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Wendy flips through the pages of her magazine with a huff, sitting in the silent gift shop with her feet propped up on the counter, careful not to knock over the bowl of walnuts labeled as souvenir walrus-bird eggs. One eye is kept on the careful ticking of the clock, winding down to the end of her shift, to when her friends are supposed to come pick her up.
Her eyes lift over the top of her magazine as Soos comes in, toolbox shaking and clanking as he hauls it through the doorway and plants it on the floor. He’s purposeful and deliberate as he takes down one of the shirtracks to tighten some screws. She spares him a moment’s glance, then returns to her columns.
It’s rare that she sees Soos without the twins nearby to act as a sort of buffer between them. Wendy likes the twins, the twins like Soos, and so they travel in the same circles without traveling together. It’s not that she dislikes him - he’s a fine guy, a fine dood, as he so often likes to say it. But a teenager and adult handyman don’t have much in the way of common interests.
Soos tightens the screws, frowns at them, then fiddles with the metals bars some more. Something must have come loose. Wendy turns a page in her magazine. The clock tick-tocks, and strikes the hour. As if on cue, the rumble of tires against a rocky road comes rolling up the drive and stops just outside the Shack. Five sets of feet jump out, accompanied by the distinctive sound of adolescents at play. Wendy smiles, and stuffs her magazine into her bag.
Just for a second, just before she blinks, Wendy sees Soos’ shoulders tense as the teenagers push open the door and the bell above it rings. But then Tambry and the boys take up all her attention, and it slips her mind.
“How’s it going, Wendy?” Lee asks, flicking his blonde hair out of his eyes.
“Good.”
“See any creepy monsters today?” Robbie asks, eyes half-lidded with a snide smirk curving his lips.
“Pssh. As if. Just the same old stuffed dolls, like every day.”
Tambry snorts, interrupting the conversation. “God, you just have to see Beth’s new profile pic. It’s like a badger and a raccoon had a baby, except with worse Instagram filters.”
There’s a chorus of Oh, let me see! as the guys all clamor to look over her shoulders at her phone screen. Wendy joins in, smiling and chatting, swapping stories with little attention paid to her surroundings. It surprises her, too, when the looming shadow falls over the counter, and they all look up to see Soos’ thick figure towering over Robbie. “Whoa, man,” Robbie said, eyes wide with shock and his lip curled in disgust. “Personal space, okay?”
“Oh, sorry dude, I-” Soos began with an abashed hand to the back of his head.
“Can we help you?” Tambry asked, wrinkling her nose as she spoke.
“Well, uh- I, uh-”
“Whacha need, Soos?” Wendy interrupted. Eyes landing on her, Soos relaxed, and he twiddled his fingers for a second before mumbling something about having to fix an unstable shelf. Wendy smiled. “Oh, well. We’ll get out of your way, don’t worry about it. Come on, guys.”
They moved to the other side of the room to give him space to wiggle behind the counter, and Wendy was ready to move on when Tambry piped up. “God, what’s his problem?” she grumbled.
“Sneaking up on a guy like that… ugh.” Robbie mimed a shiver.
“Uh, I don’t think he meant it like-”
“Have you seen all those tools he’s got?” Lee whispered, leaning in and glancing around. “He’s totally, like, hick serial killer type.”
“Dude, right?” Nate agreed. “I’d hate to meet him in the woods at night.”
“Hey, I don’t know if-”
Robbie grinned, raising his hands for emphasis and lowering his voice. “Maybe he is a creep. Maybe that’s why he got the job here. He lures innocent teens into the forest, promising mysteries and weird monsters and stuff, then- bam!”
“Okay, knock it off.” The words are out of Wendy’s mouth before she can stop them, and she’s unsure if she was too sharp or not sharp enough. Then everyone’s eyes are on her, surprised and quizzical, and she’s not sure what else to say. “It’s whatever,” she finishes lamely. “Let’s talk about something else.”
