By the time Stingy, Ziggy, and Pixel had finished the grocery shopping and were ready to come down to the beach, Stephanie and Trixie were ready to leave. Weary from the heat and the waves, the girls packed up their things and said goodbye to James, who decided to stay on the sand and wait for Stingy. They were just climbing to street level when their three guy friends were coming from the opposite direction. They all exchanged greetings, the girls warned the boys about the coldness of the water, and then they were each off to their own destinations.
"I'm headed for the shower, Pinky," Trixie told her once they got back to the house. "Then I'm gonna prep some of the food for dinner. Wanna help?"
"Definitely," Stephanie replied as she walked towards the stairs. "Let me know when you're ready and I'll come up to the kitchen."
Stephanie showered and changed into shorts and a tee, then opened her laptop to check her email and facebook. She was scrolling through the various posts when an instant message window popped up:
SteveNGreen: hey steph!
Stephanie smiled in delighted surprise. It was her friend Steve, from school. Quickly she typed a response.
Stephanie J. Meanswell: Well, hi! How's the break going for u so far?
SteveNGreen: not 2 bad, it's nice spending time with Blue. i somehow managed 2 already get a sunburn tho. blah.
Stephanie J Meanswell: That sucks, dude. Sorry. Lotion up with aloe vera and drink plenty of water!
SteveNGreen: will do, Doc! i'm hoping it goes away soon. miranda's supposed to be visiting sometime this month. she's spending most of the summer with her family up north & then she's coming through my neck of the woods for about a week & she texted me the other day that she's got something to talk to me about.
Stephanie J Meanswell: Miranda, huh? How are u feeling about that?
SteveNGreen: honestly, steph, i thought i'd b more nervous. but i'm not. she and joe broke up a while ago. i'm pretty sure m's coming home to tell me about her great new bf at school or something. i'm not anxious about it, just sad, bc i knew it was coming. u know what i mean?
Stephanie J Meanswell: Yep, I gotcha. u remember that guy i told u about? The 1 from my hometown? It was a bust.
SteveNGreen: ohhh. he's just not that into u?
Stephanie J Meanswell: I thought he was. And maybe he is. But he's the job, and he's always going to be the job. I can't compete with that.
SteveNGreen: tough luck, my friend. then again, it's not like it would go real far anyway, u know? u gotta come back 2 school.
Stephanie J Meanswell Yea, I've thought about that. It would still b nice to have a summer romance tho.
SteveNGreen: i'll take ur word 4 it. hey…how about we make a pact?
Stephanie J Meanswell: What kind of pact? I'm not into any crazy ish.
SteveNGreen: no, no, nothing like that. what i'm thinking is, if u and i are both still single by the time we're 30, we just say eff it and get hitched, no questions or hesitations. what do ya think?
Stephanie J Meanswell: LOL! Sure, why not? Who knows, maybe it would work.
SteveNGreen: that's the spirit! seriously though, steph. i really do hope it works out with this guy. i know you've wanted him for a long time.
Stephanie read Steve's latest message and felt like a weight had been thrown onto her heart. It was true. Sportacus had been her heart's desire for as long as she could remember. She knew she would have to let go—she knew that people lived with heartbreak every single day, all around the world. She knew she could do it too—even if it felt like she couldn't.
"Hey Pinky! Can you come on up?" Trixie called down to her.
"Yep, coming!" Stephanie shouted back. She turned her attention back to her computer.
Stephanie J Meanswell: Hey kid. I g2g. Hit me back later and let me know how it went, k?
SteveNGreen: 10-4. take care of u.
Stephanie joined Trixie in the kitchen, and together they worked on prepping all the food for dinner. Trixie decided that she and Pixel would cook dinner for everyone the first night: grilled chicken, tomato-mozzarella salad, and corn relish. Trixie was going to do most of the heavy lifting in the kitchen and left Pixel with the relatively simple task of grilling the chicken on the barbeque. He was getting better, but still had some rough edges. "A couple of weeks ago—good lord—he tried to cook dinner on his own. He didn't realize that you were supposed to cook the potatoes before you mashed them, and that you shape the ground beef into a loaf before it goes in the oven, not after," Trixie laughed as she and Stephanie sliced the ingredients for the salad.
"Aww," Stephanie said. "Well, at least he tried."
Just then, the front door opened, and Ziggy shouted, "We're back!"
"Welcome back!" Stephanie replied.
