Dinner followed the usual pattern: Linda Gibson asked everyone how their day went and got single-word responses from each of them. They mostly ate without talking after that. Karen could tell Jon was trying not to stare, but she could still feel his occasional quick glance.
When they were all nearly finished, Linda broke the silence. "That's a lovely sweater you're wearing, dear," she said, giving Karen a knowing smile.
Karen blushed a bit and replied, "Thank you, Mrs. Gibson." With all the other excitement she hadn't even considered that everyone at dinner would easily recognize such a bold departure from her usual style.
"Jon really seems to like it, too!" Zoe stage-whispered, nudging Karen with her elbow.
Karen turned beet red. Jon inhaled a bit of his drink and had to push through a fit of coughing.
"Leave them alone, Zoe. You know they've been friends for years," Linda admonished.
"Then he should man up and ask her out or stop trying to look down her top!" Zoe countered.
"Actually, he did ask me out," Karen fidgetted, giving Jon an apologetic glance. "Today. Just before dinner."
Mrs. Gibson beamed at them. "That's wonderful, dear! Assuming you accepted, that is," she added with a chuckle.
"I bet you shot him down!" Zoe laughed.
Jon tried to give a snarky reply but was too busy relearning how to breath. He ended up just giving Zoe a dirty look through the last of his coughs.
"I said yes, actually. I, uh..." Karen continued, carefully choosing her words. "I accidentally revealed that I had a crush on him, and it turns out we'd both been crushing on each other--"
"Obviously!" Zoe interjected.
"--so, yeah, we're officially a couple now," Karen finished, picking at the last of her meal.
Linda reached across the table and put her hand on Karen's. "Well, I'm very happy for you two. You were always such a good fit."
Zoe just rolled her eyes and excused herself, mime-gagging herself as she left. Mikey took that as his cue to head for the living room to play some video games.
As Jon and Karen finished their last bites, Mrs. Gibson began clearing the table. They thanked her for the meal before heading upstairs.
