We’ll meet again soon.
Screw the festival and the competition and the first-place ribbon. I’m smiling tonight because I officially met them. I thought I knew what a dream coming true felt like before tonight—when I went viral, when I got into Lizbeth, when Mom and Dad told me they were proud of me—but I was mistaken.
This is how it feels.
20Inspiration
My heart breaks having to say goodbye to my family and Noah again. Their visit was far too short. But I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that I’ve been too distracted since bumping into Phantom to appreciate my time with them properly.
“We’ll be back to pick you up for Thanksgiving break, Bug,” Dad says while buckling Everly into her car seat.
“Sounds good,” I reply, swallowing hard against the knot of emotion growing in my throat.
“We’re so proud of you, sweetie,” Mom sniffles as she admires the ruby-colored, first-place ribbon in my hand again. “You came here to chase after your dreams, and here you are, achieving them.”
My cheeks flush. “I couldn’t do it without your support.”
I hug her one final time before she climbs in the car. Then Mom and Dad shut their doors, giving Noah and me some small semblance of privacy.
“I’ll try to come back to visit before Thanksgiving,” he says, a pained expression curving his handsome features downward.
“It’s fine if you can’t,” I start, gaze falling to the dried mud flaking off my shoes. “I know this time of year is busy for you, with baseball and all the gaming tournaments.”
“I don’t care about the tournaments,” Noah huffs indignantly. “We’re okay, right?”
When I finally raise my face to catch his gaze again, his blue eyes are solemn.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” I say as I roll up onto the balls of my feet. “We’re more than okay.”
He grins, relieved, and kisses me. It’s not a chaste peck, but it’s not nearly long enough either.
“See you soon.”
I wait until their taillights blink out of view before I venture back to the festival. I hadn’t consciously made the decision to go back there tonight, especially not dressed in this ridiculous costume, but I’m compelled to, for reasons beyond my comprehension. I toss the cheap wooden frame hanging around my neck in the garbage the first opportunity I get, and I shiver as the temperature drops lower and lower the closer to midnight it gets.
That’s when the festival ends—midnight.
I have to find them again before then.
I rub the palms of my hands together swiftly, trying to banish the chill from them, but it’s no good. Starting from one end of the festival, I make my way down to the other, revisiting every booth, ride, and food stand, to no avail. Phantom is nowhere to be found. And something tells me blindly calling out their name in this crowd wouldn’t help at all.
“Maeve, hey!” a voice calls out behind me.
Hopeful, I turn too quickly, nearly losing my balance and tripping over my own feet. But my gaze falls upon Iris and Claire, not Phantom.
“Hey,” I reply, plastering a half-baked attempt at a smile on my face.
“Why are you all alone?” Claire asks, brows furrowing.
Iris frowns before chiming in, “Yeah, isn’t your family visiting?”
“They were, but they just left. I’m just back here to—” the lie comes to me quickly “—pick up my contest painting. I don’t want it getting ruined in the shuffle.”
“Do you need help?” Claire offers kindly.
“No,” I say a little too quickly. “No, thank you. I’ll be fine. You two have fun.”
“All right,” Iris replies. “I’ll see you back in our room.”