"Hey babe," Pixel said to Trixie as he kissed her. "What can I do?"
"Well, first, wash the sand off," she replied, crinkling her nose, "and then fire up the grill. Me and Pinky are prepping everything, and I'll let you know when the chicken goes on."
"Sounds like a plan. You should have seen Stingy riding the waves on his board! He was awesome!"
"Eh, natural talent, natural talent. Not my fault!" Stingy called from the hallway.
"Is being a boastful blowhard a natural talent too?" Trixie called out.
"Hey now, lay off my man," James chided her as he ducked his head into the kitchen.
"Just funnin', J. You might as well learn right now that I only really rip into the ones I truly love."
"Ain't that the truth," Stephanie and Ziggy said in unison, then looked at each other with a smile and then both cried out, "Jinx!"
"All right, everyone out of the kitchen except Pinky! I've got culinary magic to make, damn it!" Trixie called out harshly.
So the boys cleaned up and changed from the beach, Stephanie and Trixie finished prepping all the food, and by the time the sun was a reddish gold strip in the sky, dinner was ready. They all ate out on the deck right outside of the kitchen and watched the waves crashing against the shore in the distance. Sitting on an Adirondack chair with her knees tucked under her, Stephanie sipped the last of her lemonade and pulled her jacket a little closer to her as she felt the coolness of the evening settling in.
"Are you done?" Ziggy asked.
Stephanie turned to him. "Sorry, what?"
"Your plate." He pointed to the uneaten food. "Are you done?"
"Oh, yeah. Go ahead if you want."
Ziggy frowned, but never wanting to see food go to waste, he picked up the plate and started to eat.
"Didn't you like it?" Trixie asked her.
"Oh sure, it was delicious. I just think I took too much."
"It really was delicious, Trix. Thank you. And Pixel too," Stingy told them.
"My pleasure! So how did you and James meet?" Trixie asked. She and Pixel were sitting across from Stingy and his boyfriend at the glass patio table.
"Mmm," Stingy grunted as he finished his bite of salad. "School, as you know. We were paired together in a department mentor program since I'm interior design and James is architecture—and I was a freshman and he was a junior. We discovered we had very similar ideas about aesthetics, so we just started hanging out more and more."
"Steve's the cutest boy in the program," James said with a smile. "There was no way I was going to let him get away."
"It'll be tough since James graduated this year," Stingy added.
"Well, you know what they say, Stinge: if you really want something, you have to work at it," Trixie said, turning around to look pointedly at Stephanie. The pink-haired girl smiled weakly and looked away.
"Well, uh, that's true," Stingy replied, noticing the discomfort on Stephanie's face. "But James and I have been talking about some plans after I graduate."
"Yep," James agreed, taking his boyfriend's hand. "We've been thinking about opening a design firm in a few years—not too far from here, in fact, in Ocean Pines."
"We want to specialize in designing beach houses," Stingy told them. "It's a big business here, obviously. We went to create unique styles to the houses, both inside and out. I've still got that cash from winning that design contest. It'll make good capital."
"And, what's also great is I've got a couple of friends who've already graduated that are interested in joining us in the venture. One of them is a landscape architect, so it's always good to have that exterior perspective," James added. Stingy's face seemed to fall when his boyfriend mentioned these other friends.
"That's not a definite yet, Jamie," Stingy said quietly.
"Well, no, of course not. None of it is. But it's something we should keep in mind, right?"
"Sure," Stingy muttered, taking a glum sip from his glass.
Sensing the tension, Stephanie spoke up and changed the subject. "So you haven't been to Lazytown yet, have you, James?"
"Oh, no, not yet. I've just heard all of the incredible stories about life there from Steve. Do you all really have a resident superhero?"
"Yep! Well, he'd say he's just above average, but he's always been super to us," Ziggy said with pride in his voice, as if he were talking about a member of his own family.
"So…what are his superpowers?"
"Let's see," Pixel said, looking up at the sky. "He's super fast, incredibly strong, and he can do all these amazing gymnastics. He has this crystal that lets him know when someone needs him. We've all been saved by him at least—what? Maybe ten times each?" Everyone murmured their agreement.
"But what really makes him incredible, is how selfless he is," Stephanie added, a somewhat faraway look in her eyes. "What makes him the happiest is knowing that all the people around him are happy. And he works at that, every single day. He'd give his life for you without a second thought."
"He sounds wonderful," James told Stephanie with a smile.
