Finn smiled, but it was only genuine for a moment, until he faltered and looked at Teddy with longing that he didn’t seem to want to act on anymore. “Bye, Teddy. See you Monday.”
Monday, because this was all they could be to each other anymore; no word of weekend plans, nothing more than friends.
It didn’t feel like being friends. Usually when Teddy screwed up a friendship or budding relationship, he knew what he’d done wrong. He had known initially—he was an ass. But Finn had forgiven him for that, and now….
Teddy sank to the floor on the other side of the cupcake box with far less grace than Frankie had, but eventually they sat parallel with the box between them. Frankie had chosen a cupcake with pink frosting. Teddy went for lemon. He imagined Finn would claim a chocolate peanut butter, but then, he might not know him as well as he thought.
“What’s with you two?” Frankie asked. She was busy turning her cupcake into a sandwich, ripping off the bottom to squish the frosting between two halves. Dan would have been horrified, so Teddy decided to do the same. “Last time, Finn had this, like, dopey smile on his face the whole time after you left. Did you two have a fight? I thought you were a thing, or whatever, by the way he was mooning.”
“Kids still say ‘mooning’?”
Frankie gave him one of those long looks teenagers had been perfecting for generations to let their elders know how lame they were.
“We’re not a thing,” Teddy said dryly. “Don’t think we’re going to become one either.”
“Why not?”
Teddy took a bite of his cupcake sandwich—delicious, even better defiled this way since it ensured equal frosting distribution.
Maybe it was the camaraderie shared in Frankie being one of the few who could understand what starting over felt like, maybe it was the sugary frosting filling Teddy with dopamine, but he found the words leaving him without struggle.
“Finn had a tough night the other day, showed a side of himself he usually hides.”
“The sad side?”
“You know about that?”
“Not, like, details, but someone who’s that happy all the time is usually hiding more pain than most people.”
“How insightful of you.” Teddy cast her a curious look.
Another shrug, still typical preteen but impressive nonetheless, enough that Teddy felt comfortable telling her more.
“I think it made him feel too vulnerable that I saw him like that.”
“When was it?”
“Tuesday night.”
“Give him the weekend to shake it off, then try again. He’ll be better.” She finished her cupcake in one large bite, smearing pink frosting on her lips that she chased with her tongue.
“Just like that?”
“Whatever sadness it is, and you don’t gotta tell me, but I’m sure that won’t be better, but after some time to realize he’s being stupid, he’ll want to make up. He likes you.”
Teddy finished his cupcake as well, tempted to steal another just to hide in it, which was exactly why he planned to leave them here. “You make it sound easy. Everyone outside a situation makes fixing it sound easy. But it doesn’t always work that way.Like my hip. I’m never going to dance the way I used to. That’s just fact.”
“Yeah, well, Finn isn’t your hip. And don’t be feeling sorry for yourself. That’s just complaining for complaining’s sake.” She smirked, throwing his own words back at him. “I mean, I’ll never dance again either.” She looked down at her mismatched legs with a sneer.
“Once you get the hang of that thing,” Teddy said, “you’ll be able to dance better than me. Even if you do take it off at night, it’ll feel like a part of you eventually.”
“You really think so?” She looked at him with so much youthful hope, Teddy had to nod. “Would you maybe show me sometime? When I’m better at this?”
“To dance? Uh… not being able to show much anymore is sort of my problem.”
“You could still try. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”
Regarding the young girl beside him, Teddy imagined her watching recordings ofThe Nutcracker, dreaming of being a dancer or figure skater or even just twirling about for fun, and now all that was fantasy, leaving her longing for any way she could recapture that spark of wonder.
