"I really appreciate this," Kelly said, sitting in the passenger seat as Wyatt drove; she continued, "my parents work, and Rachel works, but you're like your own boss so you have the ability to help out whenever you want. I really do appreciate it. I needed to get some of these things done."
Wyatt nodded, listening but not listening. His mind was elsewhere, specifically with Scarlett. He rubbed his eyes as they came to a red light.
"...how are you?" Kelly asked, "I mean, like, how is everything? All things considered."
Wyatt glanced at her. How was everything? He smiled weakly and nodded.
"Yeah," he said, "I'm fine. Everything's fine."
Kelly had survived a plane crash. She didn't need to worry about anything else right now.
***
Kelly Schuester had been in band in Freshman year, playing the saxophone, and was surprisingly adept at it. And, for a lot of sporting events, the band was expected to be present, providing background music, including baseball. Kelly, decked out in her full band uniform, saxophone case slung across her chest and over her shoulder, was sitting uncomfortably on one of the bottom bleachers as the football team practiced nearby. She pulled open the plastic wrap covering her sandwich and bit into it as someone sat down on the bench beside her, glancing up to recognize a boy from the baseball team and a girl she knew from art class sitting together, he in his baseball uniform and her in her regular clothes, sharing a soda.
"Football is the one sport I don't respect," Amelia said as she took a long sip.
"And why is that?" Wyatt asked.
"Because football is all about brute force. Baseball requires math, logics. Tennis requires true agility, geometry. But football...it's just...people running into eachother. I know it's more complicated than that, but at a base level that's what it is."
"Well, I'm glad you like baseball at least," Wyatt said, "otherwise I'd feel pretty stupid wearing this."
Amelia and Wyatt laughed and Kelly felt embarrassed. She was somewhat jealous. She'd never had a boyfriend, or anything of the sort, and all the boys she did have crushes on, none of them ever liked her back, and the boys who did find an interest in her were...well....less than ideal in regards to their actions towards her. She continued eating, listening to them talk.
"What are you doing after school?" Amelia asked, "Cause I found a cemetary I want to take photos of."
"That sounds cool," Wyatt replied, "we could totally do that. So long as we won't piss off the dead."
"What are they gonna do, haunt us?" Amelia asked, the both of them laughing again.
Kelly did her best to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut, focusing instead on the sandwich in her hands, but it wasn't enough. She'd never have a relationship in the entirety of high school, and rarely outside of high school either, even after graduation. Truth be told, Kelly Schuester, despite her abilities and her genune kindness and her big heartedness, had never once been loved by someone the way she wanted, and she secretly craved it so bad. But, until then...Tuna Salad would have to do, she guessed.
***
"Why do you still have braces? You're in your thirties," Wyatt said.
"Because I have Temporomandibular joint dysfunction," Kelly said, as Wyatt raised his eyebrows and she smirked before adding, "jaw pain. I had my wisdom teeth taken out sometime last year, and since then I've had these to help reduce the jaw pain. It eases pressure and tension. I grit my teeth a lot, so."
Wyatt and Kelly were sitting in a laundromat, waiting for Kelly's drycleaning to be gotten.
"I don't think I ever had braces," Wyatt said, crossing his legs, "I think I had perfect teeth."
"Well, we can't all be handsome adonises," Kelly replied, making Wyatt laugh as she blushed and continued, "actually, I like them. They kind of set me apart. I got so used to being different when in school that now being different is just kind of my entire personality. Not in an obnoxious way, but more in a...like a...I'm interesting because of it kind of way, if that makes sense? If I wasn't different, I don't think I'd be nearly as interesting in general."
Wyatt nodded, listening. He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands in his lap, picking at his nails.
"Yeah, yeah I get that," Wyatt said, "like, people use your differences against you, so you empower yourself by being proud of them, right? That is kind of admirable, honestly."
Kelly nodded, but didn't respond. After a few more minutes her dry cleaning was finished, so they took it to the car, got back in and began to drive to the grocery store for her next errand. Wyatt always enjoyed grocery shopping, he found it oddly...relaxing. Course, he usually did it alone, but hey, there was fun to be had with other people sometimes. He remembered when he and Scarlett got their first apartment, before they had the house, and they used to go grocery shopping together all the time, even when they didn't need anything, just for something fun and cheap to do together. Walking down the aisles, pushing the cart as Kelly hobbled alongside him, Wyatt couldn't help but feel like that again now.
