Lander - Before vs. After

Purple Mouths

Two teenagers sat in the shade of a tree, enjoying popsicles on the hot summer day. It was silent except for the chattering of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind.

"Hey, Zander?" Luke said, breaking the silence.

"Mhm?"

"Can we switch popsicles? I-I want to try the blue raspberry."

"Uh, sure, Zander agreed. They swapped, and silence fell upon them again as they tested each other's popsicles.

"I like mine better," Zander declared, reaching to retrieve it from Luke's hand. The golden-eyed boy affectionately rolled his eyes and they swapped again, reverting to the comfortable silence they were in before.

•    •    •

Around a half hour later, the two best friends entered the music room at Zander and Hailey's house. The rest of the club looked up as they came in. Hailey smiled.

"Okay, now that Luke and Zander are here, we can start practice. Where were you two anyway?"

"Oh, we were just enjoying the sun," Luke answered with a smile.

Sean, who was standing closest to them, squinted. "Are your lips purple?"

"Yeah, we were eating popsicles. He had a cherry one, I had blue raspberry," Zander answered.

Before:

The rest of the club exchanged looks. Then Milly blurted, "Oh my god, were you guys making out?!"

"Milly!" Hailey hissed. Zander and Luke's faces turned as red as the cherry popsicle.

"What? N-no!" Luke stuttered. "We just swapped for a bit. That's all!" He sounded so defensive that Zander's heart deflated. Or as much as it can when it's beating a mile per minute.

Milly gave them a suspicious look as Sean chuckled. "Well, why didn't you just say that?"

"We weren't exactly expecting you to assume that," Zander said, flustered.

"Who knows? You two could be secretly dating, for all we know. If you are, you can tell us!" Milly said.

"Er, isn't the whole point of secretly dating someone for it to be a secret?" Jake chimed in.

"That's what I'm saying!" Milly shot back. "It doesn't have to be a secret!"

"That's literally the opposite of what I just said," Jake pointed out. Milly hit him in the arm playfully and he recoiled with an "ow!".

Mercifully, Hailey decided to take pity on the two boys. "Let's start rehearsal now, shall we?"

After:

Milly sighed, folding her arms. "Were you two kissing again?"

"Wha- no!" Zander protested, heat rushing to his face. "We just wanted to try each other's popsicles for a bit, so we traded. No need to jump to conclusions!"

"If you don't want us to assume things like that, maybe you should tell us what actually happened," Sean said, amused.

"I'd say it was more of a hop to conclusions, not a jump," Jake muttered.

"What, do you guys think we make out at every opportunity?" Zander challenged.

This question was met by silence as the club members looked at each other.

"Seriously?!" Zander exclaimed incredulously, his cheeks red. "Guys-" Luke started.

"We don't think that," Hailey assured them. "But we know how much you love each other, so we assumed. We're sorry." She gave Milly and Jake a look.

"Sorry," Jake said.

The guitarist rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, gays."

Sean piped up. "Do you mean "guys", or-"

"Did I stutter?" Milly asked him, smirking.

Hailey sighed, but she was smiling. "Alright, we really should start practicing now."