I felt Luke relax a little. I dropped my arm and reached for his hand under the table.

"You guys are adorable," Anna Lee told us as she slid onto our table's other bench. "But I've never thought of you two together. Okay, I need details. When and how did this happen?"

"Well, do you wanna hear about a month ago or four years ago?" Luke asked. "You know what, never mind, that's too confusing. So, Cameron and I officially met a month ago when my sister's friend's dad snuck us into his birthday party—"

"So that's how you guys got in," I said.

"Don't tell your manager. Anyway, we didn't see each other again until we found out that his friend is my pizza guy—"

"Do you still get pizza from him?" I asked. "Wait, do you guys ever gossip about me?"

"Sometimes and definitely. So basically, Cameron got all desperate, and—"

"Stop telling it from my point of view!" I paused. "Sorry, I keep cutting you off."

Luke shrugged. "You're fine. So then—"

This time, I wasn't the one to interrupt him.

We turned towards the laughter, and Sage was standing in front of us with her arms clutching her sides.

"Seriously?! You two?!" She threw her arms up in the air. "You know what, I'm not even surprised." She turned to me. "When Anna Lee told me about the double date idea, I was so nervous. I thought I was going to be the fourth wheel, but it looks like that's you."

Sage took a seat next to Anna Lee, and for the first time, I saw the group all together. Sage was right; I was the fourth wheel on this tricycle and an obvious misfit. They all went to school together, and they were closer in age. They were a tight group of friends, and I was the awkward older sibling who got stuck babysitting them.

I put on my surprised face again to humor the girls. "Wait. So you three all know each other?"

"I hide in the school library with these idiots during lunch every day," Anna Lee explained to me. "Well, only Luke is an idiot. We let him stay because we feel sorry for him."

Oh, so Sage wasn't an idiot? Interesting. Also, very adorable.

"Hey, that's not true!" Luke protested.

Anna Lee crossed her arms. "Do I care?"

To make Sage feel more included, I asked her, "Do they argue all the time?" They probably did, but I wanted Sage to feel like she wasn't the only one who didn't know what was going on.

Sage rolled her eyes and sighed. "You've got to be kidding. This is every single day of my life."

"I'm so sorry."

"Okay, which one of us here has dated all the other people here?" Luke was saying.

I looked to Anna Lee. "Are you serious?" I vaguely remembered Luke telling me that he and Anna Lee had pretended to date to get their friends off their backs.

"I guess that's... technically not false," Anna Lee decided.

"So... My fake girlfriend is friends with my real boyfriend?" I knew exactly what was going on, but I was committed to my act.

Luke sighed dramatically. "Yeah. Try to keep up, babe."

I had pretty much given up on telling him to stop.

"And my fake ex-boyfriend is dating my fake current boyfriend," Anna Lee said.

Luke grinned at us. "Surprise, I knew all of that."

Sage looks at us one by one. "Where do I fit in? Why am I here?"

"Because Anna Lee finally got the nerve to ask you out, stupid," Luke told her.

I raised my hand to claim my credit. "Actually, I forced her to."

It was Luke's turn to do some more acting. "Really? Wow, I can't believe it actually worked."

He winked at me as we high-fived. I had to hold myself back from rolling my eyes.

"Hey, I was nervous," Anna Lee defended.

I scoffed. "Nervous? Honey, do you know what an understatement is? You were frickin' terrified that she was gonna turn you down."

Luke nodded in agreement.

Sage frowned.

"What? Why would I do that?" she asked Anna Lee. "I like you. I thought it was painfully obvious."

"It was," Luke affirmed, which earned him a glare from both of the girls.

"You guys are ridiculous," I told all of them. "Look at you little sophomores, figuring out who has a crush on who. I, on the other hand, am a mature adult who'd like a box of apple juice. Can we get a waiter over here?"

I wasn't as much of a misfit as I had originally thought I was because they were all misfits who had banded together. I got along really well with Sage, and we'd roll our eyes together whenever Luke and Anna Lee started arguing. I teased Anna Lee a lot, and she'd always insult me back while hiding a smile. The entire time, Luke and I kept out hands linked under the table.

Of course I had known what happiness felt like, but this was a whole different kind. For the first time in my life, I had a group of friends that I didn't have to act around, even though I still did it. It was just nice to know that I could act however I wanted to.

As I looked around the table, I could tell that these kids were getting a rare taste of happiness too. It had definitely been worth all the fighting to stay together with Luke, to get Anna Lee and Sage to go on a date, and to meticulously plan so that we could all be sitting around a table in a small local coffee shop at this exact moment.

Luke smiled at me and squeezed my hand. He probably had similar thoughts. I wanted to kiss him right there, but I couldn't. It was okay, though. I could do that when we got home.

Maybe I couldn't have a boyfriend in public, but I could have this group of friends, and that was just as precious.