“So, you’re telling me that you don’t go to bed ‘til 2am?!” Alexa stared at Stella, who laughed and said, “Yes, and you don’t?”

“No!” Alexa cried.

The girls giggled and continued chatting. Alexa turned to Abi.

“And how did your trip go?”

“Oh, it was great! Matt had a lot of fun running around our hotels and on the balconies.” Abi replied quickly.

She plunged into another story about her little brother. Alexa and Stella looked at each other, smiled, then looked back at Abi. Abi often told random stories about her childhood and her brother. Jasmine was eating a bag of Cheetos but then she stopped in horror.

“These expired months ago!” That set off another round of laughter and another story from Abi. Layla joined in the discussion.

“Oh yeah, we eat expired stuff all the time. But not chocolate! You and your friends are crazy, Abi!”

Alexa, Stella, Jasmine, Layla, and Abi were sitting at a table in a hall full of teenagers. It was feast night at their youth group. Munching on subs, they were laughing and talking about random things, like Stella’s obsession of The Odyssey. Only, Layla seemed a little bored sitting with her sister’s friends. Alexa knew that Layla would’ve rather sat with the girls she met last night, but there hadn’t been room at their table. Layla hadn’t said anything, so neither did Alexa.

Across the room, Ana was leaning against Jill and talking about her boyfriend with Adrian.

“No, honestly, he’s the sweetest thing. He really listens to me and always has encouraging things to say. I wish I’d started dating him earlier!”

“That’s awesome, Ana. Kenzie is the same way. Even though she’s a freshman, I really connect with her.”

Ana smiled and shook her head. “You and Kenzie are so cute together. You were made for each other.” She turned to Jill, who was sitting beside her boyfriend Tim. “So were you two lovebirds!”

Jill laughed. Everybody had been telling her that for the past six months. Since she and Tim started getting to know each other at camp last summer, she knew he was the one for her. “I just hope he feels the same way!”

Tim pretended to be offended. “You know you’re the most important thing to me in life, more important than football!” Adrian, Ana, Tim and Jill laughed and then, as a new subject presented itself, began discussing the Super Bowl.

Cade sat at Adrian’s side, listening to his older brother talk to his friends. Their banter bored him, honestly. He didn’t see the point of dating. He’d tried it months ago, but it hadn’t worked out well with that girl from his school. But maybe this year would be different. Or maybe he just wasn’t cut out to date. He should just stick to playing baseball. He thought he’d got lucky last summer with Alexa, but she’d never made any moves, except creepily watch him wherever he went. He still shuddered to think about how she had sat at that picnic table, staring as he played nine square with his friends. What was her problem?! It would’ve been so easy for her to talk to Cade, and yet… she didn’t. Cade sighed, because even though she was awkward and homeschooled, he still liked her.

To Cade’s right, middle-schooler Carla was eating her sandwich and talking to Tim’s younger brother Ed. Cade had seen Carla hang out with Alexa’s friend group a couple times these past few weeks and wondered whether Alexa had said anything about him to Carla. He was about to ask her about it, when he stopped himself, because he’d already discussed this with himself. He would not let Alexa hear about him asking about her. Maybe if he made Carla swear not to tell Alexa… but that wouldn’t work, Carla would get suspicious. At last, Cade gave in to his insecurities and kept silent. Every now and then, he whispered some random phrase or referenced an inside joke into his brother’s ear that he thought of while listening to Adrian’s conversation. But he was getting bored of the same old talk about dating or, even worse, football. So, he got up and walked away from their table.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Alexa continued to listen to another of Abi’s stories. It had been a long day already so far. Handling a rough crowd of toddlers in nursery this morning left her exhausted. While she had been really excited to see her friends, Alexa’s brain started to shut down socially. Leaning against her chair, she listened to the many conversations going on arounds her. Abi was showing a silly photo of her brother to Jasmine. Stella and Layla were talking to Aliya, one of the leaders at Portland Bible Church. But Cade, Alexa noticed, had left his table. Her brain woke up with a start. Where was he going?

Alexa, a shy and unexperienced homeschooler, gave her youth group the wrong impression of herself last year at summer camp, but that was just her opinion. Everyone seemed to have moved on. Alexa never forgot anything she had done. But as she watched Cade leave the room, she decided. It was time to give this boy thing another try.

“Hey, guys, I’m gonna run to the bathroom real quick.” Alexa fibbed as she got up. The girls looked at her, surprised at the urgency in her voice, then Stella said, “I’ll pray for you.”

“Haha, very funny.” Alexa said, and then walked away from her table of giggling girls.

She exited the main room into the hallway. No one was to be seen down this hallway. Feeling rather awkward waiting for a guy to come out of the bathroom (like, who does that?), she figured she might as well go to the bathroom herself before she tried talking to Cade. Turning the corner to the bathrooms, she bumped right into Cade, coming slowly out of the men’s room.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Alexa gasped and blushed.

“Oh hey, Alexa. You’re fine.” Cade said, looking anywhere but at Alexa.

“Okay,” Alexa said, then stepped away from him and towards the women’s room. Breathing deep, she felt her determination slip away and suddenly she felt too shy to say any more to Cade. She felt too embarrassed.

Alexa, with some hesitation, knowing she needed to face her fears eventually, walked away, and Cade strode toward the main room. But then he stopped sighing, knowing this was too good of an opportunity to miss.

Alexa, thinking the same thing, gathered what was left of her shattered courage. Just as Alexa had stopped pushing the door open, she turned around and began to speak, just as Cade did.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Alexa yelped, “again.” Quit apologizing, she thought.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not looking where I was going, I’m sorry for not saying anything to you, and I’m sorry for being so rude.” Cade said, but this time, he looked right into Alexa’s wide-open eyes.

“Oh, no, that’s okay, you don’t need to apologize.” Alexa said lamely. Then quietly, she broke down and said, “Cade, I’m sorry things have been so awkward between us.”

Finally, Alexa had said the words she had been longing to say for half a year or longer.

“I’m sorry for that too.” Cade sighed and knew he had to say something else for the sake of finishing the discussion. Before he could, Alexa rushed on, gesturing wildly with her hands, “I know that you know that I like you and I just wanted to say that I’m okay with being friends.” she finished with a small smile.

“That’s actually what I wanted to ask you, you just wanna be friends? Could we start there?” Cade asked, glad she had said it and not him. Alexa watched his hopeful smile spread across his face.

“Yeah, okay! I mean, why not?” She answered, feeling hope surge through her body too.

“Okay.” He grinned and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You should come sit with us at our table. I mean, if you want to.” Cade quickly nodded and left Alexa, who went into the women’s bathroom to celebrate.

After composing herself, Alexa returned to her girls’ table.

“So,” Stella elbowed her in the ribs, “what took you so long? Does it have to do with Cade?”

“You should’ve seen the smile on his face!” Abi broke in. All the girls knew about Alexa’s feelings toward Cade.

“Girls, girls, calm down.” Alexa laughed, and glanced toward Cade, who smiled back. “Nothing crazy, we’re just friends.”