Friday night was pub night again, and Freddie was the fifth wheel for the evening. Tim and Dave were deep in a discussion of the soccer semi finals that were taking place that weekend. Apparently the Pelicans were playing on Sunday and they were both very interested in whether some young player called Lee would be starting after an injury. Freddie really tried to get involved but the whole conversation moved too quickly for a novice so he tried Nikki.

Nikki had dragged another tinder date along for the evening, this one was much better than the cheese guy, unfortunately that meant they were too absorbed in each other's company to include Freddie. He thought about heading home, but he didn't want to face his mum's disappointment about his lack of social life so he wanted to stick it out until at least after she'd gone to bet.

Pulling his phone out to flip through social media as a way to pass time Freddie saw Leo had sent him a text. He opened it to find a picture of Kermit the frog with a caption that read: this you? Freddie laughed out loud drawing the attention of his table mates.

"Why are you laughing at your phone like a little girl with a crush?" Tim asked.

"It's nothing," Freddie said.

"He's blushing!" Nikki exclaimed. "He does have a crush!"

"Who is she then?" Dave asked.

"There's no she," Freddie insisted trying to will his cheeks too cool down. "It's really nothing."

"If it's nothing why are you hiding it?" Nikki asked.

"Im not hiding," Freddie insisted. "It's not worth sharing."

"I'll be the judge of that," Tim said grabbing Freddie's phone.

Tim looked at the image on Freddie's screen, and then back at Freddie who shrugged to say 'I told you so'. The phone was handed around, to Dave,  Nikki, and finally Nikki's uncomfortable looking date who seemed very uncomfortable being included in this conversation.

"Freddie are you flirting with a boy?" Tim asked eventually.

"What?" Freddie said grabbing his phone back looking at the picture confused. "It's just Kermit?"

All three of them burst out laughing, and Freddie through a pile of napkins at them.

The rest of the evening was easier, Tim and Dave seemed to exhausted the soccer talk and Nikki's date was actually kinda fun. Still Freddie left early, and as he lay in bed unable to sleep he texted Leo.

Why does everyone always think I'm flirting? he asked.

Freddie stared without blinking at the dots in the message waiting intensely for Leo's reply.

Wishful thinking, Leo sent.

For some reason, those two words made Freddie feel better. They took the onus off Freddie and onto the people who continually misinterpreted him. Freddie finally let sleep take him with Leo's words danced across his mind as he drifted into a dream.