~~~ Threeish Weeks Later ~~~

 

I smash attacked Abby’s Yoshi into oblivion. Then Shawn’s Charizard side-b’d me and I too flew off the map. It was Abby’s second to last stock but my final one.

 

“That’s no fair! You waited until your girlfriend wasn’t the target and then took me out. I call favoritism!” I shouted accusingly at Shawn.

 

“He is not my boyfriend!”

“It’s called two birds one stone!”

 

They shouted back at me in unison.

 

“Hey!? So, you just let her tank me? I should get favoritism!”

“Like she said. Not my girlfriend.”

 

They shouted at each other in unison.

 

“If you’re not my girlfriend then what favoritism do you really get?”

“Well… You’ll get nothing unless I get favoritism.”

 

They continued talking over each other, so I retreated into the comfort of my phone.

 

Zoe: sent ?Lindsey a snap

?Lindsey: opened Zoe’s snap

?Lindsey: Sent you a snap

Zoe: opened ?Lindsey’s snap

 

I couldn’t contain myself from laughing just a bit. I’d sent a pic of Mr. and Mrs. not in a relationship and Lindsey had sent back a drawing done in snapchat of them saying “straight straight straight” angrily at each other, and I had to admit it got me in the chortles.

 

“Who ya textin?” Abby said devilishly before snatching my phone. “Aha! It’s her girlfriend,” Abby said to her… part-time fuckbuddy part-time boyfriend full-time pain in my smash bro’s ass.

 

“Shut the fuck up. Just because you two can’t figure yourselves out, doesn’t mean that I can’t either.”

 

“They haven’t even been on a date yet,” Shawn chimed in. “You know how you can tell?”

 

“How?” Abby asked, in answer.

 

“Because they haven’t moved in together. Lesbians always move in after the fi—”

 

“—First date. Haha. Never heard that one before. Well you know how I know you’re bi Shawn? All those fucking finger guns you throw you sweater weather buffoon.”

 

This got Abby and I both laughing.

 

“I don’t throw finger guns that often!”

 

“Oh yes you fucking do,” Abby said, coming to my defense.

 

I tuned the lovebirds out as they resumed their bickering. This was the first time I’d hung out with the both of them since murder in the dark, and definitely since they’d started semi-officially doing whatever it was they were officially doing.

 

Even though we’d ended our talk on good standings, I’d seen less of Abby. I had a feeling it was because of Shawn, whom she had started spending considerable amounts more time with. I gave her space. She gave me space too, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she felt awkward around me or what. And when I had suggested we hang out because it had been a while, she had insisted on Shawn joining. I had agreed under the pretenses that we play smash bros and that I whoop his ass. She only agreed to the former of my clauses. I also agreed to go as easy on Shawn as I could and give him a fresh start. I figured if he threw jabs at me, I could jab back. And… maybe jab an extra in too.

 

One would have thought that I’d be lonely not seeing my best (and only) friend for about three-ish weeks, and truth be told… they weren’t wrong.

 

Well… they were sort of wrong.

 

I was physically alone… a lot. But I was digitally talking with Lindsey… also a lot. So… there’s that.

 

 

“So, when are you two going on your first date?” Abby said, breaking out of her non-tiff with Shawn.

 

“We’re not going on a date.”

 

Well, we were getting coffee tomorrow. But like… as friends. Probably. Was that a date? I feel like if I need to ask if it’s a date it’s probably not a date. Or definitely a date. But no. This was not a date.

 

“Let the lady breath, Abs,” Shawn said, again coming to my rescue. That of course reignited a bout between the two of them.

 

I rolled my eyes and switched from smash to breath of the wild. The couple next to me didn’t seem to notice. In fact, after a moment their arguing turned into whispering. Like that really close to each other’s face’s kind of whispering.

 

I got up and pulled my switch out of the TV.

 

“Bye guys.”

 

“Oh shit! We can… stop. Sorry Zo.”

 

I rolled my eyes. Honestly, whatever. They were adults. They could do what they wanted.

 

“It’s cool. I should probably get some sleep anyways.”

 

“Okay. Well, let me know if you wanna hang maybe tomorrow?”

 

“Oh, I’ve uh… got a thing tomorrow.”

 

“What thing?”

 

Shit.

 

“See Abs. I told you they had a date.”

 

Think fast Zoe. “It’s a—uh—doctor’s appointment.”

 

“Are you sick?”

 

“No.”

 

“Then why are you going to the doctor?”

 

“Because.”

 

“Is something wrong?” Oh no. Now Abby seemed genuinely worried.

 

“No. Nothing’s wrong.”

 

“Then why are you going to the doctor?”

 

“A uh… boob exam thing.”

 

“Oh. How often are you supposed to get those? We got one in quarantine and stuff, but… you know… special circumstances.”

 

“Yeah… the doctor said I needed one cause… I got boobs… so…”

 

“Okay… You sure nothing’s wrong?”

 

“Nope. I’m chipper as a chick and healthy as a horse.”

 

“Aren’t horses like notoriously not healthy?” Shawn contributed.

 

“I dunno. Okay bye!” I said, wanting to escape and close the door as fast as possible. I caught my breath once it was closed and made the short walk over to my place.

 

My conclusions from tonight:

Shawn was… fine. If anything, Abby was the one taking the reins in their relationship and pushing stuff forward.

 

I crawled into my bed and saw I had a new snapchat from Lindsey. I opened it as I jumped onto my bed. She had the bunny filter on, which exacerbated her already cute features by slightly shrinking and shortening her longer nose, making her already largish eyes even larger, and her already highlighted cheekbones that much more prominent. I found myself reminiscing on how all the noobs managed to be so effortlessly gorgeous before I managed to read the text of the snapchat.

 

The two of us kept sending messages back and forth until I all but fell asleep.

 

