"But wait… Did Rachel just assume that Riley..." I was thinking out loud, and I could see Lizzy’s eyes growing twice as big in anticipation of what I was about to say. But patience clearly wasn’t her strong suit, so it wasn’t surprising to hear her demanding an answer when I didn't finish my sentence right away.

"That Riley is what? Into girls? Girls and boys? Open to anything? Are you saying Rachel might have a shot here?" The girl’s enthusiasm was through the roof. Very impressive, considering we were currently outside. Realizing I had already said too much, and backing out wasn't really an option if I didn't want Lizzy hounding me all weekend. I decided to come clean.

"To be honest, we don’t really talk about relationship stuff anymore. There was an incident all the way back in 8th grade. And I’m not sure if she’d be okay with me telling you all about it," I responded, trying to satisfy their curiosity. Lizzy looked unsatisfied, however, and she was about to demand more information, but a judgy glance from Jade made her rethink that course of action.

Instead, Kelsey looked over at the other two girls disapprovingly and said to them, "Rachel kind of made us promise not to tell anybody." Following her statement, she let out a big sigh and continued. "But she also turns into a nervous wreck around her crushes, so I guess you were going to find out soon enough anyway."

We all nodded in agreement. Looking back, it was so obvious, the way she ran off at the mall when Riley came over; she must have been head over heels right away. And while I probably shouldn’t mess with Commander Rachel’s 'Prime Directive,' knowing about it would help me navigate this hedge-maze of budding romance for the weekend. I was just a little scared that this extra complication might make things more complex than they could have been.

Over time, the mood had grown slightly mellower as the sun slowly started to go down on the horizon. It would take ten more minutes before Rachel and Riley finally emerged from within the house. Rachel still looked exactly as flustered as when she was picking us up earlier, while Riley seemed quite oblivious to the whole situation.

"What took you two so long?" I asked them, trying to understand the current state of things.

"Rachel decided to give me a tour of the mansion and an in-depth review of all you lovely folks attending the weekend festivities," Riley answered with a bit of her signature smugness.

She held her finger up to her lips before using it to scan the room. "So, if I understood correctly, we have… Lizzy, Jade, Kelsey, and of course, my bestie, Emily," she said while keeping her finger pointed at me for a fair bit longer.

"Correct!" shouted Lizzy as soon as Riley was done talking. "But I don’t think it’s fair that you know what Rachel told you about us, but we know nothing about you." She continued grinning from ear to ear.

I could see that Rachel was about to speak up, but before she could say a word, she was already interrupted. Riley immediately accepted Lizzy's challenge. "Oh, don't worry. I'm an open book, and we have a full weekend ahead of us. Soon enough, you will know me better than you ever would have wanted to," she said confidently while grabbing a big oak chair and pontifically sitting down.

Before another round of interrogation from Lizzy could begin, however, Rachel managed to find her words again. "Uhm… Does anybody want anything to drink? We should have food coming in soon as well."

Unsurprisingly, pretty much all of us were content with some sodas. But I had understood this question as an opportunity to get some one-on-one time with Rachel myself. And some words definitely needed to be said before she or Riley did anything stupid that would sidetrack this entire weekend.

I stood up and insisted on helping Rachel get the drinks, quickly following her inside. For a moment, I got distracted by the house's sprawling interior. Every piece of furniture seemed to be meticulously designed to fit the space. We walked past a dining table that appeared to be constructed out of a single walnut log, with some bark still attached as a nod to the table's origin. A big bouquet of flowers stood firmly in the table's center. Six dark brown chairs surrounded the table itself, perfectly measured out.

The dining room flowed into the kitchen in a very organic manner. Instead of a simple door separating the two spaces, a giant railing carrying a large wooden slab was slid in front of one of the white walls of the dining room, allowing us to walk right through a four-meter-wide gap where the brown laminate from the living and dining areas made way for the black and gray laminate chevrons of the kitchen floor.

I spotted Rachel opening a fridge so big that it could house entire families. "How can I help?" I asked the beanstalk on the other side of a finely crafted kitchen island.

She closed the fridge as she took out a large bottle of diet coke. "There are glasses in the cabinet over there. Take the big round ones," she commanded me while pointing to a dark turquoise cabinet to my right.

I opened the cabinet, briefly removing Rachel from my field of view. While grabbing the glasses, I realized how little time I had for this conversation and therefore needed to act fast. Without even having closed the cabinet yet, I let the words escape my mouth. "And how can I help with your crush on Riley?"

