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The picnic table underneath the oak tree had become an unofficial lunch spot of sorts for their little group. It was the obvious choice; located in a secluded corner of campus, it was an equal distance from both the high school and university buildings while offering her friends the privacy they couldn’t get in the cafeteria.
It was her friends’ aversion to the cafeteria that had Lisa juggling three lunch containers in her arms as she made her way to their spot, the cold winter breeze making her shiver slightly through her coat.
Ordinarily Lisa would have dragged someone else with her—Louis, probably, since the cafeteria was a hub of drama and gossip and provided plenty of entertainment while they waited—but Louis had texted her that an ‘unfortunate, unforeseeable event had cropped up’ so could Lisa get their lunches? Preferably meals A and D, and the dessert of the day, maybe?
In other words, Louis and James were going to be stuck in class for longer than usual so Louis had rather unfairly decided to appeal to her kind and generous nature to get their lunches rather than wait in line themselves. Not that James ever deigned to get his own lunch (Charlie being proof of that).
Lisa would have gotten Charlie to go with her, but she had stepped out for a bathroom break during history—one could only take Professor Wilson’s endless droning for so long—and since class had conveniently ended by the time Lisa had gotten back, Charlie was nowhere in sight.
So Lisa had gone to the cafeteria by herself and evaded any attempts to be snared in a conversation by her classmates and admirers. It was times like these when she almost understood why James and Charlie tended to avoid crowded areas.
Breaking out of her thoughts, she spotted Charlie sitting alone at the table, his back to Lisa, seeming focused on something.
Approaching, she peered curiously over Charlie’s shoulder. He had a book open in front of him, along with a half eaten sandwich, and was jotting something down in his notebook. Of course.
“Studying already?” Lisa sighed, dumping the lunches onto the table and taking a seat next to him. “You do know that exams are ages away.”
Charlie did not look up from his books, the tips of his bangs falling in front of his glasses. “The exams that are next week, you mean?”
“Like I said,” Lisa replied, opening her lunch and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, “Ages away.”
Lisa took a bite of her chicken salad and watched Charlie diligently take notes. Apart from the occasional bites of their lunches, it was the exact same thing they did in class and it was dreadfully boring.
“What are you going to do after exams?” Lisa asked, slipping a pen out of Charlie’s open pencil case.
“Work,” Charlie said, turning a page. “Same as usual.”
Lisa huffed. Sometimes trying to converse with Charlie was like pulling teeth. Especially when he was focused on something. “I meant are you going to do something fun? Like going out to a new restaurant or going shopping. Maybe even going on a date.”
She began doodling on a corner of Charlie’s notebook. She’d love to go on a date, and with exams being so far away, she had just enough time to find a new crush. The only trouble would be figuring out what the date should be. There were so many possibilities. She drew a few hearts on the page as Charlie half-heartedly tried moving his notebook out of the way, giving up around the third unsuccessful attempt.
“Are you going on a date after exams?” Charlie asked, finally looking up at her.
“Not exactly,” Lisa reluctantly admitted, a blush rising on her cheeks as her daydreams came to a screeching halt. Charlie always had a way of bringing her back to reality. “I mean, if someone handsome asks me out, then obviously I’d be going on a date. But if you’re asking if I have a date planned, then…no.”
“Why bring it up at all, then?” Charlie went back to his notes. “Who has time for dating when exams are right around the corner?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Lisa groaned, setting the pen down and going back to her lunch. “Everyone knows that in school romances and coming-of-age stories, something important is supposed to come after exams. Like a confession the characters are putting off so that they’ll focus on studying—which is practically a confession in itself— or a group vacation! Or, sometimes, a date! It’s the only way to get through exam season.”
She gestured with her fork to punctuate her argument.
“Do these characters ever graduate with good grades by any chance?” Charlie asked, as the sound of a pen scribbling on paper intensified.
“Ugh,” Lisa said, giving up. She leaned back and stared at the cloudless sky. “That’s so not the point.”
She heard the faint sounds of people approaching and turned to see Louis and James, the latter gesturing wildly as if arguing. Lisa felt a pang of sympathy for James. Louis could be very annoying to argue with. Also fun but mostly annoying. Still, Lisa couldn’t help but give a small smile when Louis waved, spotting her. It could’ve also been because James stumbled at that moment.
