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The rain drummed steadily against the windows of Stephanie Lauter’s bedroom, casting a rhythmic soundtrack over the quiet space. Stephanie, Grace, and Peter had planned to hang out at the mall, but the sudden downpour had put a wrench in those plans. Instead, they’d ended up here: crammed into Stephanie’s room, sprawled across her plush, rose-colored bedspread.
Steph scrolled through Twitter, not really paying attention to anything, just enjoying the comforting presence of her partners. Grace sat cross-legged beside her, perfectly straight-backed as usual, her eyes intently focused on the book she’d brought. Peter was at the foot of the bed, awkwardly hunched over a puzzle book, chewing his lip in concentration.
“You’re making that face again,” Steph teased, throwing a glance in Peter’s direction. She nudged his leg with her foot.
“What face?” Peter’s brow furrowed further, and he looked up at her, pushing his glasses higher on his nose.
“The one where you look like you’re trying to solve world hunger, but you’re really just stuck on a crossword,” she said, smirking.
“It’s not just any crossword,” Peter muttered, holding up the book. “This is Advanced Crosswords for Brainiacs. The clues are, like, cryptic. It’s really tough.”
Grace, who had been silent until now, glanced over the top of her book. “Let me see,” she said, in that matter-of-fact tone she always used when she was about to solve some problem effortlessly. She leaned forward, and Peter hesitantly handed over the crossword book.
Steph watched them, an amused smile tugging at her lips. Peter was always so tense; he could barely manage casual conversation without tripping over his words, and his shoulders seemed to be in a permanent state of hunching. Grace, on the other hand, was the picture of perfect composure, even when solving some impossible puzzle. Steph loved watching their personalities clash and complement each other.
“Oh, this one’s easy!” Grace said after a few moments, grabbing Peter’s pencil and filling in a blank. “The answer to seventeen down is pragmatic. It’s right there in the clue if you know Latin roots.”
Peter blinked, staring at the word she had just written. “Uh… yeah, I knew that,” he mumbled, embarrassed.
Steph stifled a laugh. “Uh-huh, sure you did, Spankoffski.”
He shot her a half-hearted glare, but it was softened by the flush creeping up his cheeks. Steph felt a pang of fondness. Pete’s nerdiness wasn’t exactly what she’d imagined herself going for, but there was something endearing about his dorky dedication to his puzzles and games.
Grace handed the book back to him, giving him a small, satisfied smile. “It’s all about seeing the pattern,” she said, settling back into her spot, her eyes already back on her own book. “If you know the key to understanding it, the answer’s usually right in front of you.”
Steph rolled her eyes, though the corner of her mouth twitched. “Yeah, well, not all of us went to Christian Puzzle Camp, Grace,” she said, flopping down on her back dramatically. “Some of us are just trying to survive the deluge with our limited vocabularies.”
Peter let out a snort at that, and even Grace cracked a small smile.
Steph stared at the ceiling for a moment, the sound of the rain filling the silence again. As much as she loved teasing them, there was something about these rainy afternoons that always made her feel… softer. Like the usual sharp edges she kept up as Stephanie Lauter, Queen Bee of Hatchetfield High, didn’t need to be quite so sharp.
“Okay, this is stupid, but…” she started, turning her head to look at both of them. “Thanks for sticking around. I know we could be doing something cooler.”
Grace gave her a look that was almost amused. “Cooler than this? Doubtful.” She said it with such earnestness that Steph couldn’t help but smile.
Peter, predictably, blushed and avoided eye contact. “I… I mean, yeah, of course. It’s, uh… nice to just hang out sometimes.”
Steph sat up again, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Okay, enough of this wholesome crap. Let’s make things interesting.” She tossed her phone aside and leaned forward. “Truth or dare, Spankoffski?”
Peter gulped, his eyes going wide behind his glasses. “W-What? Me? Why me first?”
“Because you’re the most nervous, duh,” Steph grinned, delighted at how flustered he was getting. “Come on, truth or dare.”
Peter hesitated, his eyes darting between her and Grace, who was watching with mild curiosity. “Uhh… truth, I guess?”
“Coward,” Steph quipped, but she leaned in anyway. “Okay. If you had to be stuck on a desert island with either me or Grace, who would you pick?”
Peter turned scarlet. “Uh… th-that’s, um, that’s a tough question…” His eyes flickered nervously between them.
Grace didn’t even flinch. “It’s a logical choice. Whoever has the most survival skills. The answer is me.” There was enough snark hidden in that last sentence, that if Steph didn’t know better, she’d think her personality was rubbing off on the girl.
Steph gasped dramatically. “Excuse me? Pete, if you don’t pick me, you’ll regret it forever.”
Peter rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he wanted the floor to swallow him up. “I… I don’t think I could pick,” he said, voice shaky. “You’re both… uh, really important to me?”
For a moment, the teasing stopped. Steph felt something warm bloom in her chest. It wasn’t often people saw Peter that way, but in this little trio, they knew better. Peter might be awkward, but he cared. A lot.
She softened her voice just a little. “Good answer, nerd.”
The rain continued to fall outside, but inside, wrapped in the warmth of their relationship, none of them really minded.
Peter exhaled in relief, clearly thankful for dodging the question. Steph gave him a playful side-eye but decided to let him off the hook for now.
Grace, ever the composed one, gave a tiny nod, as if she had expected Peter’s answer all along. “A diplomatic choice,” she said with a hint of approval in her tone.
Peter smiled, still pink in the face but clearly more at ease now. “Thanks for not making me pick… I, uh, really don’t want to be on anyone’s bad side.”
Steph rolled her eyes in mock exasperation but smiled, her heart warming as the rain continued its steady rhythm against the window. “You’re such a dork, Peter,” she muttered, but it was softer than usual, more fond than biting.
Without thinking too much about it, she shifted on the bed until she was leaning against Peter’s shoulder. It was subtle, but the small contact was enough to make Peter’s eyes widen in surprise. She didn’t say anything, and neither did he, though she could feel him tense up for a second before relaxing into the touch.
Grace, still fully engrossed in her book, glanced up at them over the top of the pages. “Comfortable?” Okay. Definitely rubbing off on her. Steph likes this side of Grace, she thinks.
Steph shrugged, a smirk playing on her lips. “Yeah, actually. I think I am.”
Grace shook her head lightly, as if amused by the two of them, and returned to her book.
They didn’t say anything else for a while. The three of them sat there in a comfortable silence, the rain outside still falling steadily, cocooning them in warmth and quiet. Steph closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of her favorite lavender candle and listening to the familiar sounds of her partners nearby: the rustling of Grace’s book, the faint scratching of Peter’s pencil as he worked on his crossword puzzle.
For all their differences — Grace’s precision, Pete’s nervous energy, and Stephanie’s sharp tongue, they fit together in a way that just worked. There was a comfort in knowing that, in this little moment, none of them had to be anything other than who they were.
Eventually, Peter set down his crossword, the puzzle book now forgotten, and just leaned back against the headboard, caught in the same cozy contentment as the others. The rain outside wasn’t stopping anytime soon, but none of them minded.
“Guess it’s a good thing the mall was a bust,” Steph murmured sleepily.
Peter glanced down at her, a small smile still on his face. “Yeah. I think so too.”
Grace, without looking up from her book, added, “Sometimes, it’s better to just stay where you’re meant to be.”
And for once, Stephanie couldn’t argue with that.