Hmm.
At the fair with Gio.
Before that?
I don’t even fucking remember what was happening.
Someone next to me is banging on a drum.
Another guy nearby, for some reason, is holding a massive wheel of cheese and just slicing pieces off for everyone, for free.
I do not even bother questioning any of it. I love it. All of it. Keep doing whatever you are doing, people.
Daisy nearly trips into me, grabbing my shoulder to steady herself. Her face is flushed, her mascara halfway to her chin, herblue streaked hair completely frizzed out from the heat and the chaos.
She leans in, shouting over the music, "GOOD THING YOU WEREN’T GONNA DRINK, RIGHT?" I let out a loud, cracked laugh. My voice is raspy, wrecked. "I AM SO DRUNK IT’S A CRIME!"
She cackles. I keep moving, throwing my hands up, nearly elbowing someone in the face. "I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER WHO POURED THAT, BUT IT’S IN ME NOW!"
We twirl again. I slip. Recover.
Slap my foot down in the completely wrong part of the step and a girl shouts, "NAILED IT."
Everything around us blurs into heat, motion, and neon string lights. I have a piece of lemon in my pocket and… no memory of how it gets there. And in that moment I do not care.
Because I am sweaty and breathless. Wrong-footed and half falling. But I am happy. God, I am so stupidly, ridiculously happy.
…
I manage to escape the chaos and collapse onto some random chair at some random table.
What the hell. I drop my head straight onto the table.
Okay, maybe I overdid it. Yeah. No, I definitely overdid it.
I laugh to myself. I am so gone it is actually funny.
My head feels like it is full of rocks. Heavy, clunky, rolling around every time I move.
The girls are still a little further away, dancing.
Love that for them.
I, on the other hand, feel like a grandfather.
I am done. Logged out. I lift my head with whatever strength I have left. Just to see… Gio.
No, no, no.
Oh my God.
I thought about him so much my brain actually dragged him into reality.
He is here. In front of me. Sitting on a stone ledge. And he is real. He is everywhere. He is literally haunting me.
I am going to cry. What is he even doing here?
He did not tell me he is coming. Then again, why would he?
