“What do you want, Adelia?” I see Sarai pinch the bridge of her nose on the Facetime call. Mari says nothing. Their face is expressionless.

“I’m sorry for bothering you–” I begin, but Sarai immediately cuts me off.

“That’s a horrible way to start a conversation,” she comments, her eyes boring into mine through the phone screen.

“I, um. Okay. Sorry…” I stammer. She threw me off the tracks.

“Stop saying sorry. Just spit out what you have to say.”

“Okay,” I take a shaky breath. I don’t know why, but I’m nervous to apologize to Sarai and Mari. Well, I mainly have to apologize to Sarai, but also Mari too, I suppose, because I’ve been avoiding them in addition to Sarai.

“I wanted to say sorry for how I reacted the other day when you suggested that I get over Elena. That was pretty immature of me.”

Both Mari and Sarai’s expressions soften. “No. It’s fine. I mean, what I said was a bit of an insensitive, asshole thing to say, Sarai admits”

“Yeah,” Mari adds. “I should’ve, like, stuck up for you or something.”

“Wow, that’s a first, Mari,” Sarai rolls her eyes.

“What?” Mari demands.

“You hardly ever take sides,” I chuckle.

Mari’s eyes drop to the floor. “Oh. Um, yeah, I guess.”

“But guys, I do have some good news,” my heart races and my chest bubbles up with excitement.

“What is it?” Sarai questions.

“I, um, Elena and I made up,” I begin.

“That’s good!” Mari replies as soon as the first part of what I intended to say comes out of my mouth. “I’m glad.”

I can feel myself blush, and I look down self-consciously.

“What? Was there something else you were going to say?” Mari asks, immediately detecting that there’s something more to what I wanted to say.

“Y-yes,” I hesitate, biting my lip.

“Well, get on with it! You have to tell us!” Sarai demands.

Oh my god. My breath suddenly catches. All of a sudden, I’m nervous about telling the two of them about Elena and I. They’re going to think this is all so stupid.

“Adelia?” Mari questions, but their voice seems slightly distant. “You good?”

I shrug it off. “Yeah. Um, what I wanted to tell you guys was that…Elena and I, we’re sort of…going out?” My sentence comes out more like a question than a statement. I flinch at how I made it sound.

Mari and Sarai are silent for a moment; they seem to be at a loss for words. Crap. See, you shouldn’t have told them anything. You’re a moron, Adelia. A complete and utter moron. What the hell is wrong with you?

“Adelia!” Sarai suddenly squeals, snapping me out of my negative thoughts. “Really?”

“Yeah,” I reply, rubbing the back of my neck self-consciously.

“Wow! That’s…that’s great! Congrats!’ Mari says.

“Yeah! I’m happy for you,” Sarai adds.

“You guys don’t sound so sure of yourselves,” I comment, biting my lip.

“No! Sorry if it came off that way. It’s just…I wasn’t expecting it, but then again…” Mari’s voice fades away.

“But what?” I question, now curious.

Sarai finishes the sentence for Mari. “But then again, it was kind of expected. Like, this was bound to happen. Mari and I have been speculating about you and Elena dating for, like, a hot minute.”

“Oh,” I drop my gaze to my desk, which is where I’m currently sitting. “Really?”

“Yes! It was, like, so obvious that you guys like each other. I know that I didn’t say much about whether or not I thought Elena liked you, but…I think I’ve known for about two weeks now. Ever since you told me about your guys’ first hangout at your house,” Sarai explains.

“Ohh, okay. Makes sense,” I admit.

“But anyway…now we absolutely have to discuss all the cute dates you and Elena could go on!” Sarai exclaims, a smile dancing across her face.

“Stopppp,” I bury my face in my hands.

“Nope!” Sarai chirps, laughing. “What do you think, Mari?”

I look up at my phone to see Mari’s reaction, hoping they’ll be on my side and say no. But a grin stretches across their face. “Yeah, we should talk about first date ideas! Oh wait, I already have an idea!”

“Ugh, fine,” I groan, and I allow Mari and Sarai to lecture me about first date ideas and the do’s and don'ts on first dates for God knows how long.