When Julian steps off the Ferris Wheel, his legs feel like jelly. Some of the girls made it off the ride before him, and now they’re standing in a huddle by a standee with holes in it, made to look like a mermaid and a pirate when people stick their heads through. Currently, Tina is the pirate and Tracy is the mermaid.

When Theo steps off the Ferris Wheel, his stomach is in knots. He had promised himself after the stage kiss that he wouldn’t act weird around Julian anymore, since he felt bad last time when he had alienated himself. But what just happened up there? Did Julian feel as electrified as he did? Did that count as cheating on Jess?

The boys stand next to Quinn and Val, who are still taking pictures of Tracy and Tina. Julian notices that Quinn’s face is incredibly red. So red, in fact, that he almost doesn’t see the kiss mark left on her cheek with red lipstick that matches the shade Val is wearing. The boys don’t say anything to each other, both too nervous to ask questions or even make jokes.

“What are you all standing around for?” Elena inquires, skipping towards the group with Susan.

“Just waiting for you guys,” Tracy says, coming out from behind the standee.

“Um, I think I need to head home,” Theo says. “My curfew is 11, and my house is a little ways from here.”

“What a bummer!” Susan says too loudly. “Well, drive home safe! Text the group chat when you’ve made it!”

“Oh! Hang on,” Julian says, handing the puffer fish to Val, “let me give you back your jacket…”

“Ah, just hold on to it for now,” Theo waves him off. “I’m just driving home, and I don’t know if you all are sticking around, so… yeah. You can give it back whenever.”

“Thanks,” Julian squeaks. They make eye contact for a few seconds longer than necessary before Theo waves and heads for the exit, shoving his hands in his pockets as he goes.

As soon as he is out of sight, Elena and Susan grab Julian by the wrists and drag him to the nearest picnic table. He already knows what they’re going to ask him, so he moves willingly to keep himself from falling over. Once seated, the Drama Queens crowd around him, sitting or kneeling on the table or its benches, staring at him intently.

“Oh. My. God. Tell us everything!” Elena shrieks.

His ears are soon flooded with questions, overlapping one another without a break.

“When did he lend you his jacket?”
“How many tickets did he spend on the puffer fish?”
“Did he buy the cotton candy for you? Or did you buy it for him?”
“Did he ask to hold your hand?”
“When you won the monkey for him, was he blushing?”
“What did you guys talk about? He was so giggly all night!”
“Did he sneak a kiss on the Ferris Wheel?”

“Holy Batman! Take a breather, you guys!” Julian shouts over them.

Susan signals to the group with her hands to lower the volume. They all quiet down, giving Julian a chance to speak.

“I don’t even know what to say,” he says, feeling out of breath. “Were you all in on this plan?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tina says.

“Walk us through this, step by step. Did he buy the cotton candy?” Tracy asks.

“Yeah. I told him not to, but he just said we could share. It was nice. It was warm when we first got the bag, and we walked really close together so we could both reach.”

The girls sigh a collective “aww” before he continues.

“I won him the monkey first, and I strapped it around his neck. I wasn’t really thinking when I did it, but then our faces were super close, and I could see from the corner of my eye that his face was all red.”

Susan slaps Elena’s arm, sort of like she’s saying “I told you so.”

“I told him the monkey was to payback the cotton candy, but then he went and won me the fish. He let me pick it out.”

“That’s a good move. He knows from rehearsals that you like things a certain way,” Elena says, analyzing Theo’s response. Julian wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled out a notebook while he was talking to take notes.

“Um, we walked around for a bit, talked about movies and stuff. Turns out he’s a huge dork, it’s amazing,” he smiled slightly remembering their conversation. “I also went on about Greek Mythology, and he was actually listening, so that was really nice.”

“We stan good listeners,” Tracy says with a nod of understanding.

“Oh! Tracy! What did he tell you on the Tilt A’ Whirl?” Susan asks.

“Well, not much,” Tracy shrugs. “I like, implied that this was a date to see what he would do, and he got all flustered and started stammering. And then he said something like ‘Well, I like him as a friend so don’t get the wrong idea, ha ha.’ But then I said that Julian is the best and he would probably be willing to wait for him to sort through his gay panic-”

“Ugh. He’s never going to make a move now that he thinks Julian is willing to sit around and wait,” Val cuts in.

