FINE LINE;
MODERN BEST
FRIEND AU.
she only had the past six (nearly seven) years to prepare herself for this moment.
it was very thoughtless on his side, to be honest. how dare he go out and get a girlfriend when his best friend since the sixth grade was secretly in love with him? it's simply cruel.
"wait, what did you just say?" el back trapped, silencing dustin's breathless rambling.
she felt max's hand lightly grasp her wrist, knowing exactly what piqued her interest. while the guys in their friend group were hopelessly oblivious to el's feelings for the raven-haired boy, max picked up on the heart-eyes she always seemed to sport around him halfway into their freshman year.
apparently time does nothing for a lovelorn heart because they just graduated high school and el was still just as infatuated with the boy as ever.
dustin retraced his words, trying to figure what el got stuck on. he looked to lucas, "uh, i don't know. what did i just say?"
max rolled her eyes at his incompetence. she didn't understand how a group of nerds that graduated top of their class could be so infuriatingly clueless. "mike, you said he's with his girlfriend," she replied, not hiding her annoyance.
understanding swept over dustin's features. "oh? yeah, so?"
el felt her stomach churn at the confirmation that her ears had not deceived her.
"okay, and since when does mop-head have a girlfriend? who is she, and what's wrong with her?" max asked, still delicately holding el's wrist.
dustin looked to el, "what's her name? it's something with a 'j', isn't it? josie? julie? something like that, right?"
of course, he would assume she knew. not only is she his best friend, but they also live across the street from each other. yet he hadn't uttered a word to her about any girl.
to be honest, he never talked about girls with el at all. she genuinely considered him being gay until a few years back when she overheard him arguing with dustin that zendaya was "way hotter" than kendall jenner. it was then she realized he was very much interested in girls, just not interested in discussing them with his female best friend.
to be fair, she never talked boys with him. that likely has more to do with him being the boy than a boy, but he doesn't need to know that.
el shrugged. "he hasn't said anything to me about a girl," her discomfort went undetected by the three boys seated in the booth across from her and max.
"oh, i remember! he said her name is, um," will interjected, snapping his fingers to jog his memory, "julia!"
"yeah, julia! that's it! she's some girl that interns with him at tech corp. she goes to that private school on cranford street. she's a junior -- well, a senior now, technically," lucas filled in, shocking his girlfriend with his extensive knowledge that he failed to share with her on this topic.
the only thing el took from this information was that julia was not only smart but rich as well. lovely.
"you said he's with her now?" el quipped, knowing he said something about not being able to make it to the diner tonight but never knowing the reason why. she knew she had been seeing less and less of him lately, but she just brushed it off as his summer internship taking up all his time.
the curly-haired boy shrugged as he slurped his chocolate shake through the striped straw. "i assume. he's probably off by now, but they normally hang out after work."
