Story #4: Implicit Plot

Kelly Hanken

"Relational Faux Pas"

When Lisa told the group at the cafeteria table, “This is my friend, Danielle,” nobody recognized it as a slight. They smiled and greeted Danielle with friendly waves and how-are-you’s, most of them not even noticing the expression she had on her face when she looked at Lisa. When she said nothing to correct the other girl, they assumed it was nothing and made room for the two of them to sit.

It wasn’t, after all, that Lisa was lying about their being friends; she just tended to leave out one little detail that usually changed how that sentence sounded. Maybe Lisa thought it was an arbitrary detail but Danielle really didn’t see it that way, especially when she tried to grab Lisa’s hand and was summarily shrugged away. It seemed silly, when she thought about it, but still – there really wasn’t much to worry about, but Lisa seemed to be pathologically incapable of just telling people the whole truth.

Danielle supposed that she should have put a stop to this at the beginning of the semester, when Lisa told her parents that she was just “my friend Danielle,” but it hadn’t seemed right at the time. After all, it probably wasn’t something you would say to your parents after the first two weeks of college. Being Lisa’s “friend, Danielle,” to her parents was par for the course.

When Danielle had had no problem introducing Lisa as her girlfriend to her own mother, Lisa had blushed she had smiled and shaken her mother’s hand. She even told Danielle, later, that it was nice to be able to be her girlfriend. But when Danielle had mentioned that it really wasn’t that farfetched to just say it, instead of referring to one another platonically in front of company, Lisa had gotten that far-away look and just kind of nodded. Just kind of.

It was Lisa who pulled Danielle out of her thoughts with a quick hand-hold and a polite headshake. She told the boy across from them that no, she wouldn’t be able to go to the movies with him – the look on his face when Lisa explained that the two of them were going to be having their anniversary dinner that night was priceless.

“You two are together?” someone asked, “Like, together together?”

Lisa shrugged flippantly. “I had to test the waters.”

“Next time,” the boy said, looking a little put out but grinning nonetheless, “Save us guys the trouble and just tell us she’s your girlfriend. Less heartache.”

Lisa grinned and nodded. “Sure. Next time.”

Danielle would have kissed her right then and there but, well, one step at a time.