“Please, call me Wendy, all of you.” Letting go of Sharon the woman stepped back, holding out her hand to take Andrew’s coat, but she was still smiling at Sharon. “I know we haven’t met before, but Lexie’s told me so much about her friends that I feel like I know you already.”

The front door shut behind them and Sharon could already hear the sounds of a party in process deeper in the house. It might just be her imagination, but she swore she could pick out Jake’s voice even within all the noise. Wendy took their coats, directing them to head into the kitchen where the food and beverages were set up - and she particularly recommended the salted caramel hot chocolate, which could be easily spiked if they were so inclined.

Sounded good to Sharon.

She was a little weirded out by how friendly the woman was.

You’re here as Lexie’s friend, not Jake’s girlfriend, that makes a difference.

It wasn’t that mothers didn’t like her, most of them did, but she always felt the weight of their opinions bearing down on her when she met them. She even felt it now, but that wasn’t how the woman was looking at her, so it felt a little jarring.

“Super easy, not-at-all-complicated, casual fuck buddies, right?” Kate whispered in her ear, linking arms with her as they followed Andrew down the hall. Since she was wearing flats and Sharon was wearing her favorite heeled boots, Kate didn’t have to lean down as far as normal to ensure no one could overhear.

Still.

“Shut it,” Sharon whispered back. So what if she felt like a jittery girlfriend meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time? That wasn’t the actual situation and she needed to get her shit together.

“Just relax,” Kate said, more sympathetically. “Just be Lexie’s friend tonight and you’ll be fine.”

Kate was right. Sharon shook off her nerves. The first hurdle had been passed after all. She was here, it was obvious Wendy didn’t know there was anything between her and Jake, and so she could just relax and be a friend tonight.

“All right,” she said just before they followed Andrew through the doorway of what looked like the kitchen. “Let’s rock and roll.”

This was... weird. For lack of a better word.

Even weirder than being at Stronghold had been. All his friends knew what was going on between him and Sharon, but none of his family did (other than his sister, obviously). It meant he was putting up with both sly looks and complete obliviousness.