A look passes between the others. A mutual look, an exclusionary look. One that defines her as the odd one out. It’s not a good feeling. “Sure, Wendy,” Nate says, and the topic changes, back to Tambry’s gossip and rumors, Nate and Lee’s suggestions of things to do, and Robbie’s monotone dismissal of anything he deems “uncool.”
Wendy nods along, but can’t help feeling like she’s done something wrong.
Soos tries not to pay attention when Wendy’s friends come into the shop. He’s never been great at dealing with all this feelings stuff, so it’s easier to hide in his secret nap corner when the Shack is about to close and Wendy’s buddies are here earlier than usual.
Part of him wants to charge into the gift shop with as fierce a face he can muster, and demand that they all stop “tampering with the merchandise” and wait patiently for Wendy’s shift to be finished. It’s what Mr. Pines would want, and there’s a big part of him invested in doing whatever Mr. Pines wants. At the same time, though, something about the way they laugh and jostle each other around instills a deep sense of discomfort in him.
Soos never really minded being the awkward kid. He didn’t notice it, even, until Cousin Reggie was on his second girlfriend and his grandma kept asking those weird, pointed questions about whether he liked girls or not.
“I like video games, abuelita!” he’d chirped.
His grandmother sighed. “Video games?” she asked, in her not-quite-faded accent. “With the blood and violence? Excessive nudity? Maybe some superfluous sequences where young women fight with very little clothes?”
“Nope!” Young Soos replied, smiling.
His grandmother sighed again. “Go eat your tapas, Soos.”
It’s not that Soos didn’t like girls. Girls were pretty, and smelled nice, and sometimes they smiled at him and made him forget what Mr. Pines wanted him to fix. But girls were also complicated, and they frowned at him a lot more than they smiled. Most people seemed out of his realm of understanding, so his teenage years were spent helping his abuelita or playing video games.
Some might have called those years lonely. Soos didn’t think of them that way, but sometimes he felt bad that other people felt bad for him. More complicated feelings. Either way, he was happy with his simple life, until Mr. Pines hired Wendy. Then he found himself avoiding the gift shop, veering away from adolescent giggling and hiding in his work whenever he had to be around Wendy and her friends.
It’s not like he thought they’d attack him, or something. He was a grown man, and twice as big as them. He wasn’t afraid they’d hit him, but he was afraid they’d hurt him, and the why of that was something he couldn’t put quite into words.
“Soos!”
Soos flinched, sitting upright abruptly. “Yes, Mr. Pines?”
His boss gave him a strange look as he stumbled out from under the stairs. “What the he- Never mind.” Mr. Pines pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need you to go fix the shelves in the gift shop, the ones above the counter. Some dumb kid was playing with the sock goblin slingshots and busted the supports.”
“Oh, but-” Soos pressed the tips of his pointer fingers together. “Wendy’s friends are in there.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to talk to them, did I?” Stan grumbled. “Just go fix the darn shelves. And do it fast. I need to restock the merch, and if that shelf falls and breaks, and all the merchandise with it, I’m taking it out of your paycheck.”
“Yes, Mr. Pines.”
And so Soos found himself standing in front of the door to the gift shop, utility belt secured around his belly and his toolbox in one hand. He stared at the doorknob, ears attuned to the pubescent voices goofing off on the other side. Soos stared at that doorknob for a good minute or so more than necessary. Then, finally: “I have to do it for Mr. Pines.”
They didn’t even notice him come in. Unfortunately, they were all clustered around the counter, right below the shelf that needed fixing. Soos crept closer, willing his tools not to clank around inside his toolbox. They didn’t even look at him until he was standing right over one of them. The boy in the black hoodie saw the shadow looming over him and jerked around with a start, hands up in front of him.
It hurts, maybe more than it ought to. He didn’t mean to sneak up on them, he was just trying not to interrupt, because they seemed to be having such a good time, he didn’t want to come off weird, he just wanted to mentally will them to move so he could do his job without talking, but then-
“Stupid,” Soos mutters under his breath, rubbing a cloth over the wood glue to make it smooth. “So dumb, Soos.”
