A/N: Hello, all! I'm trying to keep it short, so you guys don't get bored by my long posts. The title is from the song "Don't Do Sadness" from Spring Awakening. The only other thing I want to do is direct you, once again, to my Cherry tumblr (cherryforthesoul(dot)tumblr(dot)com) where you can submit any requests you want to see, or ideas or comments. Anything, really. :)

As always, please review with any grammatical corrections for me, as that always helps and I love seeing what you guys think of what I write. :)

Mike Chang was a teenager of habit. His patterns weren't usually interrupted, and were only disturbed should he, say, talk to a new intriguing girl at his usual restaurant. One night was plenty of disturbance for him. Should there be more than one consecutively, people who came regularly, such as the elderly couple that always sat in the corner, would start noticing him. Complaints would be filed, and he wouldn't be able to continue his hobby at that location. Which, if he was being honest, wasn't a terrible idea, but he had grown to love the small restaurant and its customers with varying levels of deception.

Unlike the other weeks he'd sat on this stool, a person stood out in his mind. A person he'd met a week before and who's features had kept a place in his thoughts. It really had been the first person he blatantly called out on their lying. Sure, he'd seen things and off handedly commented on them, but directly asking somebody about their lie wasn't usually his tactic. He questioned his intentions in doing so. Was it to call attention to the fact that her boyfriend was a jerk? Or show off? It still confused him, but, sitting on the stool this evening he didn't have much time to dwell, as moments into his casual residing, she entered the restaurant.

And it seemed like he recalled the features of Rachel's face with ease. The way the corner of her mouth twitched up just the slightest bit in a smile when the host asked how many and she replied by simply holding up a finger. His eyes followed her across the room, to where she was seated in a booth.

One of Mike's other talents, along with his dancing, was not being seen. So, when her eyes scanned the room, hands in front of her on the table, he went unspotted. Her head dropped the slightest bit and there was a continuous look of disappointment, and then the slight micro second of regret that he saw. She was there looking for somebody. Who? He wasn't sure. In the corner of his mind, before he even got up to cross to her table, he believed it was him that she was looking for, because he eyes stayed in the direction from which he'd approached her table a week prior. Which, sadly, wasn't the place he was now.

He reminded himself to stop examining so much.

He once again pushed his tie up as he walked to her, and it fit snugly around his neck. He double checked the fold of his lapels before reaching the edge of the table. Mike cleared his throat properly and she looked up, eyes widening the slightest bit and jaw dropping a fraction that was unnoticeable to the untrained eye, an expression he'd seen on her face before. He smiled and it was almost infectious, because just a second later she was smiling, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

"Well, how did I know you were going to be here?" She said with a playful lilt on her words and he shook his head, taking a seat across from without a second thought.

"See, that's the thing, you didn't." He commented and Rachel rolled her eyes, arms crossing on the table as she leaned forward. He could tell by the way her eyebrows arched up and her head tilted to the side that she was genuinely interested.

"You showed surprise when I walked up. One of the easiest expressions to spot." Mike stated and she was already shaking her head before his statement finished.

"I was not surprised." She challenged and little did she know her own body was betraying her with a combination of excessive eye contact and the manipulator of her nails just slightly running along her skin.

He'd never seen her do that action before, which just confirmed his suspicions because it strayed from the baseline of actions he'd established in their last encounter. A manipulator is simply an action, such as scratching your neck or nose, popping joints, touching you ear, scratching really any skin, or small nervous ticks that show deception.

"And now you're lying again." Rachel sighed heavily and leaned back, them falling into a silence. Her eyes narrowed and she just looked at him, simply looking at his features, wondering what it was about her own that betrayed her so easily. She couldn't help it if she also noticed the way his hair slicked back just right and his broad shoulders stayed confidently upright under her gaze. There was an unspoken confidence about Mike, the way he held himself in the proper attire was attractive and she wondered if that was one of his body language things he picked up.

"How do you do it?" She asked simply and kept her eyes trained on his. He broke the eye contact and looked off to the side, trying to formulate a response.

"It's hard to explain," he said and met her eyes once more and she focused in on him.

"You're lying," she accused confidently and he grinned and before he could ask why she assumed that, she promptly explained. "You looked off to the side. You look away when you're lying." She said with her face now holding a proud grin. Mike shook his head the slightest bit, looking at her warily.

"Myth," he stated to which Rachel's face dropped. "You actually look away when you're telling the truth. Your subconscious has orientations for which direction you look according to what you're trying to recall. You make more eye contact when lying to make sure the person you're trying to fool is actually believing you."

Under the table Mike extended his longer legs forward and bumped her's just the slightest bit, her head dropped and her eyes fell to the tabletop in embarrassment. He tried to hold back a smirk, because right now was not the time to be engaging in something like that. Especially since he'd only talked to her twice.

"Well, umm," he could tell she was trying to regain her thought process and she tucked her hair behind her ear nervously before looking up at him. "Prove it."

