“Twelfth Night?” Max licked his lips and snapped his fingers, “Is that about that chick who pretended to be her brother? Then, she became a messenger for this duke who liked another chick. Male-chick would go to female-chick to send the messages. Female-chick falls for male-chick. Male-chick falls for the duke. That one?”

Lauren cocked an eyebrow, “You’ve read it?”

“Nah, I just watched that movie with Channing Tatum in it. I don’t think he was that famous yet. They literally named his character, ‘Duke’.”

“I should have known.”

Max winked, earning a glare in return. Then, he went back to the topic, “Well, why do you think they should do that one?”

“Alex’s father has a twin sister. Logan has a fraternal twin. I think they could do something about switching places” Lauren shrugged. She shifted her eyes towards the pair. She really just spoke about the play because she knew it could trigger them.

Alex and Logan both gave her a deadpan expression. Lauren flinched. They clearly still weren’t in a good mood to talk about the project. They’d toast her on the spot if it were possible. It was almost as if lazers shot out of their eyes.

“It was just a suggestion…” she mumbled, bowing her head.

“How about we do ‘Hamlet’?” Max interjected. He refused to let the foul atmosphere linger around them, “Then, mention every adaptation about it like ‘The Lion King’. Point out how much it influenced a number of blockbuster movies. What about the story that attracts people to it and stuff.”

Lauren blinked in surprise. The words that came out of his mouth hovered around her head. An outline for their report started to appear, “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“You’re welcome. I accept kisses as a form of gratitude.”

“Let me buy you Himshey’s then.”

“Yeah, and the two of you” Max began to say, “Are you really not gonna talk for the rest of our ‘date’? You know, you can drop the ‘Alex has a girlfriend act’ and just openly date.”

Alex squeezed the bridge of her nose. To be honest, she already finished everything she had to write in her notebook. The rest had just been squiggles and random gibberish. Somehow she felt herself in a bind. She couldn’t describe the feeling.

It wasn’t unusual for her male persona to be this quiet except it felt odd. Had she been loud over the past few weeks? Then, why couldn’t she talk casually now? Why did a cat take her tongue? What was wrong?

Lauren cupped her cheek, letting her elbow bear the weight, “I thought you wanted to teach Alex how to get girls?”

“I figured you wanted to support him with Logan,” Max explained. He really just wanted to find a way to break the tension. That comment usually ticked Alex off. He thought it was better than nothing at this point. If anything, he’d gladly welcome it.

Alex exhaled a short breath. She shook her worries out of her head and decided to act how her male persona would. With an indifferent glare, she said, “Max, neither of us is gay.”

Elated by his tactic working, Max replied, “Is one of you going to pull a Viola and reveal that you’re a girl?”

Both girls at the table froze.

Lauren cursed in her head. She didn’t think that Max would make a connection from the play. Actually, she really didn’t think he’d know about it at all. It wasn’t a common piece to discuss in English class. Even adaptations about it had been few.

On the other hand, anxiety possessed Alex’s soul. Just how many of her walls will crumble down? Not too long ago, another person from school found out about her identity. At the same time, she found out someone actually knew about it from the beginning. The consecutive events had her baffled.

“Yes, Max. I’m actually a girl all this time” Logan answered for the both of them. He put his notebook down and fluttered his eyelashes. He placed a hand on his chest and rested his chin on his shoulder, eyes pointing down, “I’m sorry if I kept it from you. I didn’t want it to affect our friendship. I hope this doesn’t change anything between us.”

Max threw a tissue at his direction, “Idiot, the showers for the locker room don’t have the best privacy. Unless you have two sets of chromosomes, I’m not believing you.”

Logan merely shrugged and went back to writing, “Don’t say I never told you.”

“Wait… do you really… ?”

The notebook in Logan’s hand smacked Max on the top of his head, “Stop being a pervert.”

Max pouted, rubbing the sore spot, “It was you who brought it up first.”

On the inside, he felt relieved that Logan finally contributed to the conversation. He didn’t even know why the two of them were down in the dumps. He wasn’t good at comfort to openly ask them about it. Also, none of his usual ramblings worked on them. It frustrated him that his hard work on being annoying failed.

“Huh” Lauren remarked, squinting her eyes at Logan, “I wonder if someone can draw you as a girl.”

“I bet I’d be hotter than you” Logan flipped his imaginary hair, his nose up in the air.

“Good thing you’re not a girl then” Lauren snorted. She felt grateful Logan had quick thinking. She couldn’t come up with a diversion herself but, at least, she could help him out. She peeked at Alex from the corner of her eye. She still looked out of it. They needed to keep Max’s attention away from her.

“Why?” Max asked. Then, a teasing smile appeared on his lips, “Cause he would have been competish for Colin?”

While Lauren became dumbfounded, the wires in Alex’s brain reconnected, “Oh yeah, what happened at the game? You mentioned something about a mascot and a certain cheerleader.”

Logan sighed in relief. If Alex could talk then that meant the worst had passed. It would be a lot harder to think of an excuse if he needed to take her outside. It would be conspicuous—especially when they haven’t been talking so far.

A gleam shined in Max’s eyes. All of a sudden, he turned into an actor on stage, reciting a monologue, “Aw, Alex, you would have loved it if you were into romantic comedies. The damsel was at the highest point of the tower. There weren’t any stairs or ladders for her to get down. She could only jump and hope something would cushion her fall. Then, a knight in fluffy chipmunk armor came to the rescue. He caught her perfectly in his awaiting arms. Then, they shared a kiss—”

“We did not!” Lauren exclaimed in protest, blood rushing in her cheeks.

Max laughed in delight. Then, he stopped it abruptly and said, “Ah, but you wanted to?”

“I—”

“Hey, Colin!” He interrupted her, calling out to the entrance of the diner.

Lauren snorted at his childish attitude, “Very funny, Max.”

“What’s funny?”

Lauren snapped her head. Standing next to their table was none other than the subject of their conversation—the man of the hour. Colin had his hands tucked into his jeans. His hair slightly damp from the light rain outside. He smiled softly at everyone.

“It’s funny how you have perfect timing” Max stood up, taking his root beer float, “I actually have somewhere to be. Would you mind driving Lauren back to her house? It’s right in front of mine. You already know where that one is. Thanks, you’re a pal.”

He pushed Lauren’s legs to side with his knees and forcefully walked out of the booth. He went straight for the service counter, asking for his float to be transferred to a paper cup. He also asked for their table’s bill and took out his wallet.

After he was done, he left a few instructions and walked out the diner without a glance back.

“Do you mind if I sit?” Colin asked, looking at Lauren.

===

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