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—

EVERYONE WAS GLAD to see Teddy back to normal as well, especially Violet. I was nervous that she would try to win him back, but thankfully, she realized that he — and we all — had been through enough tonight. She had all day in the office tomorrow if she wanted to pull another stunt like that. I was happy for her that she had gotten that off of her chest, but the fact that she wanted Teddy back and there was no reason why he wouldn't take her was enough to make my skin crawl. I didn't know her that well, but backsliding was never good for anyone.

After getting food, we were all ushered to tables for the auction where a small stage and podium had been set up for the auctioneer. Sitting at the table with all of them was strange after what had just happened, but I was lucky to grab the closest seat to Teddy while Violet sat on the other side with Elise. I didn't exactly want Violet getting any ideas.

I was grateful to fill my stomach at least, because there were at least twenty hot ticket items that were being auctioned off in each category. Of course, that meant they would be putting my sculpture up for a bid since the photographer lady went to take a picture of it when Teddy and I were back there. I could feel myself slowly fill with dread at the thought of it, but the food was too good to be bothered with that right now.

"Damn," I whispered to Teddy as I pointed to one of the sirloin medallions I had on my plate, "did they make these in heaven?"

"No, they actually had private chefs flown here to do it," he said nonchalantly. At my look of surprise he added, "from like California. Nothing too fancy."

I shrugged. "It's fancy for me. We don't all have champagne tastes here. At best I've got eight dollar bottle of wine tastes."

"We all start somewhere," he said with a smile.

I couldn't help but blush, unsure as of why I was suddenly so immersed in him. It was almost like the last few days have just been Teddy, Teddy, Teddy and he hasn't gotten out of my head just yet. Of course, I was terribly concerned for him, as well as bound to him through assisting him on this big case, but it felt like there was more going on inside of me that I wasn't aware of.

After that, everything just turned back to normal. Teddy was chatting it up with his brother, having already recovered from the news of his sexuality, while Elise seemed to be gushing over Violet's dress now that the timing seemed appropriate.

It made me wonder where I fit into this party of five. They all seemed to be getting along quite well, even after such a powerful disruption as years spent thinking your wife had cheated on you only to find out that she hadn't all along or finding out that your brother was a father and you were an uncle. I was still here with this family and yet I had nothing to do with it, the dreaded cloud of isolation casting itself over me.

But then I felt Teddy's arm wrap around my shoulder, bringing me back from out of my thoughts and into the moment. "Marilyn, this is your moment."

I frowned, unsure about what he meant by that but then I turned around and knew. Someone was hauling up my sculpture of my ex-boyfriend to the stage. I flushed with embarrassment, unable to believe this was happening. Especially unable to believe why this was happening to me of all people.

"Alright, hello to all my ladies in the crowd," the auctioneer shouted, a sly grin on his face. "This piece here really puts the 'hot' in hot ticket item. Starting at fifteen-hundred, we have Swing by Marilyn Finley. And boy, is something swinging alright."

A collective laugh went over the crowd besides most of the people at my table, including me and excluding Teddy.

"You made that?" Theo asked in shock.

"Girl really knows how to shape a penis," Elise said with a shrug. "Way better than Michelangelo. I'd laugh my head off if I met someone like the David in real life."

Violet just seemed to be all-about confused and surprised which I couldn't exactly blame her for, to be completely honest with myself.

"It's of my ex-boyfriend in college," I explained, or at least tried to for they were still very scandalized. "He modeled for my art class nude. This isn't some perverted kind of passion project."

Teddy seemed unfazed, so I hadn't been keeping my eye on him. Of course, I realized that was a big mistake on my part when he raised his hand and yelled out "Twenty-five hundred!"

My jaw went slack, falling open like I was some sort of idiot. But who could blame me? I was half-past dumbfounded, especially since I expected for him to handle my situation a lot more gently since I told him the backstory behind it. But no, of course not. I guess that was what I deserved for being a good friend to him.

Whispers of confusion went around our table and if I weren't struck speechless, I would've taken part in them too. What the hell was Teddy doing? Why was he trying to buy my naked ex-boyfriend statue?

"Goodness, Edward," Elise said. "How are you going to wrap that for Theodore's birthday present without him knowing what it is?"

Theo rolled his eyes. "Hey, just because I'm gay doesn't mean I want some random girl's naked statue. Of course, Marilyn's not just some random girl, but you know what I mean."

"I don't know where you're going to put that," Violet chimed in. "We don't want to share an office with Marilyn's boyfriend's junk."

"Thirty-eight hundred," a middle-aged woman with a crude smile — that told me she intended to do crude things with my art that I didn't want to think about — said. Her eyes met Teddy's evenly across the room to let him know she was not backing down on this one.

Honestly, although I would've hated to see him lose at something in life, when it came to this specific scenario I was definitely impartial. Either situation was terribly awkward and in cases of the lesser of two evils, they were still both evil.

So I would've been devastated either way this went. Especially when Teddy said with all his heart the words "Five thousand."

The auction crowd went silent, Teddy's contender's eyes bugged, and the rest was history. "Sold to the handsome man at table nineteen," the auctioneer said.

I instantly felt nauseous, the idea of coming over to Burke & Associates to talk to Teddy and seeing a caricature of my ex-boyfriend in his office or something. I get that deep down, he was trying to be supportive by paying so much money for my artwork, but it was still very weird and embarrassing to me.

—

THE AUCTION ENDED a little more than half an hour than it was supposed to, leaving the guests to amble about and look at whatever was still hanging on the walls if they so pleased. Or like everyone else, eat more food and socialize. I was definitely trying to do the latter — minus the socializing part — standing in the middle of a line at the food table with a plate in my hand, because Teddy had gone off to fetch my sculpture.

