In the end they were late.

Laurel looked unapologetic, Jordan looked blissful, and Christian tried not look at either of them. Eddie met them with arms crossed at the door to the studio, looking like he had stepped out of the set of Flash dance. Dressed in long black tights, a shirt covered in rainbow coloured stripes and neon yellow leg warmers, he tapped his foot at them impatiently. Once he had hurried them in, and they sat along the wall of the wide, well lit room on some fold out chairs.

“They’re with me.” Eddie said simply to the instructor when she gave them sceptical looks, which seemed to be all the answer she needed and left them alone.

Brendan stood next to Eddie doing stretches, and looking mulish, his cheeks already blotchy red. Laurel was grinning so widely Christian thought her face might crack, and she pointed her phone camera at Brendan “Say, ‘cheese’.”

“Fuck off, Laurel.” Brendan replied gruffly.

“Oooh, someone’s touchy today.” She said in a sing song voice.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“We’re here to support you.” she said, voice dripping with fake sincerity.

“You being here is making this so much worse.” He said to them, glancing at Christian.

“Just try and have fun.” Christian encouraged. Brendan rolled his eyes and cricked his neck. At this, Eddie reprimanded him, saying this wasn’t a wrestling match, but a dance class and then tried to make him do stretches alongside him.

“Oh god.” Brendan mumbled tightly, ears bright.

The class began with a warm up, the music from the radio playing loud. The class only had about ten people in it, so Brendan couldn’t hide, so he ended up standing there like a statue until Eddie bumped him with his hip.

“If you don’t at least try, our deal is off.”

Brendan clenched his fists, then started trying to imitate Eddie movements, but he looked like a wooden puppet with invisible strings. It was hysterical. Laurel laughed so hard she almost fell off her chair, until the instructor glared at them and they were forced to stifle their sniggers behind closed hands.

Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat” began and they started a dance routine. The movements weren’t too complicated, but Brendan was so obviously lost, watching he was both painful and hysterical, and eventually Laurel had to step outside before the instructor kicked her out. He might not have been as bad if he hadn’t been standing next to Eddie, who was, of course, perfect. He glided and shimmied across the floor, never missing a beat or cue, his arms and legs bending, stomping and pirouetting in perfect rhythm.

Eventfully Eddie gave in, taking Brendan by the shoulders and pushing him towards the wall where they sat, saying; “Good lord, this is too painful. You tried, now just sit.” And then he was back on the dance floor. Now that they weren’t distracted by Brendan’s awkward wooden dancing, they could appreciate the class.

Brendan however, sat beside Christian with his head between his legs, hands in his hair. Whether he was catching his breath or hiding his face was undecided.

“Hey,” Christian tried. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was. It really was.” Laurel chimed in, replaying the video on her phone and snickering.

“This is my nightmare.” Brendan said, voice muffled.

Christian patted his back, and Brendan flinched in surprise. “You’ll be ok. And anyway, don’t you like trying new things?”

“I could have gone my whole life not trying this new thing.” Brendan lamented.

Christian chuckled and turned to watch Eddie dance a routine to “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson, which was as entertaining as the last one had been. Eventually Brendan sat up to watch too, even though his ears were still red and he wouldn’t uncross his arms.

At the end, Eddie was sweaty but beaming at them.

“Well?” he asked them, hands on his hips a panting with exertion, while the rest of the class gathered their things to leave.

“You were amazing. “ Christian said with absolute sincerity.

Eddie put a hand over his heart and closed his eyes. “Chrissy, you’re lovely.”

“I agree. How long have you been dancing?” Jordan said.

“About four years. Not including the ballet.” He answered graciously

“It shows.”

Eddie bowed to them, then looked expectantly at Laurel who rolled her eyes but was hiding a smile. “Oh come on, you’re know you’re good. You don’t need me to pump your ego.”

“But hearing it from you would be such an unexpected treat.” Eddie answered.

Everyone was watching Laurel, waiting for her to say a kind word.

“Yes, you were very good, Eddie.” She eventually said, the way a teacher might praise a child.

“It’s not much, but it’ll do.” Eddie said with good grace and straightened. “Well, my dears, I have to go clean my sweaty self. But I’ll be seeing you later, Brenny Bear?”

Brendan still looked sour and only grunted in response.

“Oh, get over it. You did it, it’s done. And now you can tell people you danced with Eddie.”

Brendan didn’t look amused.

“It was brave.” Christian told him, and when Brendan looked at him his ears went red again, recalling his humiliation.

“Whatever. I’m coming to get you at two.” He said to Eddie, standing.

“I’ll be ready, sweetie.” Eddie replied. He walked away from them, to whisper something in the instructor’s ear which made her smile, and left. 

-8-

The three of them went to kill time for two hours since they only had to be at the college stadium from two-ish, because even though the games were later, set up started then. Jordan wanted to get a new set of headphones, and Laurel needed another textbook so she went to the bookstore, and usually Christian was happy to tag along, because books always held an allure. But now, books felt a little…unsafe. Which was horrible.

He got another message from Jazz, but didn’t even read it before deleting it and putting the phone away again. He just didn’t want to think about it, about Jazz, about the library, about how a kiss could feel like an assault… he just had to tell Jazz face to face that he wanted no further contact and close this entire misadventure.

When they arrived at the stadium and made their way onto the empty seats, they saw some small effort had been put into giving the track and equipment an Olympic theme. Someone had painted a banner with the Olympic emblem on it, and there were lights strung up along the hurdles track, and all the wheelie chairs had been decorated with pom-poms that rustled when they moved. They waved to Brendan and Eddie, who were out on the grass, unwinding a long rope next to a sandpit. Brendan seemed to have regained his good humour, with no sign of the embarrassed boy they had witnessed earlier that day.