Behind him, he can hear them muttering.
“Sneaking up on a guy like that… ugh.”
“Have you seen all those tools he’s got? He’s totally, like, hick serial killer type.”
His shoulders tense, and with his free hand he roughly pulls his cap down over his eyes. So Wendy’s friends have been talking about him, and not in a nice way. Well, let them. It’s none of his business. His job is the only thing that matters. Those kids are just kids - it’s not like Wendy would believe them, right?
At last, the others decide to head out, and Wendy rises from her chair, lingering a bit longer. “You guys go on ahead,” Wendy says. “I’ll catch up in a second, gotta grab my stuff.” They nod along and go outside to wait for her. The bell rings again, the door closes, and the gift shop is quiet. As soon as they’re gone, Soos stands, yanking the brim of his cap down over his eyes with his lips in a sad, solemn line. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I’ll get out of your-”
“Soos, I didn’t really leave my stuff.” Wendy huffs a sigh and crosses her arms, staring at him impatiently, imploringly, until he looks up and dares to meet her eyes. She sighs. “I’m sorry. About what my friends said.”
Soos relaxed a little, stiff expression melting into a sorrowful pout as he set down his tools. “I didn’t mean to seem like a weirdo,” he murmured, toying with his hands and looking down around Wendy’s shoes. “I just didn’t want to bother you guys.”
“You didn’t bother us, Soos,” she said. Then: “Well, you didn’t bother me. It’s just - they didn’t really mean it. They’re jerks, but they didn’t really mean it. Teenagers say dumb stuff to each other all the time. You remember what it’s like.”
“Well, no,” Soos admitted, taking off his cap and holding it to his chest. “Not really.”
“Seriously?” Wendy arched a brow. “You know, friendly teen sarcasm? Joking around? Having fun, coming up with stupid ideas - you don’t remember all that stuff? What are you, Grunkle Stan?”
She means the last part to be light-hearted, but it makes him flinch, gripping tighter onto his cap. “No,” he says, in a very small voice.
Wendy softens. “Aw, Soos, I’m sorry. Whatever I said, I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s just-” Soos begins, halting and uncertain, blurting it out in a rush. “I didn’t really do all that kinda stuff at your age. Joking around like that.” Soos trails off there, and looks up from her boots, shoulders curled in and his eyes wide in an unspoken plea for understanding.
“What do you mean? Like, did- didn’t you-” She stops, lips parted as another, more painful concept reveals itself. “Soos, did you have friends when you were my age?”
Soos gives her an awkward, sheepish smile, raising one hand to rub the back of his neck. “I mean- sure I did, dood. Everybody had friends. I just never, uh… had a crew, the way you guys do. I was kind of a dorky kid. Way different than I am now.” Wendy would have laughed at his seriousness, if not for solemnity that had come over her. “I was lucky just to have one or two friends at a time. Most of the popular friend groups liked to, uh, make fun of me.” He gives a hollow chuckle and fits his cap back on his head, trying to force a smile. “But that was a long time ago. I’m sure you guys didn’t mean anything bad.”
Wendy stares at Soos for a few seconds, lips trying to form the words her mind can’t process. At last, she closes her mouth and swallows. “We didn’t,” she says. “Promise. And, look - I’ll make sure they don’t say dumb stuff like that again. Okay?”
Soos stays still for a moment, quiet as he debates whether or not to accept her reassurance. For a moment, Wendy thinks he’ll turn away from her, but then he relaxes his shoulders and gives her an easy, dorky smile. “Sure, Wendy,” Soos said. His eyes are bright and guileless, hurt feelings gone as quick as they had come.
Wendy bites back a sigh of relief and returns the smile. “Cool. See you tomorrow, then?”
“Sure thing, dood.”
Wendy waves and jogs out the door, backpack dangling from one shoulder. Soos looks after her, waits until the door shuts and the bell stops ringing. Through the window, he sees all the teens load up into their car and drive off, heading back into town.
Soos watches the car drive away until he can’t see it anymore, then goes back to work.
