Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen: It's Nice To Have A Friend

Towards the end of the school year, Annie was finally done with the leg healing process. It took forever, with casts followed by some boots and braces until finally she was freed from it all.

She also realized she needed to talk to Meghan and Holly.

It felt like she'd been hanging out with them less and less, something she felt extremely guilty over. The other two looked fine, but Annie wanted to make sure.

"Hey, can you two hang out tonight?" she asked, coming up to Holly and Meghan before they'd go their separate ways. "Just the three of us?"

Their smiles twitched for a moment, and they looked at each other, worried. "Did something happen with Max or the others?" Meghan asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Annie shook her head. "Nope, all is good there. I just want to hang out with you guys, I feel like I don't as much anymore," Annie said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Aww, we see each other a lot! But of course we'll hang out with you tonight, you got something fancy in mind?" Holly asked.

The girls were walking outside, ready to go to their rides. "Not really, just at my place. We can do something there if you want, unless you guys want to do something else?"

They shook their heads. "Sounds perfect, come over at 6?" Meghan asked. Annie nodded, and the girls went their separate ways.

In the car with Steve, Annie let him know. "Hey, Holly and Meghan are coming over tonight if that's okay," she said.

Initially, Steve nodded. Then paused. "No Max?" he asked, surprised.

Annie shook her head. "Nope... I think I wanna come out to Holly and Meghan and tell them how I feel about Max," she said, and Steve could hear the anxiety in her voice.

He smiled and reached a hand over to her shoulder. "You got this. If anything happens, you know where I am. Or the nail bat. Either works," he joked. Annie laughed at the joke, but had the internal fear that he was still being serious. Because maybe they wouldn't like Annie after this.

"Oh god, maybe I shouldn't tell them," she suddenly said, her voice quiet, but Steve could still hear her. "What if they hate me, Steve? People don't like freaks and what if Holly and Meghan decide they hate me and then tell everyone at school about it and I get ostracized and then I'd have to start off high school that way."

"Okay, okay, let's get a few things straight. For one, you're not a freak. Don't call yourself that again," Steve said sternly, and it even caused Annie to balk for a second at how serious he was. "Second, they're your best friends. Even if it does weird them out at first, give them slack for that, they won't just straight up abandon you and tell everyone about it. And if they do anything shitty like that, you better tell me and I'll deal with it."

Annie smiled. "Okay, sounds good. I'm just really worried, Steve."

"I know, but just remember I've always got your back so don't worry about them if they turn out to be major jerks, okay?" he asked. If either of them had anything, it was each other.

Later that night, after the Harrington parents came and left, Meghan and Holly showed up. The girls made a beeline for Annie's room and assumed their hangout positions. They never did anything in particular, just lounged around with something playing in the background and chatting away.

After Meghan made a joke and the laughter died down into a silence, Annie figured this was the time or she'd chicken out completely. "Hey, can I talk to you guys about something?" she asked, playing with a string on the hem of her t-shirt.

The girls shared a quick look then nodded, Holly saying, "Of course, you can tell us anything."

Annie looked up at them and nodded to herself. With a deep breath and closing her eyes, she finally found herself saying the words. "I like girls. Specifically Max."

There was a silence, then a squeal. Annie opened her eyes in surprise to see Holly had stood up and was jumping around in excitement. "I knew it! Oh my gosh this is amazing!! I'm so glad you told us!! Oh my gosh!!" she exclaimed.

Meghan got up too and went right for Annie. "Oh we're so proud of you!" she said, pulling the other girl into a hug. Holly came bounding over and joined the group hug.

Annie felt herself smiling and letting out laughs while tears streamed down her face. "Oh wow, I'm actually shocked- wait," she pulled away and wiped the tears. "You guys knew?"

Another look between the two. "Yeah, we kind of did. I mean, it was kinda hard not to if we're being totally honest right now," Holly admitted.

"We knew you didn't like any boys because you never told us about any, other than the Party but that's because you hated them for a while. And then when Max came around and you looked at her like Holly looked at Greggory L. for a while, I knew and when I went to talk to Holly about it she noticed the same thing," Meghan explained.

The shocked look would not leave Annie's face, it was just suddenly much redder. "Wait, does that mean it was obvious?" Her face was burning up.

Holly shook her head. "Oh, no. No, with girls people only try to see how we look at boys. It never occurs to them to see how we look at girls so I'm pretty sure you're all good. We just know you better than the average middle schooler, too, so we had the advantage."

Meghan walked over to Annie's backpack and pulled out her English notebook. "Yeah, plus I saw the sketch you did of her one day." With the notebook open, Meghan flipped it around and showed the other two the sketch Annie did of Max one day in class.

The girl's cheeks got even redder and she wanted to bury herself. "Well, thank you for that," she said.

"Okay, but we haven't even told you everything yet," Meghan said as she put the now closed notebook back in Annie's backpack. "We kinda... schemed a bit."

The red was gone from Annie's face and she was now simply confused. "Wait, what?" she asked. "You guys were trying to get us... together?" She was more hesitant with that question, but it needed to be asked.

Holly nodded and the two girls sat on Annie's bed with her. "Well, okay, so we kinda noticed it pretty quick but weren't sure. So, we started with Halloween..."

Annie gasped and pointed an accusing finger. "You didn't hurt your ankle! You faked it and had Meghan take you home so I could- you- I don't know if you guys are jerks or geniuses."

"Considering you two had the best time that night and got even closer, I'd say genius, but that's just me," Meghan said. "But that's still not all. Secret Santa? That was so rigged. The only names in that cup were yours and Max's. We just made sure that you guys got each other and then we just got each other gifts."

The brunette's mouth was open, shocked at her best friends' skill. Holly jumped back in. "And a lot of the times we said we couldn't hang out were lies. We were giving you and Max more time to grow closer and we talked about our next plan and all that stuff..."

At this point, Annie had no idea how to react to all of this. "I think I'm still in shock over you guys being okay with me not liking boys..." she admitted after a silence.

The girls quickly softened. "Oh, Annie, of course! I mean, we've known each other forever now, we like you too much to judge you for that."

Meghan nodded and added on, "I have a gay uncle, too, so I'm totally used to it."

Annie snorted at that and pulled the two into another hug. "You guys are amazing, but now I need help telling Max."

Holly smirked, and for the first time since Annie's known her, she saw a devious glint in her eyes. "Don't worry, it'll be easier than you think."

A/n: is it unrealistic for them both to be totally on board? Possibly. But, I felt it fit with their characters and all, so that's what I got! And, this is the end of season 2! Cant wait to get started on season 3 :)