~~~ The Next Morning ~~~

 

I got to the coffee shop earlier than the time we’d set because somehow anxiety was wracking my body. It wasn’t even a first date, of which I’m notoriously anxious, so I couldn’t even understand why my body was reacting this way. It was just two girls who have been texting non-stop seeing each other at a coffeeshop for the first IRL time after they met. Anyways, I liked to get to things like this early. I mean, I knew what she looked like, but I always hate the scouting out a place and first initial moments of seeing the other person that are at the start of a date– I mean platonic friend meeting!

 

Anyways, I scrolled through my phone, until Lindsey arrived.

 

I heard the door ringy bell thing and even though I hadn’t looked up for the last three rings, I looked up to see Lindsey walking in. She had her hair up in a bun with just the front few locks hanging down in front of her face. She didn’t even need to look around. She just started walking directly toward me as though she’d known exactly where I’d be.

 

“Hey! I saw you through the window when I walked in and tapped on the glass to startle you, but you had headphones in,” she said with a giggle and a wave as she sat down.

 

I guess she did know exactly where I’d be.

 

“Oh. Ha… Sorry, I tend to zone out at times like this.” Okay Zoe. You’re not totally falling apart, so that’s good. “You gonna get any coffee?”

 

“Hm… I’ll see what they have. You want anything?”

 

“Uh… Yeah, I’ll just wait in line with you—”

 

“Nonsense! What is your heart’s desire?”

 

“Are you sure? I really can just pay for my own—”

 

“I’m sure. What’ll it be?”

 

Hrgmrmmrm… She was paying for my drink like this might not be a totally platonic friendship meetup.

 

“Apple cider with the cinnamon stick in it please.”

 

“Ooo! Okay I’m getting one of those too.”

 

Well… maybe it was less weird when she got the same thing. Then at least the barista might think she was just getting two for herself instead something for her and something for her date. Not that this was a date… Fuck… I was starting to get the feeling this was a sort of date.

 

A minute later Lindsey sat back down at our table with two delicious smelling apple ciders.

 

“So. What’s up?”

 

This is not how to conversation.

 

“Uhh… drinking apple cider.”

 

Lindsey rolled her eyes. “What’s up with you, ya dork?”

 

I stared at her for a moment.

 

“…Drinking apple cider.”

 

She laughed a bit mid-sip of cider. “Okay, let me rephrase. How are your classes going? You’re a journalism major right? Working on any cool projects? Meet any cool new people? I know we’ve been talking a lot lately, but like… what’s up with you?”

 

“Oh. Right. Well… Classes are fine. My photojournalism teacher is a misogynistic asshole. The projects are kinda cool. I’m currently interviewing a professor who researches the trends of American hate groups which is of course surging recently due to all the noobs who popped up. So that’s making for an interesting story. There’s this annoying girl who keeps sending me snaps all the time, but I guess she’s okay. And uh… I’m watching some stupid how to draw videos on YouTube. Satisfied?”

 

Even though my word vomit might have been a bit standoffish in my answering of her questions, Lindsey had maintained eye contact throughout, and appeared genuinely interested in what I had been saying.

 

“You’re doing research on the noobs huh?”

 

“Well… research on the researchers of the noobs. I guess.”

 

“And? What are you finding?”

 

“Well, not surprisingly, lots of people have lots of opinions on you guys—or not guys. The world hasn’t really gotten its brain entirely around the gender spectrum and trans-rights before noobs, and now… some people accept you lot with open arms like you’re above all this ‘transgender nonsense’ and others reject you like you’re exactly the same. But I mean, you’re the one with the firsthand experience.”