"Do you ever miss being in high school?" Wyatt asked, "people always say it's the best time of your life, but how sad is that? The peak of your entire existence is hormone riddled adolescence? Sounds like shit to me."
"For some people it probably was," Kelly said, "the people who were popular and knew how to have fun in that traditionally expected teenager way. For others, like myself, it was really hell. I didn't really enjoy anything about high school, especially once Rachel decided to stop being my friend."
"Yeah, that had to be rough, sorry about that," Wyatt said as they stopped so Kelly could compare a few different boxes of pasta.
"Eh," she said, shrugging, "it's in the past, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still sting a bit in the present, even if we're friends again now. Besides, I have more friends now than I did then, better friends, cooler friends."
Wyatt smiled a little. He couldn't help but feel infected by Kelly's enthusiasm, and then his thoughts turned back to Scarlett, and the fight they'd had that morning. Seemed like all they'd been doing lately was fighting, and he wanted to fix that. Maybe, before they finished their errands, they'd stop at the florist.
***
Kelly, seated alone at a table while her bandmate peers all laughed and talk together at another table, tried not to feel too guilty about being on her own. In some ways, she preferred it, but in others, she wished she could join in on their vapid empty conversations. She continued cleaning her saxophone and then packed it up in its bag and headed into the hallway from the cafeteria, walking a bit down the hall until she found the empty space tucked away underneath a stairwell and plopped herself down in the darkened corner. This was her favorite spot to be, because nobody even noticed she was gone, or was there.
As she pulled out a large book about horses from her backpack and opened it, she could hear the clomping of shoes going up and down the stairs overhead, and it was oddly rythmic and relaxing. She leaned back against the wall, knowing she still had a good chunk of time until lunch was over and her next class begun, and started to read. Suddenly, and without warning, someone else scuttered into the space beneath the stairs, surprising her. It was the girl Wyatt had been talking to on the bleachers, Amelia. Kelly lowered her book as Amelia hid and pulled the bookbag against her chest, her eyes red.
"...are you okay?" Kelly asked, and she shook her head; Kelly hesitated, bit her lip, then asked, "what's wrong?"
"People are liars," Amelia whispered, her nose stuffed from crying, "they use you and they lie and they tell you things you wanna hear but things they'll never stick to just so they can continue taking advantage of you."
"Is this about your boyfriend?" Kelly asked, and Amelia glanced towards her, lowering her eyebrows.
"What? No. This is about my father," she said, "no, Wyatt's great, he'd never hurt me. No, my father told me that I should give up on my art, and pick an actual career. This, coming from the man who's a dentist. Doesn't even own the dentistry company he works for, just works for them. Real good person to be taking advice from. My brother and I are both smart enough to get into prestigious technical colleges, and yet he and my mother both want me to give up on my art because they think it 'won't be substantial, financially'. As if something that fulfills you on a personal level has to pay the bills."
Kelly went quiet and just listened. Amelia pushed her hair back into a bushy ponytail and tied up, then wiped her face on her sweater sleeve.
"I think, if you like something enough, you should continue to do it," Kelly said, "regardless of what anyone else might say. Screw them. It's not their future. Just because they couldn't do anything with their lives doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't try to."
Amelia smiled a little, and looked back down at her shoes as Kelly shifted, somewhat uncomfortably, in her cramped space. After a few minutes, Amelia exhaled deeply, slowly and looked back up at Kelly.
"I guess you're in band?" she asked, noticing the uniform.
"Yeah, we have a competition today," Kelly said.
"That's cool. I can only play the piano and even then I don't really to," Amelia replied, checking her watch, "I guess I should go, but...it's nice to talk to someone who also understands the arts. Thanks for talking to me. You're not wrong, either. I'm gonna stick to my guns, not that there was any doubt but having backup sure helps my motivation."
Kelly smiled and waved as Amelia crawled back out from her space and exited, leaving Kelly all alone there once again. Never a friend. Just a bystander with advice.
***
Wyatt and Kelly had stopped at a taco stand somewhere downtown to get lunch, and were now sitting in his car, parked in a lot near a large department store, munching away. Kelly looked out the window as she chewed, at a group of teenagers walking along together. Wyatt picked up his cup and took a long sip, as Kelly sighed.
