After that, it was on as Lyssa and Joan competed to see who could win Bex the most prizes. After an hour Bex had too many plushies to carry.

“Okay guys no more prizes for me, seriously.” Bex frowned, having to get a big trash bag to heave the toys around.

“Where are you going to put them all!?” Darci said in amazement.

“Beats me.” Bex laughed nervously.

“Maybe you can give some to me, I promised my little sis I’d get her something.” Jaden laughed.

“Good idea! Here.” Bex began to distribute the prizes to all her friends.

“But…” Lyssa frowned.

“Sharing is caring.” Bex smiled at her.

By the end of the dispersal, she was left with the two original prizes.

“Bex!” Abby ran up to her.

“Hey, where’s Rory?” Bex asked.

“He’s in the restroom, I am having a great time. Is this your girlfriend?” Abby eyed Lyssa.

Jaden who was sipping on an Icee choked on it.

Joan’s eyes went wide, and Darci gasped out loud.

“Uh, Abby this is Lyssa. Lyssa my sister Abby.”

“Nice to meet you.” Lyssa smiled at her.

“My sister is totally crazy about you.” Abby teased.

Bex hit her with the banana man and laughed nervously.

“Run along Abby,” Bex said through gritted teeth.

“Ow, jerk.” Abby stuck her tongue out at Bex before running off again.

“She’s a weirdo.” Bex laughed nervously as she turned to Lyssa.

“So you’re not totally crazy for me?” Lyssa teased.

“Shut it.” Bex’s cheeks went red and she playfully smacked Lyssa in the shoulder.

“You two are dating!” Darci could not hold it in any longer.

“What! No, it’s not like that. My family has the wrong idea. It’s sort of a running gag now.” Bex laughed it off.

“So you’re not dating?” Jaden said confused.

“Officially not dating. We are just friends.” Bex nodded.

“So why does your family think you are?” Mike smirked.

“Uh, it’s a long story. Anyways! Look at the time, come on guys we better get to Ferris wheel before it closes.”

They all followed after Bex as she ran towards the big wheel.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Joan ran to catch up with Bex.

“Uh, sure. Hey, guys go wait in line Joan and I are going to go to the restroom.”

“I’ll come with.” Lyssa immediately volunteered.

“She’s a big girl, she can go alone.” Joan snapped at her.

“Not a chance.” Lyssa stepped in dangerously close to Joan.

“Whoa, everything okay?” Mike laughed nervously.

“Uh, yeah. Lyssa. It’s okay. I’ll be right back.” Bex soothed her.

“We can’t trust her,” Lyssa said low enough so the others couldn’t hear.

“Says the vampire.” Joan shot at her.

“Hey! Enough you two. I’ll be right back I swear. It’s okay.” Bex whisper yelled.

Lyssa huffed and crossed her arms in defiance.

Bex sighed and quickly walked off with Joan.

“Make it fast.” Bex snapped at her.

“Look I’m sorry okay, about everything. That was really stupid of me to do.”

“Yeah, no kidding. I trusted you.” Bex said hurt.

“I know and I took advantage. I just, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“By who? Lyssa? She’s not going to hurt me.” Bex assured her.

“Yeah right.” Joan scoffed.

“We have an agreement, that’s all you need to know about it.” Bex moved to leave.

“Wait. I don’t want us to be fighting. I want to make peace. I miss you.” Joan admitted.

“You tried to kill me, you tried to kill Lyssa!” Bex shot at her.

“She’s a vampire!”

Bex shook her head.

“Okay look I am willing to let everything go. I am. And we can make peace with her. We won’t hunt her down so long as she agrees not to kill any more people.”

“You’d do that?” Bex raised her eyebrow in suspicion.

“I would, for you.” Joan grabbed her hands.

Bex smiled at her.

“Okay, but you and Lyssa will have to work that out later. For now, let's just enjoy this.”

Joan nodded. Bex tried to pull away but Joan held her firmly in place. Bex eyed her in confusion before her eyes went wide in shock as Joan pulled her in and kissed her.

“W-what are you doing.” Bex pulled back with a red face.

“I just want you to know that I still have feelings for you. And I would like a second chance to prove myself to you.” She squeezed her hands.

“I—I don’t know.” Bex looked to the ground.

“Please, I’ll do anything,” Joan begged.

“I’ll think about it.” Bex pulled away.

“Okay, then I’ll wait.” Joan nodded.

Bex nodded and the two of them quickly rejoined the group. Lyssa snatched Bex’s hand away from Joan’s almost possessively and shot daggers from her eyes at the vampire slayer. Joan returned the favor.

Bex eyed her and Lyssa’s conjoined hands and smiled.

She cares about me, Bex thought to herself.

They each got into a cart for the Ferris wheel. Mike and Joan rode together, and so did Jaden and Darci, which left Bex with Lyssa.

“So, have you been having a good time?” Bex asked.

Lyssa eyed her.

“Please say yes, otherwise this was all for nothing. I just did this to make you happy, to have fun. You look so down and gloomy all the time.” Bex frowned at her.

“I enjoyed spending this day with you Rebecca, but we must keep things—”

“Stop it! Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you see, we are friends now. Friends care about each other. I care about you, Lyssa. I want you to think of me as your friend, not your slave, not your blood donor, and not the girl you accidentally made a blood bond with. Just as Rebecca, your friend.”

“Why are you so insistent?” Lyssa said more to herself than to Bex.

“Because I can see how lonely you are. I just want to show you that there are still things left to be enjoyed on this earth. That just because you’ve seen and done it all doesn’t mean you have to close in on yourself. No more late night crying, no more inner monologues. If you need to talk, you come to me, yeah?” Bex moved to hold Lyssa’s hands in her own.

Lyssa eyed her before she took a deep breath.

“Okay.” She finally agreed.

“Yeah!?”

“Yes.”

“Yay! New friend buddies.” Bex hugged her.

Lyssa wrapped her arms around Bex and held her tightly.

“Thank you, Rebecca, I really needed this.” She said.

“I know.” Bex hugged her just as tightly.

“Can I…” Lyssa trialed off.

“Listen to my heartbeat?” Bex supplied.

Lyssa nodded into her chest.

“Of course.” Bex smiled.

The adjusted their seating arrangements so that Lyssa and Bex were sitting close to each other. Lyssa rested her head on Bex’s chest. Bex mindlessly ran her fingers through Lyssa’s hair. Lyssa felt her eyes water at the touch.

Just like her, Lyssa thought to herself.

They watched together as fireworks lit up the sky.