 

“Well… uh… my experience might be a bit more singular than most.” This was the first time since the night I met her that I’d seen Lindsey be anything less than open and outgoing. With all the other noobs I knew so accepting of their identities and seemingly without regard for how the rest of the world saw them I figured that Lindsey would be the same.

 

“Oh. I… didn’t mean to pick a sore subject. Shit! Sorry. How’s… Uh… How’s your week been?”

 

She flashed me a thankful smile.

 

“Well… I’ve also been texting a really annoying girl.”

 

“Yeah. I bet she’s the fucking worst.”

 

“I dunno. She’s certainly wacky, but she’s sweet. What’s annoying is how cool I think she is, but she seems to have just no idea.”

 

“Oh! Well… she’s probably got a lot on her mind, and she’s probable not as cool as you think.”

 

“I dunno. I think Jess is pretty cool.”

 

I had to stop myself from coughing on my drink. Guess I misread that one. “Jess! I thought you were talking about somebody else. Yeah, Jess is the greatest!”

 

Lindsey just stared at me until I got it.

 

“You jerk! I knew you were gonna yank my chain.”

 

“Then why were you blushing so hard?”

 

“I was—” Was I blushing? That jerk.

 

“I rescind my sarcasm about the use of the word annoying. You are now proper annoying instead of just ironic annoying.”

 

“Good. But my use of sweet still stands.”

 

Okay. At that point, I knew I was blushing. Jerk.

 

“So… speaking of Jess. How did you meet all them?” I needed a topic change, fast.

 

“We were all at the same quarantine. All the noobs from school were. And Macie and I are both pre-laws, so we knew each other going into it and that made it that much easier to be friends on the inside. Gosh… ‘the inside’, you’d think we were in prison or something. But… it was more like a study abroad. But we were what was being studied and the abroad was just some CDC building a few miles away.”

 

“It must have been nice to be around so many other girls going through the exact same thing.”

 

She tightened up again.

 

“Shit! Sorry. Again. Sorry! Sorry…”

 

She took a deep breath.

 

“It’s okay. I’ll… I’ll tell you about some other time. I promise.”

 

“Oh! No pressure. I really didn’t mean to…” I trailed off, but she seemed to be okay and have regained her normal bubblier posture.

 

I hoped I hadn’t crashed and burned everything. With Abby becoming more distant, I realized just as I was on the precipice of losing it that I’d really begun to put a lot into my friendship with Lindsey. I had no clue what about her experience might have been so different… other perhaps than that she was the only gay noob I’d met. Or even really heard of for that matter.

 

“So! You look like you’re almost done with your cider. Wanna… walk around downtown?”

 

“Is there… really that much to do? I thought downtown was all bars and apartments.”

 

“Oh my gosh! There’s so many little knickknack stores. I’ll give you a tour.”

 

We finished our drinks and headed out. Lindsey was right! There were tons of mom-and-pop stores scattered around downtown. We spent a particularly long time in a comic bookstore looking for one of Lindsey’s favorite bat themed characters, Batwoman. Then we popped into an art supply store. Lindsey confessed my recent YouTube drawing video history to one of the workers and I walked away with a fancy inking pen, (that of course Lindsey wouldn’t let me pay for). We did all of that before circling back to a diner because we’d gotten hungry. I begged Lindsey to let me pay. She refused and attempted to grab the bill out of my hands so hard that it ripped in half and we both settled to split it since the bill had in fact… ripped in half.

 

After we left the diner Lindsey walked me over to my car, (hers was just a few down).

 

“Gah! It’s been so long since I’ve been able to just hang out with someone cool and no third parties,” I said as we approached my vehicle.

 

“Glad I could I oblige,” she said with a very wide smile.

 

“We should definitely hang out more!” I said as I moved to my car door. I could tell out the corner of my eye that Lindsey had kind of frozen up a smidge, so I turned back to see what was wrong. It was another rare moment where Lindsey seemed ever so slightly nervous.

 

“Can I… kiss you?” she asked once our eyes met. I must have paused for longer than anticipated because she then started to stumble over her words to justify the question, “Sorry. I just… We met at a coffeeshop, and I think you’re really cute, but I didn’t know if you meant for this to be a—”

 

I kissed her before she could say more. It was short, but the nicest thing I’d felt in a long while.

 

“I guess this was a date,” I said, holding back a small bit of laughter. She smiled incredibly wide in response and leaned down to kiss me again. I had acted enough on instinct the first time that I hadn’t really noticed our height difference, but now we took our time and I nearly had to go onto my tip-toes to reach all the way up. Happy butterflies shot across my lips and stomach.

 

We parted and I found a contagious and unyielding smile on my own face as I got into my car.

 

“I’ll let you know when I’m free and we can do this again,” she said as I started the ignition.

 

“Will do!” I said in a way that could have been perceived as overeager if we weren’t both so overwhelmingly giddy and drove off with a wave.