"Okay," he confirmed and then nodded towards her to start. "Tell me about something. Anything. Your boyfriend." He decided. As much as he didn't want to talk about Rachel's boyfriend, it was something that she could probably talk about for hours, she was a teenage girl after all.

She began talking and he began marking things in his head that she was saying that were dishonest.

"Oh, um, his name is Finn Hudson, he's in the Glee club. I'm sure you've heard of him. He's Kurt's step brother." Mike nodded, recognizing the name. So far her words were honest. "He can sing really well, and he's about two of me stacked on top of each other." She said and forced a laugh out. He cocked his head to the side, and shook his head.

"No, no, tell me about his personality. Opinions not facts."

"Right, of course," she said and looked down at the table, trying to decided where to start. "He's not very bright, but he tries. And," right here was where Mike became uneasy. Her hand lifted to her ear, rubbing for a short moment and her voice wasn't sure, she was speaking slower as if she were thinking hard to come up with things about him. Mike leaned back away from her anticipating what lie was about to come out of her mouth. "I really love him. He's a great, caring guy." Mike felt as if he'd peeked in on her innermost thoughts, and shouldn't be knowing this about her feelings that had changed about her boyfriend. She licked her lips, nervous once more and her words came out after a pause. It seemed like her subconscious was on overload, practically shouting at Mike that she secretly hated her boyfriend. Maybe not hated, but didn't care about anymore.

"He's really sweet, and thoughtful." And he stopped looking at her altogether at that point, not wanting to see and learn more than he already had. Rachel paused and leaned over, trying to catch his eyes.

"What is it?" She asked with concern.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I just thought I was going to sneeze," he said, putting on a smile and catching his own manipulator of adjusting his watch on his wrist when it needed no adjustment. She laughed softly. "Continue," he gestured for her with a warm smile and he saw the first hint of truth.

She laughed under her breath, like remembering an inside joke, and nodded her head. There was no shrug, no manipulator, no hesitation, no hint of a lie in any way as she spoke.

"He's the best thing that's ever happened to me." And he froze. Piecing it together, it seemed as though her boyfriend's traits weren't all that admirable, but she still believed that he was the best thing that happened to her. And that confused him. What could possibly cause her to think a guy, with traits that didn't appeal to her, at least not from Mike's observant point of view, was the best that she could do for herself? His eyes narrowed and she spoke, her voice softer and almost knowing that he was going to out her on her lies.

"So, what did you see?" He didn't know what to do. Going into this he was determined not to lie to her. But he also wasn't going to accuse of her leading on a guy, or put Rachel down for her fibs that probably should have been put at the forefront of her mind. That wasn't what this was about. He hesitated only slightly, wetting his lips in preparation.

Because she was different. Something was….different.

"I saw a girl who…" Who what? What. What. What. "Genuinely appreciates her boyfriend and is grateful to have him." Had she had any idea of people's ways with words, she would have noticed his evasion. No specific detail, no context. Nothing attaching him to the things she'd said.

He then noticed a flash of sadness. The corners of Rachel's lips turned down, and her eyes lost focus for half a second. If that.

And then forced happiness replaced it, but he wasn't going to chide her on that. Because there was something there he didn't know. And he didn't need to know whatever that was to know he should be a sensitive person.

"You're good," she complimented.

"I try." He replied and went on. "And practice." Mike added on pointedly. The topic of the conversation shifted and he could see the relief on her gentle features.

"Oh, really. On who?"

"People at Dalton. My friends Puck, and Sam. I'm kind of teaching them simple things. Puck is a hell of a bad liar, though. I don't think he'll ever get better." He said and then laughed, glad to be taking the conversation elsewhere.

"I feel like normal people would see that as a good thing," she said in a teasing manner, her tone almost saying that she already knew what he was going to reply when she spoke this statement.

"Are you saying I'm not normal?" He said with fake shock, a hand going to his chest to reinforce the act and grinned, knowing he was far from what anybody would call average due to the talent she had the pleasure of discovering right away. She just laughed and he joined her, not being able to help it. The laughs faded and her smile dropped, lips pressing into a tight line in thought.

"Thank you," she stated simply.

"For…what? I didn't do anything."

"For…keeping me company last Friday. I thought I was going to have to sit alone again. That's why I came back…to tell you." She stated and if he hadn't been for his awareness, he probably wouldn't have noticed the toe of her shoe hitting the side of his own foot. The contact showed wanted for connection but the fact that her foot was turned in his direction at all showed general interest, maybe indicating her intentions were past just saying thanks. He was unsure of what to say, and all that spilled past his lips was facts.

"You know, there's not a universal expression for loneliness." There was hardly emotion in his words, and what did seep through was almost a comforting tone. One that was encouraging her to say what it was that she needed to because the word again in itself left an unsettled feeling in his stomach. She looked at him, eyebrows furrowed in focus and she spoke with a gentle nature.

"I think it would be easier if there was."