"I'm not saying I'm happy you guys almost got me killed," Kelly said, "but I do admit it's nice to be included in something, even if it something of such illegal measure. When I was a kid, I never had any friends, well, besides Rachel, and even then she eventually stopped talking to me. I understand her reasoning now, but...at the time it really hurt. I also never had a boyfriend or anything. I spent most of my youth watching other kids have fun and be social, because it wasn't something I could obtain for myself."
She turned her head back, took another bite and chewed, then looked towards Wyatt, who was listening intently as he ate.
"Anyway," Kelly said, "I'm just saying it's nice to be included in something, and be considered a person worth caring about. My parents were my only companionship for most of my life and god now saying that out loud makes me realize just how fucking depressing that is to admit and acknowledge."
Wyatt threw his head back and laughed as Kelly opened a small packet of hot sauce and put it on her taco remains.
"I was pretty popular in school all throughout," Wyatt said, "but at the same time, I kind of resented it. It was like they expected me to act like an asshole just because of that, and I'm not an asshole. I go out of my way to try and be nice to people, because that's how my mother raised me. That's why I liked to hang out with the quote unquote 'unpopular kids', because they had experience and wisdom and perspective that I wasn't capable of attaining, because we lived such vastly different lives just because of our social circles, or in their cases more often than not, lack thereof. I think it makes you cooler having been a loner, frankly. Like you said, your differences are your strong suit."
Kelly blushed a little, and nodded as she continued eating. She appreciated Wyatt's friendship so much, even if she couldn't openly say it. The fact that he was helping her run errands, even if only partially to avoid being home, was also very comforting to her. She finished her taco and exhaled, putting her hands on her knees.
"Hearing your voice before the crash," Kelly said, speaking slowly and quietly, as if speaking any louder would somehow shatter glass, "...it helped. It didn't keep me calm, but...it was nice to know, in what I assumed at the time were my last minutes alive, that there was someone on the planet besides my folks and Rachel who cared that much about me."
She looked up and they locked eyes. She smiled bashfully.
"So thanks for that, I guess," she said.
"Hey, whatever I can do to ensure your impending doom is as comfortable as possible, I'll do," Wyatt said, the both of them laughing.
***
Kelly and Rachel were out with Kelly's parents at minigol one weekend in Junior year. This had become a routine for them, every Friday night to go minigolfing with Kelly's parents. Rachel liked it because her own parents were so overbearing and cruel, and Kelly liked it because, well, she had her best friend along with her, and that made her feel almost normal. As they walked from one hole to another, Kelly's parents a bit ahead of them, Kelly couldn't help but feel like this was what normal teenage life was supposed to feel like.
"It's weird how simply miniaturizing something gives it vastly more appeal," Rachel said.
"What do you mean?" Kelly asked, twirling her club.
"Well," Rachel continued, "ponies are cuter than horses, they always make the baby version of something popular eventually, and real golf is friggin boring. I don't know, it just seems like people always like the smaller version of things, and I don't blame 'em. I get it."
"It's true, real golf is friggin boring," Kelly said, agreeing, as they both laughed; she continued, "I lke regular horses though, I don't buy into the idea that just because something is smaller it's automatically cuter. I hate babies, for instance. They're ugly and gross."
"Never be a mom," Rachel said, putting her hand on Rachel's shoulder, the both of them laughing again. They finally reached the hole and, along with Kelly's parents, took their next shot. After the game, they all headed back inside the building that the minigolf company operated out of for some food and to play arcade games. After earing, while Kelly's parents sat at the table and chatted and Rachel went off to find some kind of lightgun game to enjoy, Kelly wandered aimlessly through the crowd of her peers, hoping to seek out something worth spending her quarters on. That's when she saw them, Amelia, sitting alone in the plastic seat of a boat racing game. Kelly walked up and sat down herself in the seat beside her.
"Hi," Kelly said.
"hey," Amelia whimpered meekly.
"...do you wanna play this with me?" Kelly asked, and Amelia looked at her. She'd clearly been crying again, but this time, Kelly noticed something. The locket she'd had before, the one that Wyatt had given her at some point in time, was missing. Kelly didn't need explanation. Visual insinuation was more than enough. Amelia wiped her eyes and nodded.
