Chapter 19
nineteen
“Hi, Neil,” I squeaked out.
He smirked and shook his head. “Luca owes me five bucks.”
“You knew about this?” Hudson asked. He crawled onto the bed and held a hand out to help me up, which I took gratefully. My legs screamed in protest as I unfurled them and stood.
“We had a feeling you two were together,” Neil said. He tapped into his pocket where his phone was sticking out. “We had a bet on how long it would take for one of you to admit it. I had no idea Megan was Eggo, though. You are, right?”
I was tempted to play it off and pretend that I had no idea what he was talking about, but I decided against it. For one thing, it would probably just cause bigger issues down the road. For another, my location had already given me away. That was my own fault—I totally forgot that I had that setting on.
“Surprise,” I said weakly .
“Neil?” Jude’s voice called from down the hall.
“In here!” Neil called back. He was almost laughing. “You’ll never believe this!”
“Neil,” Hudson hissed.
“What?” Neil asked. “He’s going to find out anyway.”
“Find out what?” Jude asked as he appeared in the doorway. Neil turned to him with a wide smile and stepped aside so Jude had an unobstructed view of me. Jude raised his eyebrows. “Huh. Well, hello Megan.”
“Hey,” I said awkwardly, holding the word for longer than necessary.
Jude pulled out his phone and looked at it for a long few seconds. “Wow, the location on here is scarily accurate.”
“How long have you known?” Hudson asked.
Jude looked up. “About what? You and Megan getting together or her being Eggo?”
“Both.”
Jude sighed as he thought. “I’ve suspected that you two were getting a little closer than friends for a little over a week now. And I only put the Eggo thing together a minute ago.” He looked at me. “You know, if you didn’t have your location on, we might have never found out.”
“And what a shame that would be,” I murmured. It was a little sarcastic, but I didn’t totally mean it—I could already feel the stress coming off me at the idea of not having to hide my identity anymore. Of course, it was instead being replaced by the stress that they might not want me around now that they knew who I was, but I was trying not to think about that too hard.
“So, I’m confused,” Jude said. “How long have you guys known each other’s real identities?”
Hudson and I shared a glance.
“That's a long story,” I said.
“And not one I want to tell twice,” Hudson said. “So we should wait for Finn and Zach to get home.”
“Zach’s in the basement,” Jude said. “And Finn’s almost home from his run.”
“While we wait,” I said, seeing my chance. “I have a question for you, Jude.”
“Shoot,” he said.
“What’s your name?”
His brows furrowed. “You mean other than Jude?”
“I mean, why are you called Luca in the group chat?” I asked.
“Oh,” he said. “My full name is Luca Jude. But only my friends and family call me Luca. Jude is my stage persona.”
I wanted to ask more questions about that, but right then, the front door opened, and Finn called out, “I’m home!”
Jude and Neil didn’t even hesitate before running downstairs, yelling that they had a surprise.
Hudson pulled me off the bed and into a hug.
“I’m so sorry about this,” he murmured.
“It was going to happen sometime,” I said. “Why not now?”
He brushed my hair out of my face and kissed me gently.
“You’re amazing,” he whispered. I smiled up at him.
“Not nearly as amazing as you.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s not even a competition.”
Explaining it to the boys was surprisingly easy, especially since I didn’t have to explain the existence of the group chat to them like I did when I was telling Sloane.
“So... That’s how we ended up here,” Hudson said at the end of the explanation.
“Well, that answers one of the great mysteries of our time,” Finn said. “The identity of Eggo.”
“And now that we know, we can hang out with you in person all the time!” Jude said excitedly.
“Really? You still want to be friends with me?” I asked. “Even now that you know I’m… me?”
“Of course,” Finn said. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. I played with the frayed sleeve of my sweater and considered how much I was willing to actually tell them. “I just worry that I’m not as fun in person as I am over text. You all love Eggo, but do you really like Megan?”
Hudson’s arm slid around me, pulling me tight to his side, and he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I think I like you even more in person.”
“You’re just saying that because you feel bad.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t make empty promises. Especially not to you.”
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I think you’re great,” Jude added. He paused, holding a finger up to me. “And on an entirely unrelated note… do you think Sloane likes me?”
All the boys burst out laughing at the sudden change in subject, and I found myself giggling along, too, especially as Jude started to go on about how magnificent Sloane was and how he just couldn’t tell what was going on in her head. As I sat and listened, I found myself feeling like I was actually a part of their friend group—not just there as a “fan” (if I could even be called that) or as Hudson’s girlfriend, but as an actual friend of all the boys. It was a feeling I wasn’t used to after years of only having Sloane. It felt good. It felt right.
Like I was finally where I was meant to be.