I might not have been able to see her face, but the sound of a wobbly soda bottle revealed to me that she had not expected this question. I found the glasses and closed the cabinet, allowing me to see Rachel's surprised face. "How did you know? You didn’t say anything to Riley, did you?" she responded in an almost authoritative manner.

Instinctively raising my hands, I looked straight into two fearful dark brown eyes. Whatever was going on in her head, it wasn’t the usual confidence of the control freak I knew by the name of Rachel. "Lizzy accidentally told me. I haven’t said anything to Riley about it. And I promise I won’t tell before you give me the green light," I said, trying to calm her down.

Rachel rested her hand on the kitchen counter while briefly turning her gaze towards the ground. "Thanks… Ugh… I hate the person I become in situations like this… And it even made me completely forget about you! Sorry that I am being so weird. Like… I don’t even know if Riley, you know… Swings that way?" she said in a pleading tone while looking back up at me.

It honestly felt quite empowering to hear her say that. Normally, Rachel is incredibly confident and knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. But now I was the one in control somehow. For once in my life, I felt confidence in myself.

"Oh, you're good there. She swings whatever way the wind is blowing. But you will definitely need some help. So let me propose a deal," I said while holding up one of the glasses I had taken earlier. "I will be your wingman and help you get Riley's attention, and you will be my wingman to prevent me from making a complete fool of myself with the other girls."

A comfortable smile appeared across Rachel’s face, allowing her to release a small chuckle.

"Wingwoman."

"Wingwoman?" I responded.

"You said wingman; let’s be wingwomen instead," Rachel said, winking at me. For a slight second, I feared that she had already seen through my disguise, and that this was a way of subtly letting me know. But with my newfound confidence, I managed to get past these fears and just nodded along with my friend.

"Wingwoman it is," I replied, making a fake toast.

***

The sun had truly disappeared, now hidden far below the horizon. A brightly lit, full moon had taken its place, contrasting with the darkness of the night sky. While the mosquitoes had taken full ownership of the terrace outside, the girls and I had taken up residence in the house’s grand living room.

"There is no way!" Riley said while shaking her head. "You can't hit a ball hard enough to have your stick break. This is one of the worst humblebrags I have ever heard."

"Oh no, for real, it happens often enough. But it’s more the fact that the stick just wears out over time, so it just snaps after a certain amount of hits," Kelsey responded, sitting in a brown leather recliner.

"You’re making fun of us, but don’t underestimate the ferocity of a game of field hockey. You will see for yourself tomorrow," Jade said from her spot on the far end of the gray L-shaped couch.

Rachel was sitting right next to Jade and gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. “Jade! That was supposed to be a surprise!”

Jade simply laughed it off. “They were going to find out tomorrow anyway.” She then turned toward me and Riley, who were sharing a smaller gray couch next to Kelsey’s chair. “We arranged a special pickup game at our high school's hockey field to get you in on some of that physical team spirit,” she said while giving us a slight wink.

Worrying about the prospect of having to put on special workout clothes I didn’t even bring or having to share a dressing room with the girls caused my anxiety to spike suddenly. Luckily, I had a guardian angel who jumped to my defense immediately.

“We all love surprises, but I don’t know if this is the greatest idea. Us two doofuses didn’t really pack anything for something like that,” Riley said, attempting to force a change of plans.

Lizzy also decided to butt in and revealed another part of tomorrow’s team-building activities. “You don’t think our grand captain wouldn’t anticipate something so obvious, would you? You will have exactly what you need after we pick up our team jerseys tomorrow.”

Rachel nodded. “While I think the title of grand captain might be a bit too much, Lizzy is speaking the truth for once. Everything is prepared; we even got a special jersey for our latest addition to the crew,” she said while trying to meet Riley’s gaze at the end.

“You can’t just give me a jersey that says ‘Air Bud’ on it,” Riley joked, causing everybody to laugh out loud, imagining Riley as a Golden Retriever.

I looked around at everybody around me and then towards the big white circle of light shining through the glass. The window showed a reflection of all six of us, just sitting around having fun together. My eyes eventually found the reflection of myself, just another girl among this ordinary group of teens. I had been so worried preparing for this; I had been so worried even on the bus ride here. But if this was the life I wanted to have, was that really something to fear? Because right now, it felt like it always should have been like this.