Lily’s Library: If We Were Us

A Review of “If We Were Us” by Lily Kathleen Lauritson

I will be the first to admit that while I have always dreamed of going to boarding school and tasting freedom while still being held by my parents, I would crumble. I would absolutely fall apart at the thought of going away for school before college even started and I am sure I would be back home in the safety of my familiar room within a few months, if not weeks. However, this lingering fantasy comes back sometimes, and I sit and evaluate if it would have actually been that bad. For me, yes it would have. But I just won’t admit that to myself. Although, when I indulge in cute romance books such as If We Were Us, by K.L. Walther, my mind tricks me into thinking that these sweet scenarios are what my boarding school experience would be like. Spoiler alert: they wouldn’t be like this. As someone who was too scared to go to
the dining hall by herself so she ate cheese-its for the first week of school, I most certainly would not be attending themed party’s and falling in love with my best friend’s brother while helping him come out to his family and embrace who he is. But (and this is a big one) one can dream, can’t they? In any case, since I never got over homesickness and had the chance to live in a colonial-style dorm building, I will just have to live amongst the pages (yet again) with some of the most endearing and charming characters I have come across lately, and I highly encourage everyone else to do the same with If We Were Us.

When are story begins, we are in the mind of one of our four main characters, Sage Morgan. A high school senior who is dedicated to school and making those around her feel included, she is quickly depicted as a sweet and fun-loving character who is easy to agree with and root for. Not to mention she has an equally as interesting best friend, Charlie Carmichael, our other narrator, and point-of-view for this journey. Charlie is on their school’s hockey team and is quite active in the theater department. He also has become known as being active in the dating scene. Everyone seems to be holding their breath for the moment when Charlie stops dating around and finally gets the courage to ask his best friend, Sage, out. However, what the reader will quickly find is that not only are Sage and Charlie the best friends someone could ask for, but they also both have their eyes on other people. Charlie, on the new boy Luke Morrissey. Sage, on Charlie’s twin brother, Nick Carmichael.

Soon into our story, Luke arrives to Bexley as a shy but self-assured senior who Sage takes on as a new friend and confidant. On the night before classes begin Sage, Luke, and the rest of their friends are partaking in a school movie tradition when Sage announces she needs to leave and help Charlie with something. However, Sage is actually meeting up with Nick to hangout on the golf course, a tradition they’ve had for some time, when they admit their feelings for each other and kiss for the first time. However, sensing that Charlie would be upset with her, Sage asks to keep their relationship a secret without disclosing the real reason why. In the meantime, Charlie and Luke are developing a secret of their own.

After their first interaction on movie night, Charlie has been hooked. He spends what time he can around Luke and getting to know him in a way not many other people do. In fact, Charlie becomes so devoted to spending time with Luke that he walks him to his class only to have to run across campus in order to not arrive any later to his own. While all of these actions and events are due to the two boys falling for each other, it is quickly understood that Charlie is not
out to anybody, not even Sage, and the idea of doing that scares him immensely. So, once Charlie reveals this to Luke, he thinks it might be the end of them. What he didn’t anticipate was Luke being ok with a more low-key relationship until Charlie was ready. However, Sage, Charlie, Nick, and Luke would all soon come to find how difficult hiding your love for someone is.

Almost simultaneously, Sage and Nick and Charlie and Luke all begin to feel the strain of school gossip and secrecy on their respective relationships. While Sage and Nick argue about Sage being in love with Charlie due to Nick not knowing his brother is gay, Charlie and Luke have finally reached the last straw when Charlie shoves Luke into a forest one night suspecting that his hockey friends were walking by. While Sage is crushed that the boy she has had a crush on for so long has started to move on with another girl, she maintains face in order to be there for Charlie while he suffers his first heartbreak and the tumultuous road of identity. As a matter of fact, Sage is so devoted to her friendship with Charlie that she doesn’t tell him about her own heartache and is instead there for him when he decides to come out to Nick and their parents.

As the beginning of the year is coming closer, Charlie and Luke, through many ups and downs and the help of Sage, have found a common ground between them and are able to hold hands and sit next to each other at the dinning hall without calling each other their “friend.” However, Sage is still in the mindset that she wasted too much time on hiding with Nick for them to ever be something again. But Charlie will come-through as the best friend all readers know he is to ensure that all four of them, Sage, Charlie, Nick, and Luke, get the happy ending they more than deserve.

A Playlist for a Double-Date with the Best People You Know
– Campus by Vampire Weekend
⁃ Margaret by Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff
⁃ Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
⁃ Labyrinth by Taylor Swift
⁃ The Good Side by Troye Sivan

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