Plus, I was definitely straight before the whole magic thing, so if anything, the glowing magic made me attracted to Colten.
Why else would I be glowing while thinking about him?
Honestly, I should be applauded for handling suddenly being gay so well.
“Don’t tell me it’s too high foryou,” Colten says as he looks at me from the other side of the fence, as he’s already climbed it.
Ah, it seems like I’ve been thinking a little too hard.
The fence is tall, made of interlocking wired metal, but nothing I can’t handle. Especially not when Colten already did it and is watching me expectantly.
“Of course not,” I tell him, grabbing the metal and finding it impossible to get a foothold with my big feet. Instead, I have to rely entirely on my grip strength before swinging myself over.
I’m grunting and sweating, but I manage to clear it before splatting onto the ground next to Colten.
Colten lips thin from how hard he’s pressing them together, obviously holding back a laugh at my struggle. But thankfully, he doesn’t say anything.
Instead, he holds out his hand to help me up, and I go to take it because we’re best friends—
But then I stumble and crash into him, dragging us back into the ground. I just barely manage to twist and position Colten on top of me. I’m a lot heavier than him, after all.
We hit the ground in a tangled heap, and my breath is slightly knocked out of me. Colten is not light, not with all that muscle. For a moment, there is silence.
Then, as soon as I manage to catch my breath, I burst into laughter again.
Colten pushes himself up onto his elbows above me, his hair no longer contained by his hair tie. When did that fall out?
He laughs with me, breathless and bright like earlier. It’s even better seeing him like this up close. I really like it.
The glow is back again, faint and warm, a halo around his face with the pink-purple sunset behind him, and stronger than before.
It’s kind of mesmerizing.
I grin up at him. “We should do this more often.”
He reaches down and absentmindedly pushes a piece of hair off my forehead. It’s distractingly gentle.
“What, trespassing?” he asks, a crooked, softer version of his usual smirk tugging at his mouth.
“No, not the running-from-authority part,” I say, huffing out a laugh. “But ten out of ten, would recommend. Great cardio. Coach should add it to the team’s training schedule.”
His thumb lingers for half a second too long at my temple before he pulls his hand back, like he just remembered himself.
“Then what?” he asks, head tilting slightly, eyes searching my face in that too-intense way he does sometimes. It makes me want to squirm, just a little.
I gesture vaguely between us because words are hard when he’s looking at me like that. “You know,this. The glow thing.”
Colten’s still smiling, but his brows furrow with confusion. “…What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” I tell him, almost breathless with excitement. “You’re not dating anyone, and I’ve already dated pretty much every girl on campus, so we should help each other out.”
He goes very still. “…Help each other out,” he echoes, voice going quiet in a way that should probably concern me.
“Yeah,” I reply, tilting my head. It’s simple enough, isn’t it?
His eyes narrow just a fraction, the smile gone. “Patrick, what exactly do you mean by that?”
I frown. How is this confusing?
