One Shots

Roller Skating (1)

"So, how's it going?"

"My boyfriend cheated on me, so I broke up with him," AnnaMarie said with an overly fake smile.

Theodore gaped. "When was this?"

She looked down at her skates. "Like last week."

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry. I thought things were going well."

"Yeah, they...weren't, I guess." She shrugged. Trying to get her mind off the subject, she asked, "How are things for you?"

"Funnily enough, my ex cheated on me about a month ago."

AnnaMarie laughed and immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god." Her hand went back down to her side. "Oh my god. That's not funny."

He gave a small smile, amused by her reaction. Once she calmed down, she mentioned, "You never said anything."

Theo shrugged. "It, uh, never came up. Guess I just wanted to talk about happier things with you. She didn't even have the decency to break up with me until after she cheated."

AnnaMarie stopped abruptly, causing someone skating behind her to swerve to avoid knocking into her. Theo gently grabbed her upper arm to make her continue skating, so they wouldn't get in the way. Distracted by the information, she went along with it.

"Wait, she broke up with you and waited until after cheating to do it?"

Theo nodded. "Yep. Fucked up, right?"

"So fucked up," Anna echoed.

"So, now that we've established we both have poor taste in partners, how are things otherwise?"

Anna laughed—louder this time. "You know what? Not too bad. Thanks for inviting me by the way. I think I needed this."

Theo had messaged a couple of his friends, asking if they wanted to go roller-skating. Anna, not having plans and needing to get out of her head for awhile, said yes.

Theo and Anna have been friends since grade school, but they didn't end up at the same high school. They don't see each other much anymore, but they still text occasionally.

"Of course. It's been so long since we've hung out. Our conversations are wonderful, but it's not the same."

"You could say that again. I don't know why it took us so long to do something but..." she shrugged.

"At least we're doing something now," Theo finished for her.

"Exactly." Anna nodded in agreement.

"Theo!" Another friend of his called out as he whizzed past the two of them.

"I should...make sure he doesn't break any rules."

Chuckling lightly, Anna pushed him forward. "You do that."

He sped up to catch his friend from high school. Anna continued at the same, slow pace she was already going and watched them. Theo managed to catch up and threw his arms around his friend. He stumbled a little, causing both of them to hold each other and try to rebalance themselves and one another. After struggling for a few seconds, they both went down.

Anna laughed into her hand. By that point, she made it to where they were. She slowed down a little, but instead of helping them, she just looked to Theo and said, "I think you got him."

He glared playfully, not actually mad at her lack of helpfulness.

As she skated away from the fallen pair, Theo's friend, Allen, said, "That's the girl you won't shut up about?"

Theo groaned in embarrassment but reluctantly answered, "Yes."

"Man, you've got it bad."

"Yeah, thanks, Al." He stood up and pointedly did not help Allen get up.