For a while, everything was peaceful at the festival.

  Nights were better than days. It was nice to kick back and take in the sights. Tents and trailers were illuminated by magic lights, something like Christmas decorations with how elaborate and bright they were. The festival had built dozens of wooden sculptures all over the desert. Every night, they lit a new one, and, thanks to magic, they would stay intact for days rather than crumbling in a few hours.

  On that night, a sculpture of a butterfly resting in a hand was lit. The flames were brilliant enough to see far from STR. Had it not been for the barrier around the festival, that golden glow might have been visible from space. While I watched the fire, I couldn’t shake a feeling that Wes was watching me. He was facing my direction, but his eyes always met mine whenever I looked at him. Things hadn’t gone back to normal since our last disagreement.

  The night went on forever, but naturally so. I chose to ignore the heightened awkward tension between us, hoping that our moods would improve.

  “We need to find your cousin,” I said.

  “I know,” Wes replied.

  “We have to head back home next week, but we don’t even know if he’s still here.”

  “I know, but can we try to stay in the moment? Just for tonight?”

  On our way back to our tent, we stumbled upon a new attraction. It was a royal blue tent with purple stripes and glowing green orbs floating around its perimeter.

  “A fortune teller,” Wes read on a sign staked beside the entrance.

  “I don’t do fortune tellers,” I said as I continued to walk, but he quickly pulled me back.

  “Why not?”

  “Asking someone to tell me my future is like asking for the schedule of a train wreck I’m already living.”

  “Well, I’ll get my fortune, and you can watch,” Wes said, but he was asking more than telling.

  “Wes,” I said like he was a 5-year-old asking to ride a roller coaster.

  “Humor me,” he said, tugging me toward the entrance.

  I debated the trustworthiness of a fortune teller but went along with it in the end. I couldn’t find a real reason to object, and it was free, if nothing else.

  Inside, there was an old lady wrapped in silks sitting at a round glass table. Her face was completely covered, so we could only see the glare of her eyes. She offered us a couple of seats at the table. Her attention was on me until we made it clear Wes wanted the reading. She didn’t have a crystal ball or playing cards, but those glowing orbs we saw outside were also present inside. She wasn’t human, and whatever she did to read fortunes had to be a natural ability because she never used a spell. She took Wes by the hand and examined it as her orbs began to swirl, creating an ambient light.

  “You are a light-hearted soul,” she said with a frail voice.

  She gave many observations, most of which seemed vague and uninteresting.

  “Your family is warm and sweet,” she continued.

  I grew bored after a while. I might have yawned three times before we got to hear anything good.

  “You are popular, loved, sought after, and even adored, but there is something, no, someone you want that you fear you can never have,” she said.

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  I couldn’t think of anyone Wes couldn’t have. People would blow him in the middle of the street if he asked.

  “Ok, I think that’s enough,” Wes said, pulling his hand back and away from the mysterious old creature.

  He seemed caught off guard, so maybe she wasn’t far off.

  “Come on, Wes, it’s getting good,” I joked.

  “Pitch, man, we can go,” he said.

  He was nervous. I don’t think I’d ever seen him in such a rush to leave before.

  “Wes,” I said as he pulled me out of my seat to drag me out.

  “You seek the affection of one who knows you but cannot see you, “ the fortune-teller said before we got far.

  “Lady, that’s enough,” Wes said as we finally left.

  Outside, I heard the old silk-covered woman simply respond, “ingrates.”

  Wes didn’t let go of my arm until we were well enough away from the fortune teller’s tent.

  “What was all that about?” I asked.

  He let me go but kept walking. We made it back to our tent before he acknowledged me directly again, but even then, he stood with his back to me.

  “Pitch,” he started, then paused.

  “Wes, what is it?” I asked.

  “Are you honestly this blind, or am I this stupid?” he said in a joking tone, but I could tell he was serious.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  He turned around slowly, and it seemed he couldn’t look me in the eye for a long while. Unfortunately, we were sharing a tent, so he had to speak eventually. It wasn’t like him to be timid or afraid to speak his mind. That made twice in one day he acted out of character.

  “Pitch, I like you,” he said.

  “I like you too, Wes,” I replied, still confused.

  “No, I mean I more than like you,” he said with extra emphasis that got the message through.

  “Oh,” I said in response.

  “Yeah...”

  “Fuck,” I stammered with further realization.

  “Yeah,” Wes said with a laugh that ended just as quickly as it started.

  He was trying to play it off.

  “Wes, that’s... I’m not even sure I’m into...” I started stumbling.

  “This is all so stupid. I got you all the way out here so I could try... I mean, you’re not even...”

  We were both speechless for what felt like forever.

  He invited me, and only me, to go with him to a festival. He came out to me before we left town. He probably sent me all of those quirky girls earlier that week just so I’d turn them down and remain available. Hell, he stole the closest thing to our favorite food for us to eat.

  “I said I don’t know, but this is a lot,” I said, scratching the back of my head.

  “I know,” he answered.

  We both looked away from one another.

  “Why me? Honestly, I’m nothing special,” I asked.

  “Dude, I don’t know how many ways I can say it. Rabbits are cool. You, you’re cool,” he joked, and it brought air back into our lungs with a short shared laugh.

  “So, it’s because I’m a rabbit,” I said, continuing the joke.

  “No. I mean sure. I’m a half-goat, so it’s a turn on, but that’s not the only reason,” he said.

  Hearing him speak so openly about his attraction threw me off balance, but we rolled with it.

  “You’re a good person. You don’t make fun of me when I do stuff that humans think is weird,” he added.

  “People make fun of you?” I asked in disbelief.

  “All the time or they used to. I wasn’t always the guy people wanted to hang out with. When my family moved to Daybreak, we were like aliens. It took time to learn how to be normal, human normal anyway,” he said.

  It got easier for him to speak as he went along. I could see him physically relaxing. Even the distance he put between us started to close.

  “You remember when you tried to join that fae club at our school?” he asked.

  “No one wanted me because I was born human,” I said.

  “I was still the weirdo who came to school naked back then. I couldn’t let those ass holes turn you away when I was feeling like an outsider too. In a way, you were like me,” he said.

  “Wes.”

  He brought a grin, if not a smile, to my face.

  “I mean it, maybe people haven’t come around for you the same way they have for me, but if I’m cool, then you’re cool. And I only wanted the coolest person I know to come with me to STR.”

  In the silence, I think we both came to realize just how alone we were and just how close we stood. It was all a little too much. I took a step back and tripped into a seat on my bed. Wes tried to catch me but pulled himself back when he realized I was ok.

  “Wes, in the spirit of honesty,” I said, pausing to think over my words.

  “Yeah?” He asked

  “I’m not completely freaked out that you’re into me,” I said.

  It was such an awkward conversation to have with my best friend, but his being my best friend made it easier.

  “But,” he said.

  “I didn’t say but”

  “You were about to,” he joked.

  He wasn’t wrong.

  “... but I don’t know how this would work,” I said.

  “Neither do I,” he replied.

  “Well, you’ve put up with me ruining our entire time at a kick-ass festival. I guess if you’re willing to try, then maybe I can too.”

  His face lit up. I could see him trying to hold back the expression, but he was happy, and probably relieved.

  “Thanks, dude,” he said with a grin.