“They're here,” Lisa noted, giving Charlie a sidelong look.
“Great,” Charlie muttered under his breath, no doubt sensing that this wouldn’t be a productive study session. His own fault for expecting that, though; when had lunch ever been peaceful?
Louis and James sat across from them. James shot a glance at Charlie who was still buried in his books as Louis grabbed the meals Lisa had brought for them.
“Where’s my dessert?” Louis asked as he set a lunch in front of James and another in front of him.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Lisa said as James began eating. “It was no trouble at all, carrying three lunches by myself.”
“It’s okay,” Louis said as he opened his own lunch, “I forgive you for forgetting my dessert.”
Lisa scowled. Maybe she should’ve gotten him that dessert after all, even if she’d known he wouldn't like it. “Get your own lunch next time.”
“What are you studying for?” James asked, trying to peer at Charlie’s notes.
Charlie looked at him, pushing his glasses up. “Exams. Don’t you two also have them next week?”
“Precisely why we were late,” Louis said, taking a bite of his lunch. “The professors get really intense around this time.”
James stabbed his lunch with more force than necessary. “They’re going completely overboard. They didn’t need to keep us that long.”
Lisa took a sullen bite of her salad as her friends continued talking about professors and classes and exams. Despite her efforts otherwise, it seemed they were destined to land on school as a conversation topic. Lunch was supposed to be a respite from all that. She took another bite as Louis stole a pen and then another from Charlie’s pencil case while Charlie and James bickered. Their version of flirting, though Lisa didn’t think they were aware of it.
Watching them, an idea struck Lisa. A way to make lunch more interesting and be a wonderful friend.
“If you were to go on a date,” Lisa said, interrupting them, “what kind of date would it be?”
“I’m flattered,” Louis said, raising a hand to his chest, “but I’m afraid I have to decline.”
“I’m not asking you out,” Lisa said, annoyance seeping into her tone. Beside her, Charlie tried to go back to studying now that the conversation was moving away from exams.
“James isn’t available, either,” Louis informed her solemnly, clasping James’ arm. “He’s very sorry to break your heart again.”
Lisa gave Louis a flat look as he grinned, pleased with himself. He knew perfectly well that her crush on James was (mostly) over.
“Why are you asking?” James asked, giving her a befuddled look as he extricated himself from Louis’ grip and went back to his lunch.
Giving up on Louis, Lisa turned to James. “Charlie doesn’t have anything planned after exams.”
“I’ve got work,” Charlie repeated unhelpfully as he turned a page in his book, eyes glued to his notes.
“Nothing fun,” Lisa stressed, giving James and Louis a meaningful look. “So, because I’m a great friend, I said I’d help him go on a date after exams end.”
Charlie’s head snapped up at the same time as James’ did, both of them looking at Lisa in abject horror.
Her lips curled into a smirk at their overlapping “What?!”
“And as his friends, I’m enlisting your help,” she continued loudly over them, mostly addressing an amused Louis, "Which means coming up with ideas for dates.”
“So you already have someone who’s going to ask Charlie out on a date?” Louis asked with a grin, leaning his head on one hand, the other reaching for Charlie’s pencil case. There was already a small pile of pens next to his lunch.
James paled further. Lisa was only a little bit sorry. If her plan worked (and it would), her friends would have nothing to worry about. Perhaps James would even thank her for her awesome matchmaking skills. Not that he’d thanked her for getting him lunch.
“Obviously I have suitors lining up to ask me out,” Charlie answered dryly, having recovered from his shock as he finally moved his pencil case out of Louis’ reach.
“Looks like you have some competition,” Louis snickered, leaning on James, who was quickly regaining some color—unfortunately, it was the bright red of a tomato.
Lisa bit back a smirk as she idly twirled her pen between her fingers. Fine, she’d take opportunities to tease James as payment for getting them lunch.
Charlie looked confused, pen held loosely in his hand. “Competition for what?”
“Oh, most eligible bachelor,” Louis waved him off, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Charlie snorted, returning to his books. “Yeah, right. Your title’s safe, James, so you can quit making that expression”
“I—you—that’s—” James trailed off as Louis continued to snicker and Charlie ignored them both.
As amusing as this was, Lisa decided it was time to get back on track. Honestly, what would they do without her?
“Ok,” Lisa said. “Date ideas? Preferably good ones? If you were to go on a date?”