“Hey guys!” he greeted them, looking cheerful. “If you want to get the best view, you should sit about three rows up. We’re gonna show these guys who's boss!”

“I hope you’re better on your feet here than you were this morning.” Laurel said.

Christian looked at her in silent reprimand and she looked back at him as if to say who, me?

But Brendan was so pumped he only climbed the barrier railing and leaned over it towards her. “I will be, Lolo.” And jumped off and away again before she could react.

“Who’s Lolo?” Jordan asked while Laurel sat looking ready to kill. Christian covered his mouth so she wouldn’t see his grin.

It seemed the inter-campus games were a collection of childhood favourites and generic competitive school sports. Christian saw he would have been as useless as a chocolate hammer if Brendan had been short-sighted enough to ask him. But Eddie dominated, even though he wasn’t even wearing sport gear. Instead he wore his rainbow shirt and track pants without shoes. He and Brendan had a natural rhythm together and they outstripped everyone in the three legged race, since they were the same height. Christian enjoyed watching him and Brendan strain their muscles when the home team pulled the opposing side into the mud during tug-of-war.

The only problem was that Eddie didn’t have good manners. And when it came to dealing with the opposing team, and they did not take well to his personal brand of flirtatious insult. This, coupled with his more than decent soccer talent, made him less than popular. He received each glare and returned it with a wink or a blown kiss, and Christian could see from the stands that he was getting certain members of the other team aggravated.

His own team however, thought he was as hysterical as he was useful, so they didn’t care. Brendan though, looked concerned as he pushed Eddie a safe distance away from another player who was shooting him menacing looks. Laurel watched his antics with a sigh.

“So, Jordan wants to take us out to a movie afterwards.” She said to Christian when Jordan went to find a bathroom.

“That’s nice of him.” Christian commented.

“You gonna join us?”

The knowledge that he still had to meet Jazz buzzed in the back of his mind. It had been giving him a headache and he wondered briefly once again if he should tell her. But eventually he just shook his head. “I think Jordan probably wants you to himself.”

“You could though.”

“I know.”

“He so happy about it, like I said yes to marriage instead a movie.” Laurel told him with a twist of her lips.

“Hmm.” Christian said, thinking that maybe it was because he had shared some of Laurel’s inner working with him that morning.

“I know you haven’t asked, but I really should tell you.” Laurel said into the silence between them.

“Tell me what?”

“About my parents.”

Christian felt a twist in his belly. “Laurel, it's ok. You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to, because you’re my best friend on this planet.”

Christian settled back in his seat, not replying but indicating he was listening.

“When we moved to Binkytown,” she said, letting disdain taint the way she said the name. “My parents had just gotten divorced. It was a complete shock to everyone, and it happened so quickly… everything happened quickly. My dad just came home one day and told us he wanted out. The next day he packed his stuff and was gone.”

Laurel heaved a sigh and pushed her hands into her jacket pockets. “It was the hardest on my mom; she basically fell apart. She moved us so she could escape, I think. We had spent seventeen years in our house before that. But she was still a mess. And I didn’t know how to look after her. So,” A non-committal shrug. “I ignored her. She’s fine now; she has a boyfriend and everything, but back then, I just couldn’t look after her and me. And Brendan,” here she drew in a steeling breath.

“I was so angry with him. He just stayed happy, like nothing was wrong. He still acted like everything was ok, like our dad hadn’t just fucked off and left us without any kind of reason. And when we moved, he just slid into this whole new life like a greased pig. It drove me nuts. Our mom was weeping at home, and there he was being Captain Happy-go-lucky. I couldn’t stand him.”

“When I saw you in the library that day, you looked just as lost as me. So I sat next to you. Thanks for letting me.”

Christian smiled at her, feeling his heart swell and break simultaneously.

“Anytime. We make a good team.”

“The two most isolated people on the planet make a good team.”

Christian chuckled.

“And thanks. For everything else.” She went on, looking into the distance at the men pounding their feet over the grass. “For bringing I and Brendan back together. For not letting me get away with being a bitch all the time. As much as it pains me to admit it, I think I was feeling kind of…pointless.”

“What-?

She waved an impatient hand. “That’s not the right word. But what I mean is that you’ve been changing so much, you’re becoming someone new and I guess I felt like you wouldn’t need me anymore.”

Christian turned his entire body towards her now. “Laurel. I always need you.”

“Yeah yeah, I get that now, I was just feeling insecure alright?” she huffed. “Anyway, I got over it and got my head on straight. We’re not isolationists anymore are we? Life carries on, growth is normal.”

Christian wanted to hug her but held back, since laurel was feeling prickly and it wouldn’t go over well. But she knew and they shared a smile.

“Anyway, thanks. For calling me on my shit.”

Christian wished he could tell her what the words meant to him, what the trust meant, but he didn’t really know how. He settled for silence, which had always been their best mode of communication anyway. They didn’t really have to explain things to each other.

When Jordan returned, a whistle blew and allowing Eddie and Brendan to come to their railing to take a break before the next event. Brendan mentioned to Eddie that he should tone it down.

“Tone what down? You can’t water down ‘fabulous’.” Eddie replied taking a deep swig from his bottle. Both he and Brendan were sweaty, with their neck hair plastered to their skin in damp curls.

“I’m just saying Eddie.” Brendan replied mildly.

“Yes, and duly noted.”