Elias clasps his hands together, looking between us with barely contained excitement.
“Patrick,” he says eagerly. “Are you and Colten in love?”
What.
Colten blinks very, very slowly, his face completely blank.
“What?” Colten asks, his tone flat.
Elias nods enthusiastically. “Yes! That must be it!”
“What must be it?” I ask, while promising myself not to take up any other strangers’ offers of enchantments on a whim again. I really should just listen to Colten.
“If only the two of you can see the effects, then it must mean the magic connected you two together!” Elias gushes, nearly bouncing with excitement.
Colten’s jaw tightens. He looks pissed. “That’s not what it means.”
“Yes, it is!” Elias says. “It means you’re soulmates!”
There’s a pause. A long one.
Then Colten very quietly says, “Don’t.”
Elias blinks, pausing in his excitement. “What?”
“Don’t do that,” Colten says, voice low and razor-thin. “Don’t take a mistake and dress it up like it means something.”
Elias falters, just a little. “It’s not a mistake, it’s—”
“It’s sloppy,” Colten cuts in, even sharper now. “It’s reckless. You do something you can't control, and now you’re trying to sell it like it’s fate instead of owning that you screwed up.”
Elias’ mouth opens and closes, obviously taken aback by the venom in Colten’s voice.
It’s rare for Colten to sound like this—cutting and vicious instead of controlled and calm.
He’s the responsible one, the one who keeps people in line. But right now his fists are clenched at his sides, and I’m slightly worried his gaze alone might kill Elias before he can actually be helpful about the whole magic flashlight issue.
The people at the bus stop are definitely staring now, and not just at my naked chest.
I step forward, grabbing Colten’s arm before steering him away.
“Right,” I start, laughing awkwardly, “Uh, great talk. We’ll contact you later about the whole spell situation.”
“Patrick,” Elias calls after us, looking half like he wants to follow, and half like he wants to stay as far away from Colten as possible, “you should really consider—”
“Later!” I yell over my shoulder. Elias smartly does not follow.
We do not stop walking until I find a quiet spot to pull Colten aside, to give him a chance to cool down.
Colten’s shoulders are still tense, his jaw tight. His eyes are firmly stuck on the ground, glaring at it like it personally insulted his mother.
I nudge him lightly with my shoulder. “Hey.”
He doesn’t answer.
“Hey,” I say again, softer.
He exhales slowly, closing his eyes. “I’m fine.”