She stared expectantly at them, waiting. As far as she knew, none of her friends had much (or any) dating history but surely they could come up with something.
“Aren’t you a ‘romance expert’?” Louis said, taking advantage of the fact that Charlie had gone back to note-taking to slowly pull his pencil case closer.
“Of course I am,” Lisa said with a toss of her hair. “But I’m pretty sure my idea of a good date is different from Charlie’s. I need more options, which means collecting your ideas.”
She pointed her pen at Louis and James, taking a piece of paper from Charlie. “So, go.”
Charlie didn’t try to stop her as he muttered something under his breath about it being simpler to just ask him. Lisa ignored it, just like how Charlie would ignore her if she did ask him about anything related to his love life.
“Escape rooms,” Louis said after a moment’s consideration. “It’s the perfect date”
Lisa jotted it down as James scowled, crossing his arms. “Doing escape rooms with you is the worst. You try to solve them all by yourself.”
“You can learn a lot about a person when you’re trapped with them for an hour,” Louis continued, then turned to James, “and in our case, I found out you’re the type of person to focus on one clue and refuse to let me solve it even if it’s the last one.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” James sniffed. “If someone hadn’t tried to solve it all by himself, then I wouldn’t have been forced to keep one clue to myself.”
“We would’ve gotten out before time had run out if you’d let me help.”
“Is that why you refused to help me solve the next escape room we went to?”
“Avoid going to escape rooms with you two,” Lisa cut in, crossing it off her list with a flourish. “Got it.”
Charlie took a bite of his sandwich, pausing his note-taking to look over her list, which had grown while James and Louis bickered. “Why do you have ‘going to the beach’ on here? It’s January.”
“At least I’m coming up with ideas,” Lisa huffed, scratching it out. “You and James have contributed nothing to the list.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
“James,” Lisa said as she added ‘ice skating’ to the list—Charlie was right, it was winter after all. “What’s your date idea?”
James paused mid-bite and slowly set his fork down. “I don’t have any ideas.”
“Really? You don’t have any idea what kind of date Charlie would like?”
James blushed furiously. “Of course not!”
Ignoring Louis’ snickers (and whatever he was building with Charlie’s stolen pens), Lisa pressed, “No ideas at all?”
“No!” James insisted, taking a giant bite of his lunch to avoid answering any further questions.
“Fine,” Lisa said, reviewing her list. Most of the items were things she’d like.
James looked relieved at her answer, obviously thinking he was safe.
“What kind of date would you like to go on, then?"
James choked slightly on his food. Coughing, he managed to say, “I’ve never thought about that.”
“Clearly,” Lisa said, as Louis grinned widely, abandoning what he was making to give them his full attention.
“What’s that got to do with Charlie?” James asked, glancing at Charlie who had gone back to studying once it was clear that James wasn’t dying.
“Nothing at all,” Lisa said airily. “But if we come up with dates for you, I can add some of them to my list for Charlie in case he’d like them, too.”
“You’re out of luck, then,” James said, avoiding everyone’s gazes.
“Just try,” Lisa said exasperatedly. The two of them were really stubborn and it was so annoying. “If you were to go on a date—hypothetically,” she added before he could interject, “what kind of date would it be?”
James gave a dramatic sigh, and, once it was clear that Louis was enjoying this too much to save him, he glanced at Charlie, who was diligently ignoring the chaos by keeping his gaze on his books, before finally turning to Lisa.
“Well,” James began slowly. “If I absolutely had to—not that I would—I guess I wouldn’t go anywhere too crowded.”
“To avoid people recognizing you?” asked Lisa, pen poised above her list.
“There’s that, too,” James said, before glancing at Charlie again. Subtlety was not one of his strengths. “But I don’t think that they’d enjoy crowded places either.”
“So you do have someone in mind then?” Lisa smirked. “Someone who you want to take on a date?”
“What?” James spluttered. “No! I was just—trying to answer your question.”
“Awful lot of thought put into it though,” she teased.
“Because I’ve never thought about it before!” James said, faintly blushing. Somewhat accusatorily, he added, “Unlike you two apparently.”
“So nothing too crowded,” Lisa said, twirling her pen. She glanced sideways at Charlie, who had been stuck on the same pages in his book for the past few minutes. Coincidentally ever since she started bugging James about his love life. “Somewhere quieter then? Like a museum?”