“So, like, who’s that guy always wandering around the Shack?” Tambry asks.
Wendy frowns. “Who? My boss?”
“No, the other one! The…” Tambry touches her fingertips together and extends her arms, making a circle in front of her midsection and puffing out her cheeks. “The big guy.”
“Soos?”
Tambry wrinkles her nose. “That’s his name?”
“It’s a nickname.” Wendy watches the guys take turns throwing ketchup and mustard packets at Thompson for a few minutes, then frowns again. “Why do you care all of a sudden?” Her eyelids fall half-shut, and a grin spread across her lips. “Do you like him or something?”
“What? Ew, no.” Tambry shakes her head, retreating to the skin-bleaching glow of her iPhone. “It just seemed like he was always around, being… weird.”
“Weird?” Wendy chuckles. “I mean, we’re weird, man. What do you mean?”
“I dunno.” For once, Tambry lowers her phone, brow furrowed in thought. “Like, he always kind of looks weird, and gives us weird looks, and is always wandering around the shack, doin’ stuff.”
“Well, yeah, he’s the fix-it guy,” Wendy laughs. “What, you want him to not do his job?”
“I’m just saying, Wendy,” Tambry says, giving her a Look and a roll of her brown eyes. “Don’t be surprised if you, like, start getting creep vibes from him, or something. He just seems like kind of a weirdo to me.”
There’s a strange vehemence to Tambry’s words, a heavy judgement behind the way she talks, and Wendy suddenly feels defensive. “Whoa, okay. You don’t know him the way I do, alright? Trust me. I know creeps, and Soos is not a creep. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sure.”
The reply is unconvincing, and it leaves Wendy with a bad taste in her mouth.
Wendy’s never paid Soos much thought before. Why should she? He’s nice enough - a little awkward, a little dorky, but always an okay guy, even sweet at times. She didn’t even realize her friends noticed he was there. She didn’t, most of the time. But Tambry’s words make her doubt herself. Is there something to Soos that had slipped her notice? Is Tambry just being shallow and unfair? It wouldn’t be the first time.
Then again, there have been a few times where she noticed Soos sneaking weird glances at her and her friends. A few times where he’d pointedly go the other way if they were in the gift shop. A few times he seemed to get quiet and despondent, contrary to his usual easy-going demeanor.
Wendy’s still frowning when the guys get bored and wander back to them, hyped up on the energy only possessed by young men trying to amuse girls. Her eyes linger on Thompson, stained with condiments, pudgy cheeks pink and eyes alight with nervousness.
“That was fun, right, guys?” he says, twiddling his thumbs and darting his eyes across the group. “I-It was cool?” Robbie, Lee, and Nate all ignore Thompson, instead peering over Tambry’s shoulders are her phone. Thompson meets Wendy’s eyes last, and seems surprised when he sees she’s staring back. It surprises her, too.
“Uh, yeah. That was really cool, Thompson. Thanks.” She extends one hand for a fist bump. Thompson’s eyes widen for a second, like he can’t believe he’s getting the chance, then tentatively raises one large hand to return the bump.
Wendy smiles and winks good-naturedly at him, and his ears pink as he gives her a doofy smile in return. She wants to relax, forget all about this, but she can’t. Something about it, the sensation that she’s missing something, nags at her like a bug bite where her cap rubs against her neck. But soon, Tambry’s phone is shoved in her face, someone makes a joke, and she gets distracted by some new summertime activity.
It’s only the next day, when she’s back at work and watches Soos fix a loose floorboard in the gift shop, that she wonders if he used to be a Thompson.
Wendy makes sure her friends don’t come by anymore. She’s not sure if Soos notices the gesture, but all she can think about is the way she saw his back tense when Lee said that stupid thing about him being a hick. Soos wasn’t a hick. He’s a good guy, and she’s not sure why anyone else can’t see that. She’s even less sure why she feels so hesitant to say that in front of her friends. It’s bad enough that they’ve started to notice her sticking up for Thompson.
“What do you mean?” Robbie asks, frowning at her.
