Thompson POV

It's pretty strange, looking back, to think that it started out as just a normal day, well, night, I guess. Lee, Nate, Tambri, and I were sitting in my living room, eating my mom's homemade cookies.

"These are so good, Thompson!" Lee said, taking a bite of his fifth cookie. He is known throughout our group as the one who eats the most food, and yet, he is also the skinniest out of all of us, except maybe Wendy.

"Thanks, Lee. I'm glad you like them." I replied.

"Have any of you guys seen Robbie?" Nate asked, looking at his watch. "He was supposed to be here an hour ago."

"I don't know." Tambri replied.

"Maybe he's with Wendy." Lee suggested. "They are dating now." When he said that, my face turned red, and I was suddenly very grateful that the lighting in the living room wasn't all that good. Tambri shot me a sympathetic glance. She was the only one in our group that knew about my crush on Wendy. Honestly, she was the only one that I felt comfortable telling about it. She may seem arrogant at first, the way her eyes are always glued to her phone, but once you get to know her, she really is a nice person. She had actually figured out that I liked Wendy long before I told her, but she never said a word. I guess I should have known that it would be pretty obvious to Tambri: the self-proclaimed "relationship genius", but I was kind of surprised when she shouted "I knew it" the day that I told her about it. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about Wendy figuring it out. I'd seen tons of guys hitting on her, and she'd never had a clue. Heck, even that kid, Dipper, from the convenience store clearly had a thing for her, and she was completely blind to it. I didn't think that Robbie had caught on to my crush either, which was a relief because I would hate to get on his bad side, and liking your buddy's girlfriend is against what he, Lee, and Nate call "the bro code."

"Well, Robbie did blow Wendy off a couple days ago." Nate said. "Maybe he's trying to make it up to her."

"I heard he's planning on taking her to lookout point." Lee said.

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Nate replied.

"O! M! G!" Tambri exclaimed, looking up from her phone.

"What?" I asked.

"Apparently he didn't make it up to her enough! She just dumped him!"

"What? Lee asked. "Why?"

"I don't know. Something about a song."

"Well, is she okay?" I asked.

"I don't know. She seems pretty upset. It's hard to tell over a text message."

"Do you think I should go check on her?" I asked. You would think that I would have been happy to hear that they had broken up, but at that moment, I was more worried about Wendy than anything.

"That probably would be a good idea." Tambri replied.

"Wait, before you go…." Lee said.

"What?" I asked.

"Did your mom make any more cookies? I'm all out."

When I got to Wendy's house a few minutes later, her dad was in the yard, chopping down an old maple tree. (Why he was doing this at night, I still haven't figured out.) Frankly, he kind of freaked me out, but this wasn't about me, it was about Wendy.

"E-excuse me, Mr. Corduroy?" I asked.

"What do you want?"

"I-I just wanted to talk to Wendy, sir. Y-you know, to s-see if she's okay."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." He said, his typical shout turning to a solemn voice that was quieter than I had ever heard him. Of course, with Manly Dan, that's still louder than I usually am. "She locked herself in her room, and won't let anyone in."

"Well, could I at least try?"

"I guess so. Just don't expect much to come of it."

"Thank you sir." I said, walking in the front door. I ran up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Who's there now?" Wendy asked angrily, as if many people had also attempted to do the same as I was. I could tell from the sound of her voice that she was crying.

"It's Thompson." I said.

"What? Did Robbie send you?"

"No, I just wanted to make sure you're alright."

"Okay. I'm alright. Now go!"

"Wendy, I know you, and when you are this cranky, it means that you are certainly not alright!"

"And what do you plan to do about it?"

"Well, there isn't really much that I can do unless you let me in." There was a pause, and I could tell that she was thinking about it.

"Fine." She said with a sigh. I opened the door to find her lying on her bed, facing away from me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's stupid." She replied, sitting up to face me. "Robbie claimed to have written a song for me, but it turned out that it was just some song that he found, and to make it worse, it had these weird mind-controlling messages in it."

"My gosh." I said. "Did he know about the messages?"

"Well, he said that he didn't, but his body language said otherwise."

"Well, I can see why you would be upset. If someone was to try to brainwash me-"

"But that's the thing." She interrupted. "The messages really weren't what bothered me the most."

"Then what was?"

"Well, it's just that…"

"Just that what?"

"It's just bothers me that he didn't care enough, you know? When he said that he had written a song for me, well, I thought that it was one of the sweetest things that anyone had ever done for me. But I guess I'm just not important enough to put that effort forward."

"Not important enough?" I asked. "Wendy, you're the most amazing person I've ever met! You're kind, funny, smart, tough, not to mention the most beautiful girl I know. And if Robbie doesn't see that, it's his loss!"

"You really mean that, Thompson?"

"With all my heart." I said, giving her a hug.

"I guess I do seem to have a knack for picking pretty horrible guys. Why can't I find someone more like you?"

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know. Sweet, supportive, tries to make everyone happy. But all I seem to see when I look at all these guys is an electric guitar."

"And skinny jeans." I added with a chuckle.

"Actually, I never really got the point of the skinny jeans." She said.

"Yeah, neither did I." I replied, and we all started laughing.

"Thanks for coming, Thompson. You really know how to make a girl feel better."

"No problem. You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"You say that you want to find a guy more like me, when I've been looking to find a girl like you."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Well…"

"Well, what?"

"Does that mean that we…"

"I don't know. Does it?" I asked

"Maybe. I mean, I wouldn't want to rush into anything, but…"

"But what?"

"Well, this is going to sound strange, but it wouldn't really feel like rushing."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying? 'Cause I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position or anything. I know that you guys broke up literally less than an hour ago."

"And I did yell at Dipper for wanting to go bowling, of all things."

"Bowling?"

"Yeah. He invited me to go with him and Stan, and I kind of blew up at him." She said regretfully. "It was nothing, but I was just so upset! Thinking back at it now, I feel really bad. Do you think he'll forgive me?"

"Of course he will." I said, though she still seemed doubtful. "How about this? Tomorrow, after work, we all go bowling together."

"That sounds good." She replied, and then paused for a moment before grabbing my hand and adding: "And maybe the two of us can catch a movie afterwards?" The instant she asked, my heart skipped a beat. The girl that I had liked for years, the girl who had always seen me as just a friend, the girl who I would do anything for; was sitting across from me, asking to see a movie together. I wanted to jump for joy and scream yes at the top of my lungs, but I knew that it would be best to stay calm; I could celebrate later. So, I just looked into her beautiful green eyes and said casually:

"There is nothing that I would rather do."