The Ballerina and the Rocker

Quinn

“Glad to see you’re alive,” Brian said as he took his regular lunch seat across from Quinn.

“Oh my god,” she said, remembering the rest of Halloween night. “My hangover lasted the entire weekend.”

It had been her first time drinking and it definitely showed. Since she didn’t know an old fashioned from a skrewdriver, she just kept ordering beer and shots of vodka which definitely did not mix well; she threw up twice, threw Jimmy’s plastic pirate hook into the ocean when they left the bar, and was fairly certain she had taken a nap in a bush.

“That good, huh?”

“I’m so glad I was able to crash at Michelle and Val’s, because my mom would have been pissed.”

“Glad I could help take part in the corruption.” Quinn laughed. “But seriously, you’re a champ.”

“Well, thanks. But I think I’m going to wait a while until I drink again.”

“Hey, you only get better with practice.”

Zacky

He hadn’t seen Quinn very much since Halloween. She had been spending most of her time after school practicing ballet, and when she finally did get home she would quickly do her homework and go to bed just to do it all over again the next day. There would be an occasional wave at him through the window but that was it.

Zacky missed her.

Quinn

“I don’t want you to stretch yourself too thin, sweetheart,” Quinn’s father, Daniel, said to her as she filled him in on her school work and extra curriculars.

Since her father’s position in the navy was so demanding it was a rarity to be able to spend time with him, but the two were able to have lunch together at least once every month. It wasn’t a lot of time, but Quinn was used to it by now.

On this warm, crisp November day, Quinn and her father ate at a picnic table in the park near the Naval base where he was stationed. Her mother made them egg salad sandwiches and pasta salad, which the two devoured almost immediately.

“I can do it,” Quinn said in response to her father’s comment. “It’s just that the timing isn’t awesome. I’ve been putting so much rehearsal time into this Nutcracker at the studio that I’ve barely had any time to prepare for my Juilliard audition.”

“Well, you’ve got time between now and then, don’t you?” Quinn sighed.

True, her actual audition wouldn’t be until late February. But Quinn hated feeling unprepared. She always liked having a concrete plan and being able to have ample time to get things in order. She would prefer to have five months to prepare and rehearse as opposed to the two she was going to have.

“Dad, you know how I am about this stuff.” Her father smiled at her.

“So when is your Nutcracker performance?”

“The week after Thanksgiving. You’ll be able to make it, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Quinn smiled and took a sip from her water bottle as a naval officer approached her father and saluted him.

“Lieutenant Colonel,” the man said as he saluted, standing straight and tall. Quinn’s father returned the salute silently and the other man released. “I apologize for interrupting, but your meeting’s been moved to start at fourteen hundred hours, sir.”

“Thank you,” Daniel replied, saluting the man once again who in turn saluted back and walked away. “Looks like we’ll have to cut this a little short today.”

“That’s ok,” Quinn said, completely understanding. She stood up and threw the lunch bag with empty tupperware and crumpled up tinfoil over her shoulder. She walked over and gave her father a tight hug. “I’ll see you at Thanksgiving.”

Zacky

He hadn’t once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes…

Zacky laid on his bed as he frantically tried to finish The Great Gatsby, which he had neglected until the last minute, for his English test the next day. He thought he could get through it relatively quickly just based on how short it was, but after a while his eyes felt dry and the words just kept blurring together. He must have read the same sentence three or four times before realizing F. Scott Fitzgerald only wrote it once.

Frustrated, he closed the book and threw down on the floor before releasing a loud, agonizing sigh. He heard a girl’s laughter in response, which caused him to immediately sit up and look out the window. Quinn was sitting in her bay window, gigging.

“You ok?” she asked with a smile. Zacky got up off his bed and sat down at his own window.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Just a little Gatsby-ed out. You?”

“I’m good. I just got back from having lunch with my dad.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. I don’t get to see him a lot, so it’s always nice.”

He hadn’t really thought about it before, but now that she mentioned it Zacky hadn’t really ever seen her father except for when they first moved in next door.

“Doesn’t he live with you, though?” Zacky asked, genuinely curious. It was a subject of conversation that had yet to occur between them.

“It’s complicated,” Quinn began hesitantly. “I mean, technically this is his home address, but since he’s in the Navy he spends most of his time either at the Naval base or deployed somewhere.”

“Oh wow, where does he go?” Quinn shrugged her shoulders. “What do you mean --” Zacky shrugged his shoulders back at her.

“I mean that he’s not really allowed to tell us.”

Zacky didn’t know how to respond to that. He couldn’t imagine living without knowing where either of his parents or siblings were.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” he managed to ask.

“Again, just like moving around the country, I’m used to it,” Quinn explained. Her voice dripped with annoyance, so Zacky realized it was a topic she really didn’t feel like discussing.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Anyway - Nutcracker!”

“What about it?” Quinn laughed, a smile returning to her face.

“You came to my show, I’ll come to yours.” Instead of saying something, Quinn just kept smiling. “Oh, come on! I should be able to see what it is that’s been keeping you from talking to me anymore.”

“Shut up.”

“When is it?”

“I need to go do homework.”

“I’m going to show up.”

“Good bye, Zacky.” With an embarrassed smile, Quinn walked away from her window and grabbed her backpack from the foot of her bed before leaving her room. Zacky chuckled softly to himself before reluctantly returning to Gatsby.

Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs.

Quinn

“What do you mean you’re not coming here for Thanksgiving?” Quinn was on the phone with her sister, Audrey, who had just revealed her plans to stay in Boston.

“I just can’t make it,” her sister said from the other side. “I’ll be back for Christmas, though.”

“Whatever.”

“Oh come on, Quinn, don’t be so dramatic.”

“What’s so important that’s keeping you in Boston?”

“School work… and Sam.” Quinn heard the hesitance in her sister’s voice.

“Do… do mom and dad know about...?”

“No, not yet. Which is why I’m waiting until Christmas to tell them.” Quinn nodded in understanding, then realizing her sister couldn’t see her quickly mumbled, “mmhm.”

“Anyway, enough about me,” Audrey said, regaining her composure. “What’s up with Zacky?”

Quinn couldn’t hold back her smile as she regaled her sister with stories of Zacky and all her new found friendships: how she had gone to her first rock show, how she had her first drink ("but seriously, you can't tell mom"), how Val was giving her makeup tips, how she and Zacky always conversed at their windows, and how Zacky was always so considerate when she would hang out with him and the rest of the guys, and also how Zacky would tell her these absolutely horribly childish jokes...

"You must really like him," Audrey said, interrupting a story Quinn was telling about how Zacky fell into their pool when he was describing a Metallica concert he went to.

"Yeah," Quinn replied, feeling her throat dry up. "He's been a great friend."

Even though she couldn't see her sister, Quinn knew Audrey was rolling her eyes.

Zacky

After bombing his English exam, Zacky let his frustrations out through his guitar playing as the band practiced at Matt’s. After a solid two hours, the boys parted ways and Zacky went home for dinner where he was immediately asked by his parents about how his test went, proceeding to lecture him about keeping up with school work and yadda yadda. All he really cared about at that point was wanting to crawl into his bed and sleep through the week.

Once he got to his room, he noticed something on the floor by his window. He picked it up and saw it was a paper airplane, tucked inside was a ticket to The Nutcracker.