“Well, like… maybe we could just do something else?” She yawns exaggeratedly and leans back in the lawn chair. “This just seems kind of boring.”
“This just seems kind of boring,” Robbie repeats, staring at her. “Chasing after Thompson with water guns full of kool-aid seems kind of boring to you? A few weeks ago you’d have been totally up for that.”
“Well, like I said, dude. Things just get boring sometimes. Why can’t we just chase… I dunno, Nate?”
“Uh.” Robbie takes a minute to think about it, staring at the equally incredulous Nate. “Yeah, no, I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause, like, it’d just be lame. It just… would.” Robbie shook his head, frowning at her again. “Why do you even care, anyway? We’re just doing the same stuff we’ve been doing all summer.”
“Well, why do you care, Robbie?” Wendy asked, getting up from her lawn chair and scowling back. “God, I try to keep things interesting and you shut it down every time. This is supposed to be summer! We’re supposed to, I dunno, be having the time of our lives or something! The point is not to do the same things we’ve always done. Come on. We can’t think of one new, cool thing to do?”
A brief silence falls over the group. “Nah,” Lee says at last.
Thompson raised one meek finger. “H-Hey, uh, Wendy, I don’t- I don’t mind doing it, if like, it makes everyone else happy, it’s okay, I-”
“Yeah, see?” Robbie thrust an impatient hand at Thompson. “He’s cool with it. Why'd you gotta be such a narc, Wendy?”
“I’m not a narc,” Wendy said, scandalized.
“Um, I don’t know, Wendy,” Tambry pipes up. “You’ve kind of changed.”
“Yeah,” Nate agrees, nodding firmly. “And you stopped letting us come by the Shack, too. What’s with that?”
“Yeah, Wendy, what’s changed?”
“What’s the deal, Wendy?”
“What’s your problem?”
At last, Wendy threw her hands up and turned her back on them. “God, fine. Screw you guys. I know where I’m not wanted. If you guys are just gonna be jerks, I’m gonna go home.”
The rest of the group exchanged glances. “Hey, Wendy, we didn’t mean it like that-” Robbie began, extending one hand towards her.
“Well, then why’d you say it?” she demanded, rounding on him.
He paused again, glancing at the others. He didn’t have an answer. She knew, because she didn’t either, though she was trying to figure it out.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
And so she gathered her things and left, hopping aboard her bike and pedaling as fast as her feet would take her, with no thought as to where she was going. She found herself in a neighborhood she didn’t recognize, passing unfamiliar faces and street names. She pulled to a stop, sitting down on the sidewalk and pulling out her phone to get directions.
“Hey, Wendy, that you?”
She looked up to see a familiar pudgy face, waving and smiling at her from atop a ladder leaning against the side of a house. “Soos!” she called, smiling and waving back. “What’re you doing here?”
“I live here!” Soos descended the ladder, pulling off his gloves to get the front gate for her as she wheeled her bike over. “What’re you doing here? I didn’t think you lived around here.”
“I don’t, I just… got lost, I guess.”
“Soos!” A high-pitched, elderly voice piped up from the front doorway. “Who is that girl?”
“She’s from work, abuelita!”
“Oh, let me see.” An aging Hispanic woman hobbled down the path through the front yard, meeting them at the gate. She squinted, examining Wendy with an rather discriminating gaze. “How old are you?” she said at last.
“Uh, fifteen,” Wendy replied, not sure if she liked this interaction very much.
The old woman sighed. “Never mind, then.” And she hobbled back inside without another word.
“My grandma’s kinda weird sometimes,” Soos said, chuckling good-naturedly, “but she’s really nice. You wanna come in?”
“Sure, dude.”
The entire inside of the house reeked of old lady and old lady perfumes. Faded wallpaper and paneling covered the walls, every surface of furniture covered in doilies. Beneath a dated television set was a collection of all the latest gaming consoles, plus a few retro ones. A Mexican flag hung from a wall in a back room, and the kitchen smelled warm and enticing. “Make yourself at home,” Soos beamed.
