Page 5 (Lu POV)

On one of the rare instances that Lu told Alice about his life he mentioned the school he was going to, to which she excitedly told him she lives in the same city. This is awful, no matter how much he's become a man, part of him will always be that transbian who wants to uhaul after the first date (and even more so fall hopelessly in love with your friend who'll never like you back ;-;). Even the moment after this information came about she suggested they hang out, he brushed it off with a simple "hehe maybe later" but knew he couldn't resist for long, he was under no circumstance going to being to able to deny his only close friend (and an upsettingly pretty one too) the opportunity to hang. 

Looking up at his ceiling he thinks about how over it is, when they meet she's gonna realize how lame he is, and even if she's fine with that he'll be completely unable to hide his infatuation with her (he's surprised he was even able to so far), and then she'll be grossed out and not want anything to do with him. Life is hell. After a lot of pestering he agreed to hangout, at first she wanted to do it at her house (which is horrifying! what if he was a murderer, or a rapist!) but he convinced her to instead hang at a small restaurant near where she lived. He unfortunately couldn't get her to untell him her address, but what can you do? 

After around 15 minutes of waiting for her, Alice finally arrived. Lu, waiting for her outside asked… 

Lu: "do you always come this late?" 

Alice: "well i had to walk here"

she looks at him pointedly

Alice: "if you picked me up it would have been easier."

he doesn't make eye contact

Lu: "u-um yea i g-guess… i just,, it uh,, would've seemed a bit strange no?"

Alice: "whatever you say"

They walk in and order their food. Lu can't help but notice that her outfit tho masc enough to throw off her parents, is still incredibly attractive (and also that it compliments… nothing, absolutely nothing,... he's normal). She looks up at him with a small smirk as she drinks, her eyes are stunningly b- no no nonononono. Taking a deep breath in, Lu decides to engage in conversation, because tho he isn't good at talking, it is something to keep his mind… where it needs to be. They talk about the food they had and what they liked or disliked about it, they talked about the things that they usually do, friendship, hobbies, life and so on. And in that Lu had a brilliant idea.

Lu: "so have you been talking to any guys"

she picks at her napkins

Alice: "...umm there's one i'm kinda talking to"

(jackpot)

Lu: "that's sick! are you into him?"

she sits more upright and looks intently at her food

Alice: "ye, but it's complicated…"

(fuck)

Lu: "how so?"

.

.

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Alice: "i don't think i wanna talk about this, with you"

Lu: "me?"

she goes wide eyed like she misspoke and quickly tries to correct herself

Alice: "or like, right now"

Alice: "right now i just wanna chill"

Lu: "o-oh o-o-of course, s-s-ssorry for uhh,, bringing it up"

Maybe his idea wasn't so brilliant. He wanted to hear her talk about some guy she was obsessed with, so that his "supportive friend" drive would beat out his "god i love women" drive, but instead he touched on a sore spot… "with him" why him? did she still think he liked her (well he did but he thought was doing a good job hiding it), is it just like a guy thing, like this is something you talk about with the girlfriends not your dude friends? It was probably that. They sit in silent awkwardness for a while since he is completely unable to navigate social situations like this. Eventually the conversation picks up again, and it's like nothing happened. After an hour or so hanging out Alice asks if he wanted to come hang at hers, he again insisted they didn't know each other well enough but…

Alice: "cmon! we can even watch your stupid shows together!"

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Lu: "f-ffine… for a bit…"