Elizabeth Eulberg: The Lonely Hearts Club

"Yeah, Diane — I mean, Tiffany's." Tracy fiddled with the clasp.

Diane walked over to help Tracy. "You guys have done so much for me this year and this is just a small way to say thank you. Plus... " Diane held up her left arm and pulled her sleeve up to show that she was wearing a matching bracelet. "You don't think it's too corny, do you?"

I couldn't take my eyes off the bracelet. It was the nicest thing anybody had ever given to me.

"No, it's not at all." Both Tracy and I embraced Diane in a group hug.

"And there's one other thing I wanted to tell you guys." Diane looked nervous. "I know things are changing with the Club and that you guys will probably start dating soon... and I just wanted you to know" — she looked up at me — "that I'll support you, whoever it is you date."

She knew.

Diane knew about Tracy.

Tracy rubbed her back. "Thank you, Diane. You know we'll always be there for you as well."

They started walking out of the room. "Tonight is going to be so much fun!' Tracy said.

Yeah, right.

It seemed that we were nearly the last people to arrive at Amy's.

We had to park around the block.

The three of us linked arms as we rang the doorbell. We heard the noise die down from inside as Amy opened the door wearing a beautiful red knee-length dress.

"Welcome." She stepped aside so we could see everybody gathered inside the living room and spilling into the adjacent kitchen.

"Happy Holidays!" everybody said at once and started applauding.

"Wow, you guys must be sick of that by now," Tracy said.

It took the three of us a while to figure out that this was for us. All of the members of the Club were on their feet cheering for us. I spotted Ryan, Tyson, and Tracy's brother over in the corner doing the same thing.

"What's going on?" Diane asked Amy.

"We just wanted to give you three the welcome you deserve." She ushered us in and took our coats.

The cheering died down, but we realized that everybody was looking in our direction with smiles on their faces. I looked over at Jen and Morgan to see if I could get a hint from them. Both of them just smiled at me.

"So," Amy said to the crowd, "we all just wanted to let the three of you know how much you have meant to all of us."

Tracy grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I guess she was right after all. The three of us had really created something here.

Something positive, something worth doing. Regardless of what any of the other guys in school, or Braddock, thought.

"We just wanted to give you something to say thanks." Amy grabbed three presents from under the Christmas tree by the bay window.

"Jen and I were reminiscing about the first time we joined the Club and everything we were talking about. Little did we know back then that under the tree in front of school, something this big was starting." Amy gestured toward the packed room.

Diane, Tracy, and I unwrapped our presents, but I was starting to get nervous as I heard giggling in the room. I fumbled with the wrapping, so Tracy was the first person to open her box.

"It's brilliant!" she exclaimed. I looked over and saw her hold up a white T-shirt with pink three-quarter-length sleeves. She showed me the shirt and on the front it said LHC and on the back LARSON.

I started laughing as Amy continued. "Well, we all figured it was time we finally got T-shirts." Everybody in the room held up matching T-shirts. "Now, what do you think Principal Braddock would do if we all walked into school the first day back wearing them?"

"Hey, I don't want to be responsible for putting a man in the hospital." Tracy went over to the table that had the drinks on it, grabbed three glasses of apple cider, and handed one each to Diane and me.

"Penny, I think we should do a toast," she said to me.

I raised my glass. "To the Lonely Hearts Club!"

Everybody in the room raised their glasses. "The Lonely Hearts Club!"

"And," Tracy continued, "to all of the people who have supported us," She motioned to the corner in the room that held her brother, Tyson, and Ryan, and then looked back at me. She grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's socialize."

We made the rounds and said thanks and Happy Holidays to everybody. All of the members were in high spirits and looked amazing. I couldn't have imagined my life without them.

"Hey, let's go over there." Tracy started dragging me over to the corner where Ryan was talking to Mike and Michelle.

Please, I didn't want to be the conduit for the two of them. I'd rather not be there to witness it. I didn't think my heart could take it.

"Happy Holidays!' Tracy said. She pushed me so hard I accidentally fell into Ryan.

"Whoa there, what's in your glass?" He nodded toward my apple cider.

I blushed, suddenly full of all this nervous energy inside me. It was probably from the all the excitement of the evening. Or the twelve pieces of fudge I ate.

"So we did it. We survived." Ryan clinked his glass against mine.

I smiled. I didn't say anything, waiting for Tracy to jump right in and start working her charm on Ryan. I turned to Tracy and noticed she was gone. Michael and Michelle were gone, too. It was just me and Ryan.

"Hey, there." He put his hand on the small of my back. "Everything okay? Did your brain implode from all the exams?" He started to play with my hair.

I slapped his hand away. "Careful, this takes a really long time to do, you know. Especially with a big ol' dent in my head."

He started laughing. "Oh, okay."

I smirked. "Let's see how you like it," I reached up and did what I had always wanted to do. Tousle his hair. And it was as soft as I had always imagined it.

I let out a huge laugh. I noticed that everybody was staring, then quickly looked away the second I looked over.

Right. I shouldn't have been doing that with the guy Tracy had a crush on.

I moved away from Ryan so we were no longer touching.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so self-conscious. Everybody knew that we were friends. I was sure I was imagining it.

But just to be safe, I took another step back.

I couldn't believe how much I ate, but I figured I might as well have one last piece of fudge. I popped the last piece on the plate into my mouth as I started clearing the table. The party was starting to wind down and there were only about a dozen people left. I had taken off my boots when I started to gather all of the trash that was lying around.

Tracy came over, linked her elbow with mine, and brought me toward the front hallway. "Good lord," she said. "I thought that if I invited him you would finally do something, but I guess not. You can be so frustrating sometimes."

What?

"Just go out with him already, you're driving me crazy!"

What?

I just stared at her. Tracy groaned, "Pen, I've been your best friend for years. Do you think I didn't know what was going on with you and Ryan?"

What?

"Listen, Penny — I know you've been worried about dating with the Club. But the rules have changed, remember? Stop denying yourself!" She started to smile, "Plus, you're really annoying when you have to hide your feelings, so just go in there and ask him out."

"Wait." I was in shock. "You invited Ryan for me?"

Tracy groaned. "Of course I did. Why else would I?"

Holy crap.

I started shaking my head. "I can't..."

Oh God.

I looked over and saw Ryan talking to Morgan and Tyson. I had never asked out anybody in my life, and what if he said no?

"He's not going to say no!"

How did she..?

"Well, what about Diane?" I asked, hoping that I could put this off for a few more days or months or years.

"Were you not paying attention to what she said earlier?"

I looked at Tracy in disbelief.