“Thanks.” Wendy flopped down in one of the nearest couches, her eyes watering as the cushions gasped and wheezed, releasing a cloud of farts, upholstery, and old lady perfume. Soos soon returned with a glass of water and some crackers that looked as old as this house. “Thanks,” she said again.
“No problem.” Soos flopped down on the seat beside her, taking a handful of the crackers and shoving them in his mouth. To his credit, he took a drink and swallowed before speaking. “You wanna play something?” he asked, holding out a controller.
“Sure.”
Soos showed her some new fighting game that had just come out, with the typical well-endowed men and women going at it with cartoony attacks and lots of cheesy voice acting. Soos played some kind of lizard monster, and Wendy went with a lanky, red-skinned demon creature that reminded her of something she’d seen on the cover of trashy romance novels at the bookstore. Wendy didn’t really keep track of who won or who lost. She was just happy to forget about her argument with her friends.
With another match concluded, Soos got up to refill the plate of crackers, and when he returned, Wendy took a thoughtful sip of her water. “Soos,” she began, “how old are you?”
“Twenty-six.”
For a real, honest second, she thought she was going to do a spit take. “Whoa, are you serious?”
“Yeah,” Soos said, smiling like he thought it was obvious. “What did you think I was?”
“I dunno, I mean, like, it makes sense, I just-” Wendy shook her head. “Hearing you say it aloud makes you sound so old .”
Soos giggled. “Nah, I’m still basically a kid, dood. I’ve seen every Transformers movie and totally digged them all.”
“Wow. You are a kid,” Wendy agreed, nodding seriously. Then, she frowned, pressing her lips together. “Hey, Soos?”
“Yeah?”
“Did kids ever, like… make fun of you? When you were my age?”
Soos’ smile dimmed, and suddenly he seemed a lot less easy-going. “... Yeah, I guesso,” he admitted, shoulders curling in defensively. “But, like, every kid got picked on at that age. It wasn’t anything special.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Still frowning, Wendy kicked at the floor, feeling her boots drag against the faded shag carpeting. An uneasy silence falls between them, crushing them under the weight of a bigger conversation than they want to have. “I just think you kind of deserve better than how everyone treats you,” she says at last, looking aside to meet his gaze. “Like, that you’re a good guy, and no one seems to get that.”
“Aw, thanks.” Soos blushed, taking off his hat and toying with it.
“I know maybe it sounds dorky, but like…” She trailed off, having to frown into space to clear her thoughts again. “I just want everyone to be honest with each other, you know? I feel like we’d all be a lot more chill if we just, like, let go of stereotypes and just hung out. As people. Like we’re doing.”
“And this is super fun,” Soos agreed, nodding.
“Yeah, totally. I just…” Wendy sighed, shoulders sagging. “I don’t know what it is, but I feel like maybe you’ve changed the way I see other people.”
“Oh, dood, don’t say that,” Soos frowned. “I don’t wanna, like, drive a wedge between you and your friends, just ‘cause some of you said some mean stuff. Everybody says mean stuff sometimes. You just gotta, like… sorta grow from it. That’s what being a teenager is all about, right? Mixing who you were and what you figure out, until you kind of become a grown-up?”
Wendy stared at him for a moment. “Soos,” she said at last, “you’re one of the wisest guys I’ve ever met.”
“Aw, thanks, dude.”
Wendy took a breath, took a second to look around the old-lady smelling house, finally resting her eyes on the cheerful man next to her. Then she rose from the couch, bits of upholstery still clinging to the butt of her jeans. “I think I gotta go, Soos,” she said.
“Okay, Wendy.” Soos stood up and shook her hand very seriously. “Best of luck out there. Make sure you avoid the Hamish house on your ride home. Their dog isn’t very friendly.”
“I’ll do that, Soos,” Wendy replied, just as serious. She gave him a solemn salute, and went to the front door. Then, hesitated. “Hey, Soos?”
“Yeah?”