“But wait! Then he said he hopes that I’m right about the waiting thing. AND!” she stops, making sure she has everyone’s undivided attention, “he said, and I quote, he ‘doesn’t want to keep him waiting for too long.’”

The girls begin shrieking like seagulls at the good news. Julian is certain that his face is hot enough to melt off, so he buries it in the puffer fish to ignore them.

“Jules! You could have a boyfriend before the show is over!” Elena hollers, shaking Julian’s arm in excitement.

“Agh! I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. Talk about how Val kissed Quinn on the Ferris Wheel instead.”

All heads turn to the pair, with Val avoiding eye contact and Quinn turning firetruck red. The girls immediately screech at a decibel that only dogs should be able to hear, and Julian happily fades into the background for a moment.

~~~

Theo may or may not have exaggerated the distance from the fair to his house. He needed some time to think about the events of the evening, and he did his best thinking either in the shower or while driving. He turns off the radio, cracks open the windows for some fresh air, and starts from square one.

There are a few things that Theo knows for sure. Theo has a massive crush on Julian. Theo is a boy. Julian is also a boy. Therefore, Theo recognizes that he is somewhere on the homosexual side of the sexuality spectrum. He also still has a girlfriend. However, he has not hung out with said girlfriend in about a week. Said girlfriend has also not expressed much interest in seeing Theo any time soon.

However, there are also a million things that Theo doesn’t know. He does not know how Julian feels about him. Theo also does not know if his parents would be cool with him being… not straight. He doesn’t know how to ask a boy on a date. Do the same rules apply like when you ask out a girl? Should he even be asking Julian out if he doesn’t know for sure if he likes him back?

Theo stops at a red light and drums his fingers on the steering wheel, deep in thought. He decides he should focus on one event at a time, not the picture as a whole. If he did that, he would never stop driving.

Tonight was amazing and terrifying and lovely and awful all at the same time. For starters, Theo had bought that cotton candy without thinking about its implications. Who would have thought that some pink candy floss could help transform a friendly outing between platonic bros into something like a date? Not until he was walking side by side with their shoulders brushing together did Theo realize the connotation of his actions, but he didn’t regret it.

He didn’t expect Julian to win him a stuffed animal, either. Julian had definitely stepped it up from “something like a date” to “definitely more than friends.”

Theo hadn’t meant to go crazy with the puffer fish, either. It was like the feelings that had blossomed in his chest needed to come out, and the only acceptable way to release them was with a gift. What else was he supposed to do? Hug him? Kiss him? Just saying “thank you” didn’t feel like enough.

Theo started wondering if everything from the evening felt bigger in his head than it actually was. Maybe Julian was just being friendly. After all, he hadn’t had many opportunities to hang out with him outside of school, and he was just as playful and smiley at lunch. Perhaps the only reason Theo felt so hopeful that Julian felt the same was because he had just come to terms with his colossal crush.

He approaches a dead end and begins a three-point turn, scoffing at his own absent-mindedness. He realizes that he needs to do something about Jess. It’s not fair to her to be into someone else while still being her boyfriend. However, this will be the first time that Theo has broken up with her, not the other way around. He hopes that it’s as easy for him as it has been for her to break it off.

This all feels way too crazy to Theo. He is a creature of habit. He’s had the same haircut since he was in 6^th grade, ordered the same thing from Chili’s since he was 14, and even dated the same girl since freshman year. How is it possible that the rug has been pulled out from him so quickly? Why is he so freakishly calm about the whole situation? What is it about Julian that is so magnetic, that Theo is willing to rewrite the stars for him?

It’s one thing to say you like a boy, but it’s an entirely different thing to make changes and to put those feelings into action. If he ever were to kiss Julian for real, what would that mean for him? What would it be like to have a boyfriend? What would it mean for Julian? What would it mean for them as an “us?”

He flicks on his blinker and turns into his neighborhood with a troubled sigh. Maybe a shower will help him process the thoughts that driving could not.