And then… fireworks.
No, really. Fireworks. Actual ones. Bursting in the sky just to the left of us, bright pinks and silvers and golds lighting up the night.
We both laugh, breathless, pulling back just enough to see each other’s faces.
“Did you plan that?” he says, voice shaky.
“Obviously. I bribed the fair gods. Cost me a whole hotdog.”
His eyes crinkle with something dangerously close to joy, and the sight of it lights up my entire soul. I swear I’m burning brighter than the fireworks. I’m iridescent and so very alive.
We don’t kiss again. We sit in the soft rush of color and light, our fingers still tangled together, and I can feel the weight of the night settling around us. Not heavy, just… real. Like something has shifted. The fates have tied strands together in their weaving. Things are now fixed, set. Destinies are now bound. A glorious new future has been created.
By the time we step off the Ferris wheel, the fair is starting to wind down. Families are leaving. Lights are flickering off, one by one. The air smells like smoke and sugar.
Jade walks beside me in silence, our shoulders brushing. I want to say something, but everything in my chest feels too big for words.
Eventually, he says, “So. That happened.”
“Sure did.”
“You kissed me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Pretty sure you kissed me first.”
I’m not sure of anything at all. I have no idea how the kiss happened. But this is a good line of defense and I’m sticking to it.
“Only because you were looking at me like… like that,” Jade protests, looking all flustered and utterly adorable.
“Guilty.” I grin.
He stops near the edge of the parking lot, under a flickering lamp post. His expression has shifted into something unreadable.
“I don’t know what this is,” he says quietly. “Or what it’s supposed to be. But I… I want to keep figuring it out. If that’s something you want too.”
God, how is he real? He is truly wonderful. I’m the luckiest man alive to be given this chance with him.
“Yeah,” I say. “I really do.”
We linger, not quite ready to say goodnight. I want to ask if he wants to come back to mine, or if I can walk him home. But I don’t push. I can’t push. I don’t know exactly what he has been through, but I know it’s a lot. Jade needs time.
So instead of rushing him, I squeeze his hand one more time. “Text me when you get in?”
He nods. “Yeah. I will.”
He starts to walk away, then turns back. “Flyn?”
“Yeah?”
There’s a flush in his cheeks, barely visible in the dim light. “Thanks. For tonight.”
I smile and try to play it cool. “Anytime.”
I can’t believe he is thanking me. I wanna fall to the ground and kiss his feet for giving me the most wonderful night of my life. He shouldn’t be thanking me, it doesn’t make any sense.
He smiles softly, and this time when he turns to go, he doesn’t turn back. I watch him go until he’s out of sight, then let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I stay standing there, staring off into the dark. My heart fluttering and something magical running through my veins.
And when my phone buzzes a half an hour later with a message that just says,Home. Goodnight,I grin like an idiot at the screen.
