They stare at me blank-faced. “Because … you thought we were intentionally withholding information from you?” Lukas ventures.
“For which we’ve apologized,” Sebastian reminds me. “And you accepted.”
I suppress a sigh, resigning myself to having to spell it out for them. “We haven’t known each other for very long. And our”—I swirl my hand around, indicating all of us—“situation is weird, wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t think it’s weird,” Felix says, and the others murmur their agreement.
“What I mean is,” I say, trying to infuse my words with a patience I don’t feel, “if you introduce me to your parents, they might think we’re dating. Which we aren’t.”
“They won’t think that if we don’t say it,” Lukas assures me. “We’ll just tell them you’re our friend. Like we said we would do.”
“My point is, that if weweredating, meeting your parents would be a big deal. And I know we’re not dating but we are … doing other things. Which makes the situation complicated.”
“Oh.” I look at Felix and can see that things have clicked into place for him. “If we were dating, you would want us to warn you before introducing you to our parents, because you would want to prepare. And even though we aren’t dating yet, meeting our parents is still something you need to prepare for because our relationship with you isn’t just normal friends, and you’re concerned they might suspect something based on how we all act around each other. And us not telling you they would be here means you didn’t have a chance to prepare yourself.”
I choose to ignore his inclusion of the wordyetbecause outside of that, he’s spot on. “Yes, exactly that. I’m upset because none of you thought about the fact that meeting your parents might feel weird for me. I understand why you didn’t think you needed to tell me, but I want to make sure that you understand why I think you did need to.”
“So …” Sebastian says slowly, clearly puzzling something out. “It’s like when we gave you a cube the first time. We didn’t know you wouldn’t be able to solve it, because it’s such an easy thing for us to do. But for you, it put you on the spot.”
“And it was probably uncomfortable, having to either admit you couldn’t do it or try and likely fail,” Elliot adds.
That is actually a surprisingly good comparison. “Right. This is just a little bit of a larger scale discomfort.”
“We’re very sorry that we didn’t think about it being awkward for you to meet our parents.” I can hear the sincerity in Lukas’s voice, and see it on his face, and my heart melts a little. “We see now why it is, and recognize that it was unfair of us to spring it on you like we did.” He reaches out like he wants to hug me or take my hand, but then remembers my no-PDA rule and drops his hand. “Can you forgive us?”
Like there’s even a chance I could say no after they worked so hard to understand, and they do really seem sorry. “Yes, of course. Thank you for understanding, and for the apology.” I take a deep breath, suddenly drained from the weight of that conversation. “Wow, that was a lot for first thing in the morning.”
“Let’s get some coffee,” says Lukas, placing his hand on the small of my back and pointing to the sign directing people to the continental breakfast. So much for remembering about no PDA, I guess, but his touch doesn’t feel like anything more than a friend guiding a friend, so maybe to him it’s not PDA and shouldn’t be for me either. “Coffee always helps.”
“Yeah, coffee would be good.” Caffeine may not be the best idea in my current state, but the familiar routine of it might help settle me.
In the breakfast line, I get yogurt and granola, along with a dish of fruit and a slice of toast and, yes, coffee. I survey the room, but don’t see any empty tables. I turn to the guys, the question of where we should go forming on my lips, but Felix is already answering it.
“Over here.” He tips his head toward a table where a guy in a black hoodie is sitting alone, and we all follow him over there. “Hi, Calvin. May we join you?”
It takes a moment for the guy—Calvin—to notice us and slip the headphones off his ears. “What?”
“May we sit here?” This time Lukas asks, lowering his tray so it hovers just above the table.
“Oh. Sure.” Calvin pops the top on an energy drink and takes a long swallow.
Felix immediately sits across from Calvin, and Lukas sits at the other end of the table. I begin to place my tray in the spot between Lukas and Felix, because I’m pretty sure it’s their turn in the rotation given that I slept between Elliot and Sebastian, but hesitate in case I’m mistaken. Maybe sleeping arrangements don’t count in the rotation, which would mean the car ride yesterday would be where it left off, and I was between Lukas and Felix for that. But Elliot and Sebastian move to sit across from Lukas and next to Calvin, so I slide into the seat I’d initially selected, pleased that my instinct was correct. Seems I’m picking up on patterns left and right these days.
“When is your first event?” Sebastian asks Calvin, cracking open his juice.
“Not until just before lunch,” Calvin replies. He looks over at me, clearly curious about the outsider infiltrating this tight-knit group. “Hi, I’m Calvin.”
“This is Rebecca,” Lukas tells him, watching as I reach across to shake Calvin’s proffered hand. “Our friend.”
“Who is a girl,” Sebastian adds helpfully.
“Nice to meet you, Rebecca,” Calvin says to me, tossing an amused look at Sebastian before noticing something across the room that makes his whole demeanor change. His shoulders go rigid and his face hardens. “Fuck. She’s here.”
They all look to where Calvin’s glare is pointing. I turn to look too, but not knowing anyone here, I don’t know who has caught his attention.
“I don’t know why you have such a problem with Patti,” says Elliot, returning to his breakfast. “She’s nice.”
“We listened to her breakdown the events for a few of the Southwest competitions,” Felix tells Calvin. “She must be here on the commentator team.”