“Yes,” James said, seizing the suggestion fervently. “Exactly. Something like that.”
“I’m sure your mystery crush would enjoy that,” Lisa muttered, writing it down.
“I don’t have a crush!”
Louis started laughing and everyone’s—even Charlie’s—gaze turned to him.
“This is completely unrelated,” Louis wheezed out between laughs. “Medical condition. Continue.”
James scowled, face red. “I don’t.”
“Sure,” Lisa said, shrugging and going back to her list. Something about denial and a river. “Give me two more ideas and then we’ll be set.”
Charlie was taking a final bite of his sandwich when Lisa turned to him. “And then it’s your turn to choose what kind of date you’d like to go on!”
“Nope,” Charlie said. “I’m not doing that.”
“But Charliiee,” Lisa said, “Don’t you want an exciting end to your high school life? What better way to do that than with romance?”
“An exciting life is precisely what I’m trying to avoid,” Charlie said, grabbing Lisa’s list and crossing everything out. All of Lisa’s hard work down the drain. Well, almost. That hadn’t been her entire plan.
“Do you really want to spend your entire time studying?” Lisa asked, tucking her pen behind her ear as Charlie handed her list back.
“Preferably,” Charlie said as he closed his books shut, “Not that you guys let me study much today.”
“You’d have better luck over the weekend,” Louis said, idly twirling a pen between his fingers. “That’s what James is probably going to end up doing since he never studies until the last minute.”
“You really shouldn’t cram,” Charlie said to James, packing his books in his bag and standing up. “And why is my pencil case empty?”
Guiltily, Lisa handed him his pen back. With an innocent smile, or his attempt at an innocent smile, Louis shoved a pile of pens towards Charlie, who unamusedly shoved them back in their case.
“It’s a good idea,” James said pensively, as he also stood up.
“What?” Charlie asked distractedly as he finished packing his bag. Lisa passed over her garbage to Louis, who was closer to the trash can. She couldn’t miss this.
“What Louis said,” James replied, fidgeting with the cuff of his jacket sleeve. “About us studying together over the weekend for exams.”
That was not what Louis had said. Lisa shared a look with Louis who grinned back, a familiar glimmer of amusement in his eyes.
Charlie paused, considering.
“We could go to a cafe,” James continued, running a hand through his hair. “Or a library. Those are good spots to study.”
“...after work on Saturday?” Charlie asked as they began to walk back to class. Lisa hung back with Louis.
James nodded. “Or on Sunday. If you’re free.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said simply. “Sunday’s fine.”
“Good,” James said, giving Charlie a charmingly lopsided smile. Charlie looked away, the faint traces of a blush on his face.
Lisa’s heart skipped a beat. This was just like a scene from a manga and it was happening right in front of her. She was, officially, the best matchmaker ever.
…and then the moment was broken by Charlie swearing as he suddenly remembered he had a book he’d meant to drop off at the library before class and James insisting they had plenty of time to do so and the two of them went off on their own in a different direction.
There was room for improvement with their sense of romance and timing. And they were definitely not going to make it to class on time, not that that was important.
The important part was that:
“James just asked Charlie out on a date,” Lisa said, voice full of barely contained excitement, once it was clear their friends were out of earshot. She clutched Louis’ arm tightly. “James just asked Charlie out on a date!”
“Wasn’t that your plan all along?” Louis said, smiling as he glanced at her. “Why do you seem so surprised?”
“It was, but I was half-expecting that James wouldn’t ask him out or that Charlie would reject him. He does know it’s a date, right?”
“It doesn’t really matter,” Louis said with a shrug. “Charlie wouldn’t have accepted if he didn’t want to go.”
“True,” Lisa said, loosening her grip on his arm. She sighed. “I still don’t think they’re anywhere near confessing though.”
“That’s gonna take much longer,” Louis chuckled. “But it’s progress.”
“We’re totally going to stake out their date,” Lisa said as they neared the high school building. “Right?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“I’ll meet you at your place then. So we can go over disguises.”
“It’s a date, then,” Louis called over his shoulder, giving her a wave as he headed towards the university building, leaving her at the entrance.
Charlie and James’ date wasn’t the date she had in mind at the start of lunch, but at least someone’s love life was making progress, even if it wasn’t her own.
Lisa headed inside, grinning. The weekend couldn’t come soon enough.