“You mind if we do this again? Maybe hang out more often?” She shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “I told you I’d make it up to you, for my friends saying that dumb stuff. Maybe if they got to know you, it’d be cool for them to hang out in the gift shop again.”
“Sure, Wendy!” Soos said, suddenly excited. But he reined himself in. “I mean, like, sure. Yeah, totally. Cool.”
Wendy smiled. “Cool.”
When she came back, everyone was sitting in a semi-circle around a pile of water guns. Thompson had a few red, sticky spots on him, like they’d tried to do it after all but lost interest. They all looked up as she rode over, coming to a stop a few feet from them.
“You’re back,” Robbie said.
“Yeah.” Wendy unclipped her helmet and let it dangle from the handlebars, feeling a little awkward with everyone staring at her. “I, uh, came to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.”
The group shared a look. “Apology accepted,” Robbie replied. “So… we’re cool?”
“We’re cool.” Wendy smiled, and flopped down in the nearest lawn chair. “What’s the plan?”
A scheme was concocted to go to the principal’s house and egg it while he was on vacation, so he’d come back to a house covered in week-old eggs, fried and sticky from the sun. Tambry and the boys guided the way to the supermarket, pooling their money to buy several dozen eggs. Wendy lingered along behind them, when a tentative finger poked her in the bicep. “Hey, Wendy?” Thompson said, in a very small voice.
Wendy turned around. “What’s up?”
“I, uh- I just wanted to say, that, um. I noticed, you were… sticking up for me, lately. And, like, that’s cool, but I just- I don’t want to feel like I broke up the group, or anything, and I just…” He rambled on like that for a while, as if unused to going uninterrupted. More than once Wendy thought to interject, but let him go, just watching him until he got to the point. “I just wanted to say thanks,” he said at last, breathing a shaky sigh. “I just don’t want… you to think I’m weird, or something. Or feel sorry for me.”
Wendy nodded, slowly. “I don’t feel sorry for you,” she said. “Not… anymore. I think, like, to make things better, maybe we should just… be friends. Actual friends. Not just jerks to each other. Even if we don’t really mean it.” She held out a hand. “‘Kay?”
“S-Sure.” Thompson gave her a wavery smile, and shook the hand.
“Cool.”
And so Soos slowly gets used to Wendy’s friends being around. They don’t give him weird looks anymore, or make comments under their breaths. He ends up doing work for some of their parents, fixing things around their houses or businesses. Wendy refuses to let Thompson be the butt of any more jokes, instead spreading the blame evenly among the others, even herself.
Occasionally, Soos will say something funny without realizing, and everyone in the group cracks up. Wendy watches, amused, as Mabel strong-arms Dipper into helping her find a date for Soos. Maybe it’s just the one cent raise Mr. Pines gave her, or the way the wind rustles through the trees and rattles against the side of the Shack, or the way Soos sometimes gives her this doofy smile before asking her if she wants to come play this new video game over at his house. But something feels different.
Maybe she’s just afraid it won’t last forever. Maybe she feels like she’s older, wiser. Maybe she’s just coming to terms with the fact that the friends she has now, won’t be the friends she has forever. There’s a lot due to happen in Gravity Falls before the summer is over, after all, many lessons to be learned and fights left to be had.
There’s nothing wrong with having a soft spot for a certain pudgy handyman. He’s a good guy, like she keeps saying. And hey - give it a few years? It’ll be nice to see where he ends up. Wendy’s got places to go, people to see; she can feel it in her bones that she’s not going to stay in Gravity Falls forever.
Still. The Shack's a part of Gravity Falls, just like the Falls’ weirdness is a part of the Shack. Once you’ve become part of the Mystery Shack family, you’ll never be forgotten, and you’ll never forget. Gravity Falls is special like that; travel across the world, across the stars, a million miles away from everything, and somehow you’ll find the Shack there, waiting for you. Sitting between the trees and the stars with a new adventure hidden under the floorboards, and all the friends you made along the way.
Wendy decided not to worry about growing up. The best things in life always remember you, and will always welcome you home.