Prompt: Carl Carlson - "Everyone makes mistakes. That's why they put erasers on pencils." -'The Simpsons'
Mike was a genius. He had pieced together the song to make it work for what I needed it for, found and shortened the music to fit the verses we would be singing, and came up with choreography. And he had done this in a short time. Less time than he had spent trying to teach me the steps he had come up with. The two of us were going to get little sleep tonight before we met with the others in the morning, which was what I had been doing while Mike was piecing the performance together.
"This is hopeless. I'm hopeless," I said, after messing up the dance steps again.
"Let's just try it again," Mike replied patiently. I had lost track of how many times he had said those words.
"I'm never going to get it," I protested. "If I attempt this I'll just mess this up like I've done everything else lately."
"Finn, this performance doesn't have to be perfect to have it's desired effect. You're trying to show him that you're sorry. That you accept him just as he is. You getting up in front of people and singing this song and dancing with him, it's going to convey that message even if the steps aren't perfect."
"I'd prefer not to make a fool of myself doing it though," I told him.
"You won't," Mike said. "As long as you relax and stop fretting about everything being perfect. You know pencils have erasers for a reason."
"Not funny. I can't exactly erase any wrong steps I make."
"I assure you, even if you make a wrong step, as long as you keep going and keep singing, the only people who are going to know is me and you. And I promise I won't tell anyone."
That remark got a smile out of me. Deep down I knew he was right. It was the thought and motive behind what I was doing that was important not the performance itself.
"Let's run through it one more time and then get some sleep before meeting up with the others."
"Okay then," Mike said, walking to the CD player to restart the music.