The night had in store quite a wild turn of events, and I was honestly left winded by everything that had happened in just the course of these four hours. If I took anything from this night, it was that nothing would be the same tomorrow.

For example, I would no longer be the girl who showed up to the party in a pretty dress, no longer a modern day Cinderella — if that were ever something to aspire to. I had realized just then in the moment how little I had been focused on myself and how I let this opportunity to be more than just George and Selena's maid go to waste. There was no glass slipper to be lost, just the magic of a night that had been all used up on other people's drama and slight fragments of the past clawing back up to the surface.

There was good done tonight, of course. Theodore was — unfortunately — more or less outed, but the acceptance of his sexuality was almost instantaneous and the fact that he was hiding an entire new family from his own was merely an afterthought. Violet didn't get the result she wanted from telling Teddy the truth about everything, but she did help to assuage the anger Teddy had placed aside in his heart just for her. And now, my friendship with Teddy had seemed to deepen even further than before. Of course, I wasn't sure whether the outcome was positive or negative considering he had embarrassed me by buying that sculpture. But whatever the answer that question was, I had a feeling it wouldn't change how I felt about him.

While the phrase was speak of the devil and not think of the devil, the devil did appear in the form of Teddy Burke sidling up to me in line. "Hey, Marilyn. Can you come with me, please?"

I frowned, lifting my empty plate a little higher in case he didn't see it. "I'm trying to eat, Teddy. This is some of the best food I've had in a while, so I'm savoring every bit of it as I can."

In response, he just rolled his eyes as if it were ludicrous that I was trying to eat my fill right now and not look at whatever he was trying to show me. "I can buy you better food, all the food you like, just come with me and I promise you won't regret it."

The prospect of Teddy buying me expensive food was all he needed as a bargaining chip. In merely minutes, I had set down my plate and followed him, a quest that lead to the roof of the ballroom.

The Grand Pirouette Hotel was built so that the ballroom as well as the swimming and athletics center were separate wings with separate roofs while the dormitory area reached nearly up to the sky. It was almost like a phallic shape, but that was the last thing I wanted to think about after the debacle that was tonight. Teddy and I had taken a service staircase up to the roof.

"How did you even get access to this place," I asked him, caught in a mild state of disbelief that this was happening. I couldn't see very far from here, given that we were maybe three or four stories off of the ground and it was night time, but the view was still breathtaking to me. I could see the patrons flocking in and out of the building, their clothing bright and shiny, and cars passing through the night with blinking red tail lights. "Hell, Teddy. What are we even doing up here?"

Instead of saying anything, Teddy just pointed to the right of him, where I saw in the far corner of the roof my sculpture as well as two golf clubs with the hotel's insignia printed on them.

"It looks strange, but trust me, this will be fun," he said, patting my shoulder before making a quick jog to where the three items were laid. I had no idea what he was doing or talking about, so I couldn't even properly determine that for myself. I guess I just had to go with the motions, as I usually did with Teddy. Feeling as if I had no choice — or at least a choice between getting it over with or Teddy incessantly begging me to go along with his plan — I followed him, stopping a few feet short of where he stood.

He picked up one of the golf clubs before stepping aside and casting me a devilish grin. "Trust me, you'll enjoy this." At that, he swung the golf club as if it were a club, striking the sculpture of my ex-boyfriend smack-dab in the middle of his chest. He didn't knock it over, but he did leave a big dent, causing his left pec to sink in and causing me to be left with utter confusion.

"Teddy," I cried, stepping forward. "What are you doing? You paid good money for this and now you're breaking it?"

He rested the club on his shoulders before shrugging them nonchalantly. "Marilyn, it's called therapy. And this is for you, by the way. Judging by the way you've acting all night since you saw that statue, you've got some feelings inside of there. What's his name?"

"Brett—" I started before Teddy took another swing, bending in the side of his arm. "Oh my god, I really don't understand what you're trying to do."

"You have feelings for this Brett guy, Marilyn," Teddy said simply. "And that's completely normal if you two were on a level where you actually made a statue of him to worship —"

"I made that in art class," I corrected, but he seemed to be more focused on his grand speech.

"— But this is the present now and that was the past," he finished. "You need to work that out of your system."

"That's not exactly what's going on here," I said. "I was just embarrassed by the fact that of all the work I made, my teacher submitted this one. I paint way better than I sculpt, by the way."

"You and I both know you're lying," he accused, testing the weight of the golf club in his hands as if revving up for another swing. "Or at least I know now and you'll know later. And maybe you'll never know. But both of us had to face our exes tonight and I can't beat Violet with a golf club unless I want to be arrested. Nor can you beat this Brett guy who I must say has a very blessed anatomy. But you could at least beat your feelings out of your system this way. Think of it not as a representation of the person themselves, but of the feelings you have for them."

I blushed, feeling like a fool for being up here tonight, watching Teddy beat a naked statue with a golf club. But the idea behind it was — although rather confusing — actually quite sweet of him.

"What makes you think I'm lying," I asked, watching him evenly.

"Because you're an artist, Marilyn. There should be no reason for you to be ashamed of your work," he said meeting my eyes firmly and I had no choice but to look away. "So, what's it going to be?"

I sighed, leaning over to pick up the second club, getting a feel for the grip in my hand. "Why the hell not," I said before swinging it at the baseball bat, making it break and hang limply.

"Wow, nice shot," Teddy said before wolf-whistling.

I looked up at him and smiled. Because it did make me feel good, like I was on top of the world. Or maybe it was just because I had Teddy here to do it with me. As we both swung together at the statue, something was ending and something was beginning, everything was changing, and I couldn't wait to see how it all turned out.

Just as long as I had Teddy with me every step of the way.