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"... And then she told me she liked me as a friend!" Sky exclaimed.
"That's so terrible," Derek replied sarcastically.
"No, you don't understand. There was an emphasis on the friend part. She said it multiple times. Like, don't go getting other ideas. You are my friend, Sky. Friend. You're such a good friend. She totally friend-zoned me."
"It could be worse," Derek said.
Skyler blew on the steam coming off her herbal tea. She narrowed her eyes at her father.
"How could it possibly be worse?"
Derek looked away as if he didn't quite know how to respond to her. Mainly because he didn't quite know how to respond to her.
As if on cue, Casey opened the door between the kitchen and the dining room.
"Hey, bro," she began, "could you take out the trash tonight?"
"Sure, Case," Derek replied casually.
Casey shut the door.
Then Skyler grinned. A really big grin. Like a Cheshire cat kind of grin.
"No," she said, "you're right. It could be worse. It could be so much worse."
Derek gave his daughter a kind of defeated look and she got up from her seat and came round to kiss him on the forehead.
"I feel so much better now for some reason!" she said with a perkiness that he found both rude and unnecessary, "Goodnight, Papa!"