"Well, Pinky's a little biased," Trixie said with a laugh. "She's always been quite taken with Sportacus."
"Trix," Pixel said with a pointed look at his girlfriend.
"What? It's true. Ever since we were kids, she was always finding an excuse to dance around him, and with him."
"Oh, that was a long time ago," Stephanie said as casually as she could.
"Yeah, but she still has a thing for him. And he has a thing for her too, but he just needs a little nudging. They both do, I think."
"Trixie, come on," Pixel warned.
"I'm just saying. If they're so crazy about each other, they shouldn't let anything else get in the way, right? Not distance, or jobs, or even other people, don't you think, James?"
Before James could answer, Stephanie stood up and announced that she would start cleaning the kitchen. Insisting that she didn't need help when everyone offered to assist, she took all of the plates and left the patio.
Stephanie began to mechanically rinse the plates and put them in the dishwasher, just trying to clear her mind. She was annoyed with Trixie, but she was going to let it slide off her back. She had to realize that as long as she was with her Lazytown friends that Sportacus would be there in some shape or form—like a ghost haunting the room. She hadn't changed her mind about not coming back to Lazytown; it was what had made Trixie's needling comments tolerable. Let a couple of years and a few hundred miles pass, and her loud-mouthed friend would realize that talking about Sportacus merely amounted to sharing an old, fond memory.
She bent to put a fork in the utensil basket of the dishwasher, and when she straightened, her back brushed against a strong, muscled body. She gasped and turned around. It was James. "Oh! Excuse me, Stephanie. I was just bringing in the glasses." He leaned past her and placed them on the counter.
Stephanie smiled nervously, feeling her heart race. "Thanks," she told him. Oh God, he was standing so close…
He smiled. "We're going to head down the road to the ice cream parlor. We can wait for you, or we can bring something back…"
She swallowed. James had backed away slightly, but she could still smell the scent of his cologne. "I-I..um…I'd love a…orange sorbet, if they've got it."
"Oh, definitely! They've been here for years—there isn't a flavor they don't have. We could wait, you know. Or you can just leave the dishes for later. They're not going anywhere."
"That's okay. I'll get it finished." She turned back to the dishes.
"There's a theater in the basement. Maybe we can see a movie when we get back?"
"That's a great idea! Okay, well, see you later!"
"See ya!"
After James had left, and she heard everyone leave the house, Stephanie let out a deep breath. She felt terrible. Having her friend's boyfriend around her shouldn't make her feel the way it did. But she hadn't had a boyfriend in over two years. Usually it didn't bother her, but sometimes she longed for someone. To touch someone, and be touched. Being near Sportacus again after all these years hadn't helped. Even dancing with Robbie Rotten had gotten under her skin. Someday, it wouldn't be enough. Someday, she'd reach her breaking point.
A woman's only human. You should understand. She's not just a plaything. She's flesh and blood…
"Just like her man," Stephanie murmured.
She let the dishwasher run and washed the glasses by hand.
"It's just about a quarter mile up the road, guys. Let's go!" James told Stingy, Ziggy, Pixel, and Trixie. They were just past the driveway when Pixel wrapped an arm around Trixie and called out, "You guys go ahead. We'll catch up."
"Huh?" Trixie asked as Pixel led her to the bottom of the driveway, under a tree.
"I want to talk to you," he told her, looking around to see if anyone else was around.
"Oh geez. What's with the cover of darkness, dude?"
Pixel crossed his arms and glared at her. "I like to think of myself as pretty easygoing. I don't say much, I go along with most of the crazy things you say and do-"
"Excuse me?"
"—but not this time. This time I'm putting my foot down. Leave Stephanie alone."
Trixie was at a loss. "Leave her…leave….what the hell are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. She's trying to deal with whatever is going on with her and Sportacus, and she doesn't need you constantly bringing it up!"
"Oh for God's sake. I'm just trying to help her! It's obvious she's in love with him, and I know he's got feelings for her too! She just needs a little encouragement! I'm doing it because I'm her friend, don't you see that?"
Pixel looked down and kicked the pebbles at his feet. "I do believe that…mostly. But I think there's another reason why you keep pushing her: guilt."
"Guilt? What would I have to feel guilty about?" Trixie asked innocently, but she could feel ice cold needles of tension creeping up the back of her head.
"About what happened on Graduation Day," Pixel answered quietly.
