"Vince! What are you doing here?" T.J. asked as he let his best friend into his home.
"Oh you know, just in the neighborhood," Vince said. "What are you up to?"
"I just got off the phone with Tito's," T.J. replied.
"That super fancy restaurant on ninth street?" Vince frowned. "Why?"
"A certain somebody and I had reservations there for this weekend," T.J. explained. "I had to make them like, six months ago; that place fills up real quick. Unfortunately, they have a cancellation fee, so I'm out fifty bucks, though."
"Really still not saying her name?" Vince said, rolling his eyes.
"Nope," T.J. said simply.
"Teje…come on, man," Vince sighed. "This is crazy! I get it; you and Spinelli broke up. I know it's hard-"
"It's not hard," T.J. snapped. "I'm a free man for the first time in over three years! I'm having the time of my life!"
"Sure," Vince scoffed. "Look, it sucks that you two broke up, whether or not you want to admit it. But are you really going to let it affect your friendship with her? You were a couple for three years, but you've been best friends for over a decade!"
"Friendships can end," T.J. mumbled. "I don't need her. I have you and Gretchen and Gus and Mikey-"
"No, Mikey's currently not speaking to any of us," Vince reminded him. "And if you and Spinelli would grow up enough to be in the same room for more than five seconds, maybe we could actually do something about that!"
"I told you, I can-"
"We need our gang back together," Vince said, cutting him off. "We don't get nearly as much done when we're all broken up like this. It's senior year, dude; is this really how you want to end things?"
T.J. opened his mouth and then closed it. He slowly sat down on the couch. "No," he said softly. "No, it's not."
"Then just talk to Spinelli," Vince said.
"I can't!" T.J. said. "She-She broke my heart, okay? Shattered it, crushed it, ground the pieces into dust."
Vince didn't reply.
"You know," T.J. said heavily. "When her and I first started dating…I wondered if we were making a mistake."
"What do you mean?" Vince asked.
"Everybody says dating your best friend can be a huge mistake," T.J. said. "For this very reason. If you break up…you may not be able to go back to being best friends again. So then it's like you're losing two people…and-and it hurts way more. I should've listened…maybe-maybe Spinelli and I should've never become boyfriend and girlfriend at all."
"Come on, you don't mean that," Vince said.
"I do," T.J. said sincerely, looking right at his best friend. "Dating your friend…it's just messy. If Spinelli had just been some girl at the beginning of all of this, I don't think it would be this hard now. It would've totally whompped, sure. All break-ups do! But I wouldn't have felt like this. Dating your best friend…it's the biggest mistake you can make."
Vince quickly looked away. "You-You really think so?"
"I know so," T.J. nodded. "I mean look at me…you're right. I'm not fine about the break-up; I'm miserable! And I don't even have one of my closest friends in the world to go to about it anymore."
"Yeah…" Vince said softly, still looking away. "Maybe-Maybe that's a good point."
"I know it is," T.J. mumbled, slowly getting to his feet, quickly rubbing his eyes. "Um…I'm just gonna run upstairs really quick…blow my nose, but then why don't we go grab some pizza or something?"
"Um, no, I-I have a lot of homework I just remembered," Vince said. "I'll see you around."
"Uh, okay?" T.J. frowned, confused. "Well you want to hang out later?"
"No, this homework is going to take a while," Vince said, hurrying to the front door. "I'll just see you around. Later, Teje."
…..
"I bet this what the inside of Ashley A's closet looks like," Spinelli commented, looking around the dress shop. "God, I think I'm going to pass out from the perfume scent. Are we almost ready to leave yet? We've been here for ages!"
"We've been in here for about two minutes," Gretchen said, looking through the dress racks. "Can you stop complaining and help me find something nice? This event is very fancy."
"Fine," Spinelli conceded. "Do you have anything in mind?"
"I'm thinking something blue," Gretchen said. "Or maybe purple. I want it to be elegant, but not over the top."
"Well there's got to be something; there has to be at least a thousand dresses in this joint," Spinelli said.
"Let's hope," Gretchen sighed.
"Why are you so worried about finding a dress?" Spinelli asked. "You're just going with Vince."
"Well, you know, like I said, it's a formal event," Gretchen said quickly.
"I guess," Spinelli shrugged. "Man…you know, I was actually going to have be dress shopping myself for this weekend, you know. Glad I dodged that bullet. Theodore and I were supposed to go to that super fancy restaurant, Tito's, this weekend."
"Ah," Gretchen said.
"But you know what? Instead I'll be spending my Saturday night watching wrestling in my sweats, eating buffalo wings," Spinelli said. "A much better use of my time. You know, he was always so annoying when we'd watch wrestling together. Always asking a million questions…glad I don't have to deal with that anymore."
"You know, Spinelli," Gretchen said. "I understand that this break-up is difficult-"
"Difficult?" Spinelli frowned. "It's not difficult! It's great!"
"Er, sure," Gretchen said, raising an eyebrow. "Well if it's so great, shouldn't you at least be able to be in the same room as T.J.? You may not be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore, but don't you at least still want to be friends with him? If the two of you start talking again, maybe we can finally figure out how to get Mikey back into our group."
"Me, you, Vince and Gus can handle that," Spinelli said.
"No, we can't," Gretchen said firmly. "Come on, what if Mikey never speaks to us again? He's been one of our closest friends since kindergarten!"
"He'll come around eventually," Spinelli said, though she didn't sound as confident.
"Please, just talk to T.J. and come to an understanding," Gretchen said.
"I can't, Gretch," Spinelli sighed. "You don't get it…things will never be the same between me and T.J."
"It's perfectly normal for things to be a little weird between you guys for a while," Gretchen reasoned. "After all, any break-up is bound to be uncomfortable-"
"But that's just it, Gretchen, this wasn't just any break-up," Spinelli mumbled. "T.J. wasn't just my boyfriend…he was my best friend. And that was kind of nice and stuff when we were dating, because we didn't have to deal with any of that awkward "getting-to-know-you" junk. But now…it just makes everything suck ten times more. Man…they're really right; you should never date your best friend."
"Well, never is a strong word, isn't it?" Gretchen frowned.
"Not in this case," Spinelli said firmly. "T.J. and I should've never moved past being friends. We should've just stuffed down our feelings and gotten on with our lives. I'm telling you, Gretch, if I could do it over again, there's no way I would've gone out with T.J.; it just ruined everything!"
Gretchen didn't reply.
"I miss him," Spinelli said softly. "As my boyfriend…and as my friend. If this was just some break-up, T.J. would be one of the first people I turn to. But now I can't. It sucks."
"You really think it was a mistake dating T.J.?" Gretchen asked quietly.
"I lost my best friend since kindergarten because of it," Spinelli nodded. She turned away, quickly rubbing her eyes. "But anyway…enough about him! Let's find you a dress."
"Um, actually, we don't need to do that," Gretchen said. "I should get home. I have a robotics project I need to finish."
"What? But you were all excited about shopping a few minutes ago," Spinelli said.
"Yes, but I really need to finish up my project," Gretchen said. "I'll just go through my closet and find something to wear. I'm sure I have something decent."
"You sure?" Spinelli asked.
"Positive," Gretchen nodded.