Page 76 of The Incredible Ordinary

I clamp my mouth shut.

We stare at each other in the dark hallway.

Finally, I nod.

“Okay. I’ll ask.”

Rory’s shoulders relax, and he nods, too.

“Thank you.”

He turns around and goes back to his room, closing the door behind him with a quietsnick.

I stand in the hallway for the longest time.

Lost.

MILÁN

Jordan is sittingon the windowsill in the laser tag place. The moment Rory and I step inside, he’s already smiling.

Theo sprints out from behind the corner a second after. He stops right in front of Rory. Hesitates. There’s some kind of palpable, nervous energy to him today.

“Hi!” he says loudly, eyes on Rory the whole time. “Hi!”

“Hey,” Rory says, much more subdued.

“Thank you!” Theo blurts. “Thank you.”

Rory looks down at his hands, where he’s still holding the gift bag with the birthday present, and holds it out. “Here?”

It’s Theo’s turn to look between the bag and Rory. “No. But… You already got me a gift. You gave me Dog.”

Rory’s eyes fly to Jordan.

“He discovered his reflection on the toaster, and now he likes to sit in front of it and bark.” Jordan chuckles softly. “But we love him anyway.”

“Come on. We’re making up teams right now. Do you… I thought maybe you’d want to be on mine?” Theo hovers and twitches and waits.

Rory hesitates and fidgets and doubts.

“Yeah,” he finally says softly, almost like he doesn’t think he’s allowed to do this. “Yeah, we can be a team.”

With one quick look in my direction and my unnecessary nod of encouragement, he’s off.

“I think that’s everybody now,” Jordan says, grinning at me. “What’s your plan for the day now that you’re free of kid-related responsibilities?”

I shrug. “Nothing much.”

Nothing at all.

“You want any help?” I ask.

“You didn’t even let me start to lure you into that trap. Just walked right in yourself. That’s an impressive level of ignorance.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Is that a ‘yes, thank you, you’re the absolute best person in the world, Milán, and I’m forever grateful’?”

“Too late for that. You already offered. Just a suggestion, if you ever want to extort compliments out of people, don’t offer help yourself. Guilt the others into asking for it.”