Learning to Dance

pretend anymore than nothing had changed. He wasn’t the
same Up anymore. She just had to accept that.
“Taz and I – we were fighting together...”
She froze just outside of his door. Who was he talking
to? Bug?
“... but suddenly, Taz got flanked – by two of those
terrible Autobots.”
She listened, eyes wide. They had never talked about
that day.
“I ran to help her -”
She couldn’t, she couldn’t hear any more. She stumbled
backwards and ran headlong into Junior, who looked
equally surprised to see her and was giving off the distinct
scent of weed. “Get out of my way,” she growled, and took
off at a run again.
She found herself at the gym again, her refuge, her
salvation, the only way she’d gotten through Up’s time on
the Eagle, the only solution to the heartbreak of the Bright
Eye, the only means to forget again when memories of her
mama or Pedro came unbidden to her mind. Up told me he
loved me that day. And then he died for me, and even when
I had him back from the dead it wasn’t enough, I was selfish
and I left. I left him. And I never said it back.
I never told him that I loved him too.
The punching bags, the weights, the target practice –
none of it appealed to her right now. Her gaze fell on the
glowing panel next to the holodeck.
“It can be anywhere – where would you like to go?”
She thought of the question he’d asked her at that first
uncomfortable reunion at the hospital. “Have you been –
happy, Taz?”
She tried to remember what happy felt like. She had
vague memories of it, laughing and riding on Up’s
shoulders, the way he listened to her read even when he