"Yeah, I would, yeah," Amelia said, and with that, Kelly pumped her quarters into the machine and the girls raced. It was never really a friendship, and she wouldn't even remember her name come years down the road, but at the time, Kelly saw a girl, much like herself, who needed someone, and she'd be damned if she was going to ignore that the way others had ignored her.
***
"Welp, hope it was as fun as you expected it to be," Wyatt said, pulling up to Kelly's parents house. She climbed out of the car and gathered her things from the trunk. Wyatt climbed out and joined her, taking her groceries while she took her laundry, and they walked up the lawn towards the front door. Kelly opened the door with a key and then they walked inside, setting stuff down in the living room. Kelly turned to face Wyatt, who was now standing in the open doorframe.
"Thanks for helping," Kelly said, "I really couldn't have done all this alone."
"Well, it's the least I could do, considering I'm partially responsible for your situation," Wyatt said, smirking, before turning and walking out the door. Kelly approached, ready to shut it, when he pushed it back open, surprising her; he opened his mouth and said, "...for what it's worth, I'm really sorry we weren't friends in high school."
This took Kelly by absolute surprise. The last thing she'd expected was this sort of admittance.
"You were probably really cool, I mean you are now too, but ya know. I was just so far up my own ass with drama, between my girlfriends and my father and the baseball team and everything, I just...I guess I didn't take the time to recognize the people who are actually interesting, instead of all those fake people I spent time with instead. I'm sorry high school was so shit for you, but for what it's worth, even with all my blessings, it wasn't great for me either. And I'm sorry we weren't friends."
Kelly smiled, wanting to cry, but instead just hugged him. He hugged her back, then left. As she shut the door and watched him at the window as his car pulled away, flowers on the dashboard for his wife, Kelly couldn't help but feel like, in a way, all the bullshit that highschool entailed simply led to the adulthood she now had, and she really wouldn't trade that for anything. Sure, it would've been nice to know Wyatt, actually know him, in high school, but the way she saw it, she got to know him at his best, now, as an adult, and that was well worth the trade off. She closed the blinds and got to putting away the groceries. Her parents would be home soon, and they didn't like a mess.
Wyatt nodded, listening but not listening. His mind was elsewhere, specifically with Scarlett. He rubbed his eyes as they came to a red light.
"...how are you?" Kelly asked, "I mean, like, how is everything? All things considered."
Wyatt glanced at her. How was everything? He smiled weakly and nodded.
"Yeah," he said, "I'm fine. Everything's fine."
Kelly had survived a plane crash. She didn't need to worry about anything else right now.
***
Kelly Schuester had been in band in Freshman year, playing the saxophone, and was surprisingly adept at it. And, for a lot of sporting events, the band was expected to be present, providing background music, including baseball. Kelly, decked out in her full band uniform, saxophone case slung across her chest and over her shoulder, was sitting uncomfortably on one of the bottom bleachers as the football team practiced nearby. She pulled open the plastic wrap covering her sandwich and bit into it as someone sat down on the bench beside her, glancing up to recognize a boy from the baseball team and a girl she knew from art class sitting together, he in his baseball uniform and her in her regular clothes, sharing a soda.
"Football is the one sport I don't respect," Amelia said as she took a long sip.
"And why is that?" Wyatt asked.
"Because football is all about brute force. Baseball requires math, logics. Tennis requires true agility, geometry. But football...it's just...people running into eachother. I know it's more complicated than that, but at a base level that's what it is."
"Well, I'm glad you like baseball at least," Wyatt said, "otherwise I'd feel pretty stupid wearing this."
Amelia and Wyatt laughed and Kelly felt embarrassed. She was somewhat jealous. She'd never had a boyfriend, or anything of the sort, and all the boys she did have crushes on, none of them ever liked her back, and the boys who did find an interest in her were...well....less than ideal in regards to their actions towards her. She continued eating, listening to them talk.
"What are you doing after school?" Amelia asked, "Cause I found a cemetary I want to take photos of."
"That sounds cool," Wyatt replied, "we could totally do that. So long as we won't piss off the dead."
"What are they gonna do, haunt us?" Amelia asked, the both of them laughing again.