"Wow," Trixie sneered, "You'll never let me live that down, will you? Even after all this time, I'm still apologizing. I admit it: I had a little too much to drink, and I acted dumb, okay? Nothing happened! Sportacus has forgotten about it; why can't you?"
"I had forgotten about it! But I can't just stand by and let you keep digging into my friend. So if that means injecting a little reality into your so-called 'pure intentions' then that's what I'm going to do!"
"Oh, it's going to be like that, huh? Fine. I'm not surprised you're rushing to be her knight in shining armor. You've always had a thing for Stephanie, ever since we were kids. You barely knew I was alive while she lived in Lazytown, but the moment she moved away, all of a sudden you were interested in me! How do you think that feels, knowing you're your boyfriend's consolation prize?"
Pixel stared at her in horror. "That-that's not true!"
"Isn't it?" Trixie said with a triumphant smirk. "You've built yourself quite the glass house, Russell. Don't start throwing stones now." She turned and started back onto the road to the ice cream parlor, ignoring Pixel's pleas to wait. With a deep sigh of regret, Pixel slowly followed behind her.
In the basement of the beach house was a theater room, complete with huge reclining leather seats, cinema-quality surround sound, and a panoramic screen. Stephanie sat in one of the seats and looked around in awe as she waited for her friends to join her.
"It's really something, huh?" Ziggy commented as he came in and took a seat next to her. He smiled and handed her a cup of rainbow-colored sorbet.
Stephanie took the cup with a smile. "Thanks, Ziggy. And yeah, this is something. I'm almost afraid to eat my sorbet in here. I don't want to ruin the seats."
"I know what you mean. I'm glad I ate my ice cream on the way here." He looked at the multi-colored dessert she was eating and smiled. "You know, that sorbet reminds me of the lollipop I first gave you when you moved to Lazytown. Remember that?"
"Oh yeah! It was so sweet."
"Well, sure. It was strawberry, apple, and vanilla! It was full of sugar."
"No, no. I meant that it was so sweet of you to give me your lollipop. You loved those things, so it was a really big deal that you'd give it to a complete stranger."
"Oh, please. I was always willing to share. Stingy was the crazy one who wanted to keep everything to himself. But I wanted to give you something because I liked you and I wanted you to stay. And we ended up having some really great times."
Stephanie leaned her head against the back of the chair and grinned. "We really did, didn't we? It was a really special time of my life. Lots of memories I'll always keep with me."
Ziggy gave her a puzzled smile. "Steph, you make it sound like you're not coming back to visit anymore. That's not what you're saying…is it?" When his friend didn't answer, just stared back at him sadly, Ziggy's smiled faded. "Stephanie…what are you telling me?"
"Ziggy, I…" Stephanie began to explain, but was cut off by the sounds of Trixie, Pixel, Stingy, and James entering the room.
"Well, I think we should see a comedy," Trixie announced, sitting next to Stephanie. "I could definitely use a laugh." Her eyes met Pixel's, who was settling into the seat in front of her, and she quickly looked away with a grimace.
"We should see the Batman movie," James suggested. "It should look great on the screen with the surround sound."
"How about the Lego movie?" Stingy said. "I heard it's supposed to be good."
"Sure! But I thought it hasn't come out on DVD yet?" Stephanie asked.
"It hasn't," Stingy said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Pixel's got it in his illegal download library."
"That's our Pixel," Ziggy pointed out. "A modern-day pirate."
Everyone chuckled at this except Trixie, who rolled her eyes and pretended like she wasn't listening. Stephanie noticed this and nudged her. What's going on? She mouthed to Trixie.
Trixie waved her off. Tell you later, she mouthed back.
Everyone agreed on The Lego Movie, and they settled in to watch it for the next two hours. When it was done, Ziggy tried to get Stephanie's attention so he could talk to her, but she was already saying her goodnights and claiming she was exhausted. As Stephanie was leaving the theater room, she saw Trixie quickly starting up the stairs by herself. She turned back to see Pixel standing around the bar with James and Stingy, looking a bit forlorn as he watched his girlfriend leave without so much as a look.
Shrugging to herself, Stephanie went back to her room, changed into her nightclothes and brushed her teeth, and settled down to check her voicemail. She discovered that her aunt had called and left her a message while she was watching the movie. Looking at the time, she debated on whether or not she should call at that time. Finally she decided she would – after all, she hadn't called yet to let them know she was okay.
