“Bro, when is Katie gonna come to a Friday night hang?” David asks.
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “I just figured this was sacred ‘Ellie and The Dudes’ time, I didn’t want to infringe on that.”
“It sounds so weird when you say that,” Jack mumbles.
“What are you on about?”
“The only time you call her Ellie is when you reference the groupchat name, it’s unsettling,” he says, sounding weirdly irritated. “Just call her Eleanor like you normally do.”
Eleanor looks up at him, bewildered. She turns to look at me, and I return her wide-eyed look with my hands raised in mock surrender. I have no idea why he’s being so weird.
“I actually don’t think I’ve met her yet,” Eleanor ponders. “You should totally bring her sometime.”
Her tone is bright, but cool-calm-collected, like she’s in a job interview for CEO of nonchalance, not telling a guy she’s kissed like her life depended on it to bring his new girlfriend around.
I guess it’s not new–we’ve been dating for a few months now. The longer I wait to bring her around my friends, theweirder it feels, like I missed my window. She would never say anything, but I can tell it’s a sore subject for Katie, too.
I wonder (and hope) whether her totally-normal-and-chill attitude is like mine–fake as shit.
“Okay, yeah, for sure,” I say, trying to summon even an ounce of enthusiasm.
“Thank God, I’ve been worried that you’re embarrassed by us,” David says with a sigh of relief. “Or that maybe you didn’t wantusto meetherfor some reason.”
Jack and Eleanor share a quick look that I definitelywon’tbe reading into for hours tonight.
“Nah, you guys are the best. And Katie’s really awesome, she’s super cool. I think she’d totally fit in.”
Am I reassuring them, or trying to convince myself?
***
This was a stupid, terrible, awful idea.
Which makes me internally cringe, because it shouldn’t be an awful idea to introduce your girlfriend to your friends. But here we are. The five of us. In my basement.
And it’s awkward as hell.
Everyone has made at least one effort to get the conversation going, but nothing has stuck. Katie doesn’t get David’s humor, so all of his jokes are falling flat. Jack refuses to use words with more than one syllable for some reason. Eleanor has barely said a word, she mostly just smiles and nods.
With a fifth body in the room, our normal assigned seating got all messed up, and not in a way I anticipated. David is sprawled on the floor, even though there’s a perfectly fine third cushion on the couch. Even when Katie jokingly said,“I promise I don’t bite,”David gave a weird pity laugh and settled himself even further onto the ground.
Eleanor is still kind of in her normal spot–she’s technically sitting on her chair. But for some reason Jack is in the main seat, and she’s perched on the arm. I know they’re friends, but the way she’s leaned into him to sit comfortably triggers a sharp burning sensation in my chest.
Hello, you have a girlfriend bozo, maybe focus on whether she’s comfortable instead of being weird about Eleanor.
I shift and put my arm around Katie’s shoulders, but the movement feels forced. She’s a lot taller than…other girls…and for some reason she can never quite get her shoulders low enough for this to be comfortable for either of us.
But this is my girlfriend, and if I pull away from her in front of my friends that isnotgoing to end well for me.
“So Katie,” Eleanor says, her voice much peppier than usual. “How did you guys meet?”
Katie picks at her cuticles nervously, and I should hold her hand to ease her nerves, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
“Oh, it’s nothing interesting,” she says with a nervous laugh. “When Griffin couldn’t fit Spanish into his schedule, we ended up in the same physics class, and then I guess the rest is history from there.”
I should add something. Maybe something sweet about the first time I noticed her, or our first interaction. I should say something,anything, to rescue her from floundering.
But my eyes are locked on the spot where Jack’s hand is resting on Eleanor’s knee. He moved it there when Katie mentioned Spanish, and I swear I saw him give her a small squeeze, like he was comforting her.