Kelly did her best to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut, focusing instead on the sandwich in her hands, but it wasn't enough. She'd never have a relationship in the entirety of high school, and rarely outside of high school either, even after graduation. Truth be told, Kelly Schuester, despite her abilities and her genune kindness and her big heartedness, had never once been loved by someone the way she wanted, and she secretly craved it so bad. But, until then...Tuna Salad would have to do, she guessed.
***
"Why do you still have braces? You're in your thirties," Wyatt said.
"Because I have Temporomandibular joint dysfunction," Kelly said, as Wyatt raised his eyebrows and she smirked before adding, "jaw pain. I had my wisdom teeth taken out sometime last year, and since then I've had these to help reduce the jaw pain. It eases pressure and tension. I grit my teeth a lot, so."
Wyatt and Kelly were sitting in a laundromat, waiting for Kelly's drycleaning to be gotten.
"I don't think I ever had braces," Wyatt said, crossing his legs, "I think I had perfect teeth."
"Well, we can't all be handsome adonises," Kelly replied, making Wyatt laugh as she blushed and continued, "actually, I like them. They kind of set me apart. I got so used to being different when in school that now being different is just kind of my entire personality. Not in an obnoxious way, but more in a...like a...I'm interesting because of it kind of way, if that makes sense? If I wasn't different, I don't think I'd be nearly as interesting in general."
Wyatt nodded, listening. He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands in his lap, picking at his nails.
"Yeah, yeah I get that," Wyatt said, "like, people use your differences against you, so you empower yourself by being proud of them, right? That is kind of admirable, honestly."
Kelly nodded, but didn't respond. After a few more minutes her dry cleaning was finished, so they took it to the car, got back in and began to drive to the grocery store for her next errand. Wyatt always enjoyed grocery shopping, he found it oddly...relaxing. Course, he usually did it alone, but hey, there was fun to be had with other people sometimes. He remembered when he and Scarlett got their first apartment, before they had the house, and they used to go grocery shopping together all the time, even when they didn't need anything, just for something fun and cheap to do together. Walking down the aisles, pushing the cart as Kelly hobbled alongside him, Wyatt couldn't help but feel like that again now.
"Do you ever miss being in high school?" Wyatt asked, "people always say it's the best time of your life, but how sad is that? The peak of your entire existence is hormone riddled adolescence? Sounds like shit to me."
"For some people it probably was," Kelly said, "the people who were popular and knew how to have fun in that traditionally expected teenager way. For others, like myself, it was really hell. I didn't really enjoy anything about high school, especially once Rachel decided to stop being my friend."
"Yeah, that had to be rough, sorry about that," Wyatt said as they stopped so Kelly could compare a few different boxes of pasta.
"Eh," she said, shrugging, "it's in the past, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still sting a bit in the present, even if we're friends again now. Besides, I have more friends now than I did then, better friends, cooler friends."
Wyatt smiled a little. He couldn't help but feel infected by Kelly's enthusiasm, and then his thoughts turned back to Scarlett, and the fight they'd had that morning. Seemed like all they'd been doing lately was fighting, and he wanted to fix that. Maybe, before they finished their errands, they'd stop at the florist.
***
Kelly, seated alone at a table while her bandmate peers all laughed and talk together at another table, tried not to feel too guilty about being on her own. In some ways, she preferred it, but in others, she wished she could join in on their vapid empty conversations. She continued cleaning her saxophone and then packed it up in its bag and headed into the hallway from the cafeteria, walking a bit down the hall until she found the empty space tucked away underneath a stairwell and plopped herself down in the darkened corner. This was her favorite spot to be, because nobody even noticed she was gone, or was there.
As she pulled out a large book about horses from her backpack and opened it, she could hear the clomping of shoes going up and down the stairs overhead, and it was oddly rythmic and relaxing. She leaned back against the wall, knowing she still had a good chunk of time until lunch was over and her next class begun, and started to read. Suddenly, and without warning, someone else scuttered into the space beneath the stairs, surprising her. It was the girl Wyatt had been talking to on the bleachers, Amelia. Kelly lowered her book as Amelia hid and pulled the bookbag against her chest, her eyes red.
"...are you okay?" Kelly asked, and she shook her head; Kelly hesitated, bit her lip, then asked, "what's wrong?"