She dialed, and after the second ring, her uncle answered. "Oh, Stephanie, dear! We're so happy to hear from you!"
Stephanie smiled at her uncle's enthusiasm. "Hi, Uncle. Yes, we got here just fine this afternoon. I'm sorry I didn't call until now."
"Oh that's quite all right. I know how it is! So tell me, how is it over there?"
Stephanie spent the next few minutes telling her uncle about the beautiful and luxurious beach house James' parents owned, and how nice the weather was and how lovely the beach was. She naturally didn't mention all of the tense moments she'd felt so far, between Trixie and Pixel, Stingy and James, and herself and her own thoughts.
"And how's everything back in Lazytown?" she asked Uncle Milford.
"Oh, just the same as usual! Your aunt and I weeded the garden and picked the first few blueberries from the bushes, and we plan to have a lovely meal at Pablo Fantastico's restaurant tomorrow night."
"Well, that sounds nice!"
"Yes." Milford paused for a little while, just long enough that Stephanie called, "Hello?" into the phone to see if he was still there.
"I'm here, dear. Someone came by looking for you after you left."
Stephanie frowned, confused. "Someone? Do you know who it was?"
Another pause. "It was…I'm not sure. They didn't leave their name."
"Oh. Oh well. I guess I'll let you go now, Uncle. Give Aunt Bessie a kiss for me. I'll see you in a few days!"
"Yes, see you then. Goodbye, dear!"
Stephanie hung up, feeling a little puzzled by her uncle's odd behavior. Still, she shrugged it off and got into bed. While she lay there, trying to fall asleep, she could just make out the sounds of drawers opening and closing, heavy and rushed footfalls, and then the sound of a door slamming. Less than a minute later, she heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs, opening the door to one of the rooms down the hall from Stephanie, and slamming it shut. Trixie, Stephanie thought, shutting her eyes in pain. She considered getting up to see if her friend was all right, but she figured that if Trixie wanted to talk, she would have come to Stephanie's room, but she didn't. So Stephanie let it go.
Eventually everything was silent again, but still she couldn't get to sleep. Finally she got up and went out onto the little porch right outside her room. She figured she'd sit outside and read a book until she started feeling sleepy. Stephanie came out to the porch, and to her surprise, she said James taking the cover off of the hot tub. He saw her and smiled. "Hey there. I didn't know you took that room!"
"Oh, yeah," she laughed casually, trying to ignore the fact that he was wearing nothing but a tight black speedo. "I liked that it was near the pool."
"Exactly, exactly." He bent to turn on the jets. "It's near the hot tub too. This is my favorite, especially since the temperature dropped after the sun went down." He smiled his dazzling smile at her.
Stephanie smiled back and sat on the porch's white wicker chair as easily as she could. He's gay, he's your friend's boyfriend, it's not a big deal, take it easy, she told herself.
"So…where's Stingy?" she asked. Oh please, let him come here soon.
"He's out for the night. Same goes for Pixel and Ziggy too. I guess Lazytowners aren't night owls, huh?"
"No, not really, not when it's so bright and cheery during the day." Stephanie desperately needed to find an excuse to go back inside without seeming rude.
"I can understand that. Well, I'm going in for a soak." James climbed into the hot tub and let the foamy water enfold him. "Hop in! It's relaxing."
"Oh! Um…" A thousand thoughts raced through Stephanie's mind as she desperately tried to figure out what to say. There was one voice in her head screaming for her to get away as fast as she could, that this was a bad situation to be in. A girl and a guy in a hot tub? Alone? At night? What would Stingy—or another of the others for that matter—think if they saw them together? Why was James even asking her? He was gay, after all. She wasn't his flavor.
And that was when the other voice in her mind spoke up, calmly and easily. Of course James would ask her—he wasn't into her! For him, it wasn't a big deal to sit in a hot tub with a girl—it was no different than if all six of them crowded into the tub together. And after all, he didn't know she would be walking out to the porch. It might seem a little strange if they carried on their conversation that way: him sitting in the hot tub calling over to her while she sat on the porch feeling chilly. He was probably just trying to be polite.
But what if he wasn't just "being polite?"
Stephanie didn't want to believe that. And she was going to make sure that James' intentions remained ambiguously noble.
She stood up, pulling her white fluffy robe tightly around her. "Thanks, but I'm exhausted. Enjoy."
"Oh…ok. Thanks. Good night."
"You too." She turned and went back inside.