Misleading Discussions
“Okay, you’ve been here for about a week now. Do you have a crush on anyone yet? You can tell me, I’m a great wingwoman.”
Adeline laughed softly and shook her head. “Nah. It’s- yeah. No.”
“‘No’ you don’t want me to help hook you up, or ‘no’ you aren’t crushing on anyone?”
“I- I um. Both. Both. Both is good.”
“First of all, my dear, you are very bad at lying. Also, I love Road to El Dorado, and now we have to watch it together.”
Adeline flushed lightly and grinned. “Okay. I’d be down.”
Sage winked. “Now come on. Who’s your crush?”
“I- well. The thing is…”
“Okay, so you figure she’s straight. Or not interested. I can work with this.” Sage rubbed her hands together gleefully, startling a laugh from the other girl. Is it me? Please let it be me. I’m not straight. And I’m interested.
“Well… Both of those things? And I’m pretty sure she’s taken, so…”
The hope puttering in Sage’s chest flickered and died as she tried to keep her face from crumpling. Definitely not me. I’m completely single. No mistaking this loner for taken. “Okay, but we’re not positive, huh? Who is it? No wait, you aren’t telling me that. Okay. What colour is her hair?”
Adeline hesitated, her foot tapping rapidly on the floor. “Blonde.”
Sage did her best to squash the butterfly hopping around in her stomach. She’s probably talking about Ella. Ella’s straight and she has a boyfriend. “Okay. Blonde. Eye colour?”
“G-green.”
Definitely Ella. “Okay. And explain to me why you think she’s straight and taken.” She pulled her best counselor face and propped her chin up on her folded hands. “How does that make you feel?”
Adeline burst out in giggles. “Ooooh. Therapist Sage. Careful, I’ll either tell you all my deep, dark secrets, or jump your bones.” She winked at Sage but bit her lip, looking suddenly nervous and almost… regretful?
Interesting. “I’ll take the secrets. Let’s save the bone jumping for mysterious crush lady.” Please jump my bones. “So. Evidence of Straight and TakenTM. Go.”
The brunette sighed. “Well, I mean… She’s gorgeous, and no one that pretty could be gay. The universe hates me too much. But…” She looked at a spot just over Sage’s shoulder and sighed dreamily. “I love her laugh. I’ve only know her for a few days, but still. It’s so… infectious, and I swear it’s never the same twice. She’s really self-conscious, and always gets really flustered whenever someone compliments her, and it just makes me want to hug her and tell her how beautiful she is until she believes it. But-” She faltered and looked down. “Nah. She talks about this one guy all the time, and they seem really really close. Based on the stories, there’s no way I could measure up either to him or their relationship, so.”
Sage’s heart clenched. Poor thing, she was completely gone on Ella. “Okay, but we can work with this. Has she ever explicitly referred to him as ‘my boyfriend’? She might have friendzoned him.”
Adeline groaned and buried her head in her arms. “Don’t use the f-word!” She wailed, words slightly muffled.
Sage couldn’t help but laugh, reaching over to stroke her hair. “Poor baby. Would you rather I said ‘fuck’?”
“Yes!”
She snickered, not noticing how Adeline’s breath hitched as she kept playing with her hair. “Okay, let’s make a plan. Time to woo your gal. Even if she does have a beau, you never know, they could be about to break up. That’s how I landed my first girlfriend.”
Adeline’s head snapped up. “You- uh. Really?”
“Yep. We started talking, and then it turned out she had been getting ready to break up with her boyfriend, and she liked me back. I felt a little guilty about it, but I wasn’t the reason they broke up. Just the catalyst, ya know? And anyway, he got together with one of our other friends, and they’re still together, so it was a good thing.”
“Why’d you break up?”
“I was thirteen and being fostered by a really religious family. I went through a gay panic, then a sex panic, and then a ‘what if I’m a bad girlfriend’ panic. Long story short, I panicked and we broke up. We dated again about a year later, but ended up deciding that we were better off as friends.”
“Was there a reason?”
“She fell in love with me, but I didn’t feel the same. I didn’t want to break her heart more further down the road.” She sighed and looked sad for a moment, and then brightened again quickly, as if the sad had never been there. “So, your crush.”