"People are liars," Amelia whispered, her nose stuffed from crying, "they use you and they lie and they tell you things you wanna hear but things they'll never stick to just so they can continue taking advantage of you."
"Is this about your boyfriend?" Kelly asked, and Amelia glanced towards her, lowering her eyebrows.
"What? No. This is about my father," she said, "no, Wyatt's great, he'd never hurt me. No, my father told me that I should give up on my art, and pick an actual career. This, coming from the man who's a dentist. Doesn't even own the dentistry company he works for, just works for them. Real good person to be taking advice from. My brother and I are both smart enough to get into prestigious technical colleges, and yet he and my mother both want me to give up on my art because they think it 'won't be substantial, financially'. As if something that fulfills you on a personal level has to pay the bills."
Kelly went quiet and just listened. Amelia pushed her hair back into a bushy ponytail and tied up, then wiped her face on her sweater sleeve.
"I think, if you like something enough, you should continue to do it," Kelly said, "regardless of what anyone else might say. Screw them. It's not their future. Just because they couldn't do anything with their lives doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't try to."
Amelia smiled a little, and looked back down at her shoes as Kelly shifted, somewhat uncomfortably, in her cramped space. After a few minutes, Amelia exhaled deeply, slowly and looked back up at Kelly.
"I guess you're in band?" she asked, noticing the uniform.
"Yeah, we have a competition today," Kelly said.
"That's cool. I can only play the piano and even then I don't really to," Amelia replied, checking her watch, "I guess I should go, but...it's nice to talk to someone who also understands the arts. Thanks for talking to me. You're not wrong, either. I'm gonna stick to my guns, not that there was any doubt but having backup sure helps my motivation."
Kelly smiled and waved as Amelia crawled back out from her space and exited, leaving Kelly all alone there once again. Never a friend. Just a bystander with advice.
***
Wyatt and Kelly had stopped at a taco stand somewhere downtown to get lunch, and were now sitting in his car, parked in a lot near a large department store, munching away. Kelly looked out the window as she chewed, at a group of teenagers walking along together. Wyatt picked up his cup and took a long sip, as Kelly sighed.
"I'm not saying I'm happy you guys almost got me killed," Kelly said, "but I do admit it's nice to be included in something, even if it something of such illegal measure. When I was a kid, I never had any friends, well, besides Rachel, and even then she eventually stopped talking to me. I understand her reasoning now, but...at the time it really hurt. I also never had a boyfriend or anything. I spent most of my youth watching other kids have fun and be social, because it wasn't something I could obtain for myself."
She turned her head back, took another bite and chewed, then looked towards Wyatt, who was listening intently as he ate.
"Anyway," Kelly said, "I'm just saying it's nice to be included in something, and be considered a person worth caring about. My parents were my only companionship for most of my life and god now saying that out loud makes me realize just how fucking depressing that is to admit and acknowledge."
Wyatt threw his head back and laughed as Kelly opened a small packet of hot sauce and put it on her taco remains.
"I was pretty popular in school all throughout," Wyatt said, "but at the same time, I kind of resented it. It was like they expected me to act like an asshole just because of that, and I'm not an asshole. I go out of my way to try and be nice to people, because that's how my mother raised me. That's why I liked to hang out with the quote unquote 'unpopular kids', because they had experience and wisdom and perspective that I wasn't capable of attaining, because we lived such vastly different lives just because of our social circles, or in their cases more often than not, lack thereof. I think it makes you cooler having been a loner, frankly. Like you said, your differences are your strong suit."
Kelly blushed a little, and nodded as she continued eating. She appreciated Wyatt's friendship so much, even if she couldn't openly say it. The fact that he was helping her run errands, even if only partially to avoid being home, was also very comforting to her. She finished her taco and exhaled, putting her hands on her knees.
"Hearing your voice before the crash," Kelly said, speaking slowly and quietly, as if speaking any louder would somehow shatter glass, "...it helped. It didn't keep me calm, but...it was nice to know, in what I assumed at the time were my last minutes alive, that there was someone on the planet besides my folks and Rachel who cared that much about me."
She looked up and they locked eyes. She smiled bashfully.
"So thanks for that, I guess," she said.
"Hey, whatever I can do to ensure your impending doom is as comfortable as possible, I'll do," Wyatt said, the both of them laughing.
***
Kelly and Rachel were out with Kelly's parents at minigol one weekend in Junior year. This had become a routine for them, every Friday night to go minigolfing with Kelly's parents. Rachel liked it because her own parents were so overbearing and cruel, and Kelly liked it because, well, she had her best friend along with her, and that made her feel almost normal. As they walked from one hole to another, Kelly's parents a bit ahead of them, Kelly couldn't help but feel like this was what normal teenage life was supposed to feel like.
"It's weird how simply miniaturizing something gives it vastly more appeal," Rachel said.
"What do you mean?" Kelly asked, twirling her club.
"Well," Rachel continued, "ponies are cuter than horses, they always make the baby version of something popular eventually, and real golf is friggin boring. I don't know, it just seems like people always like the smaller version of things, and I don't blame 'em. I get it."
"It's true, real golf is friggin boring," Kelly said, agreeing, as they both laughed; she continued, "I lke regular horses though, I don't buy into the idea that just because something is smaller it's automatically cuter. I hate babies, for instance. They're ugly and gross."
"Never be a mom," Rachel said, putting her hand on Rachel's shoulder, the both of them laughing again. They finally reached the hole and, along with Kelly's parents, took their next shot. After the game, they all headed back inside the building that the minigolf company operated out of for some food and to play arcade games. After earing, while Kelly's parents sat at the table and chatted and Rachel went off to find some kind of lightgun game to enjoy, Kelly wandered aimlessly through the crowd of her peers, hoping to seek out something worth spending her quarters on. That's when she saw them, Amelia, sitting alone in the plastic seat of a boat racing game. Kelly walked up and sat down herself in the seat beside her.
"Hi," Kelly said.
"hey," Amelia whimpered meekly.
"...do you wanna play this with me?" Kelly asked, and Amelia looked at her. She'd clearly been crying again, but this time, Kelly noticed something. The locket she'd had before, the one that Wyatt had given her at some point in time, was missing. Kelly didn't need explanation. Visual insinuation was more than enough. Amelia wiped her eyes and nodded.
"Yeah, I would, yeah," Amelia said, and with that, Kelly pumped her quarters into the machine and the girls raced. It was never really a friendship, and she wouldn't even remember her name come years down the road, but at the time, Kelly saw a girl, much like herself, who needed someone, and she'd be damned if she was going to ignore that the way others had ignored her.
***
"Welp, hope it was as fun as you expected it to be," Wyatt said, pulling up to Kelly's parents house. She climbed out of the car and gathered her things from the trunk. Wyatt climbed out and joined her, taking her groceries while she took her laundry, and they walked up the lawn towards the front door. Kelly opened the door with a key and then they walked inside, setting stuff down in the living room. Kelly turned to face Wyatt, who was now standing in the open doorframe.
"Thanks for helping," Kelly said, "I really couldn't have done all this alone."
"Well, it's the least I could do, considering I'm partially responsible for your situation," Wyatt said, smirking, before turning and walking out the door. Kelly approached, ready to shut it, when he pushed it back open, surprising her; he opened his mouth and said, "...for what it's worth, I'm really sorry we weren't friends in high school."
This took Kelly by absolute surprise. The last thing she'd expected was this sort of admittance.
"You were probably really cool, I mean you are now too, but ya know. I was just so far up my own ass with drama, between my girlfriends and my father and the baseball team and everything, I just...I guess I didn't take the time to recognize the people who are actually interesting, instead of all those fake people I spent time with instead. I'm sorry high school was so shit for you, but for what it's worth, even with all my blessings, it wasn't great for me either. And I'm sorry we weren't friends."
Kelly smiled, wanting to cry, but instead just hugged him. He hugged her back, then left. As she shut the door and watched him at the window as his car pulled away, flowers on the dashboard for his wife, Kelly couldn't help but feel like, in a way, all the bullshit that highschool entailed simply led to the adulthood she now had, and she really wouldn't trade that for anything. Sure, it would've been nice to know Wyatt, actually know him, in high school, but the way she saw it, she got to know him at his best, now, as an adult, and that was well worth the trade off. She closed the blinds and got to putting away the groceries. Her parents would be home soon, and they didn't like a mess.