Carina slipped on an autumn colored sweater over her head. She then put on an old gold locket and golden hooped earrings. She looked in the mirror. She wore blue jeans and brown furred boots. Her curly hair was wild and free, but beautiful. Carina then picked up the mascara bottle and began applying it to her lashes. She then took a tube of chapstick and applied it to her lips. She grabbed a golden one strapped back and slipped over her head.

“Mom! I’m going out with friends! Ivan’s supposed to pick me up. Has anyone knocked on the door?!” Carina yelled as she ran down stairs to see Ivan already standing at the front door.

He wore a white sweater with a black jacket over it and blue jeans with black boots. Ivan smiled at Carina and then said, “I promise to bring her home by eleven.”

“You two have fun! Tell your friends I said ‘hi’,” Carina’s mom said, wearing a blue sweater and blue jeans. She had her hair up in a messy bun.

“But, not too much fun,” Carina’s dad said, standing beside Carina’s mom. He wore a black sweater and blue jeans.

“We won’t. We’ll have a decent amount of fun. I love you,” Carina said, hugging her parents ‘goodbye’.

“Love you,” Her parents said, smiling as Carina and Ivan headed out the door and towards a small black Elantra.

Ivan opened the front seat door for Carina and she climbed in. “Thank you,” She said.

“No problem,” He then shut the door and walked over to the other side of the car.

“Why does it feel like we’re on a date?” Carina thought, blushing.

Ivan hopped into the car and then buckled up. “You ready to go?”

“Yep,” Carina said.

Ivan then pulled out of the driveway and onto the street of clouds.

“You excited?” Ivan asked.

“Sorta. You?” Carina said.

“Pretty excited. I looked it up online and it looked pretty cool and we’re going at night,” Ivan said, sounding pretty excited.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Carina asked.

“At night they let people make and decorate lanterns with a wish attached to each of them. Then at eight they let people light them and let them loose into the sky.”
“That sounds pretty cool.”

“Yeah, and I’ve heard they’re really beautiful.”

“Sounds like it. Is there gonna be bad traffic?”
“Not that I know of. I looked it up before I came to your house. It should be pretty clear for the most part.”

“Good because I do not want to be sitting in a car for two hours just to get to an Autumn Festival.”

Ivan laughed. “Don’t worry. It should only be about a twenty minute drive.”

“Thank goodness,” Carina said.

Ivan laughed again. “You’re really something else, Carina.”

Carina blushed.

“Oh. Esme just texted me. She said Aydan’s car just broke down and she doesn’t know he’ll be able to make it to her house in time to pick her up. She then asked if she could ride with us,” Carina said, looking at her golden cased phone.

“It’s perfectly fine with me,” Ivan said with a smile. “She can ride with us.”

“It’s fine with me too. It’s just…I know she was really excited to go to the festival with Aydan. Wait...what if we pick up Aydan and then pick up Esme? Would that work?” Carina said, hopefully.

“It’s worth a shot. Can you text Aydan on my phone?” Ivan said, pulling out a silver cased phone from his pocket. He then handed it to Carina.

Carina turned it on to find her and Ivan sitting under an autumn colored tree together when they were little. They had huge smiles on their faces.

“Aw. I’m your wallpaper,” Carina said with a smile, blushing.

“Yes. You’ve always been,” Ivan said, blushing. “Can you text Aydan saying that we’re gonna pick him up?”

“Sure,” Carina said.

“Thanks,” Ivan said.

Carina then quickly found Aydan’s contact and started texting him.

Hey, Aydan. It’s Carina. Ivan’s driving 

and told me to text you. We are going

to pick you up so that you can still 

technically pick her up.

Alright. Sounds good. My car’s in the

shop right now. I’m at Cloud Automobiles. 

It’s on Rainbow Street, near Cloudmart.

Awesome! I’ll let Ivan know! See you 

soon!

See ya!

Carina then looked up from Ivan’s phone and said, “He’s at Cloud Automobiles on Rainbow Street. It’s near Cloudmart.”

“Alright. I think I know where that is, so I don’t need the CPS,” Ivan said.

“Ok. Sounds good,” Carina said.

A little while later, they arrived at Esme’s and Aydan had gone to the front door to get her while Ivan and Carina stayed in the car.

“They’re such a cute couple,” Carina said.

“They really are,” Ivan agreed.

“I want a relationship like that,” Carina said.

“So do I,” Ivan said, turning to face Carina.

Ivan then asked, “I know it’s probably too late, but what do you think about going on a date with me?” Ivan blushed.

“I’d love to,” Carina blushed. “We can count going to the festival as our first official date but with friends, if you want.”

“Sounds good to me. I will take you on a real date later though.”

“Yes, we should go somewhere beautiful and have a picnic!” Carina’s face lit up.

“Yeah, like at a park or something.”

“Yes! I love that idea!”

Esme and Aydan then got into the car.

“Thanks you guys for bringing Aydan,” Esme said with a huge smile while holding Aydan’s hand. Esme wore a big forest green sweater and blue jeans with brown furred boots. She had her hair down and wavy covering her shoulders.

“Of course,” Ivan said.

“We would do anything to make you happy,” Carina said with a smile.

“Thanks, it means a lot to me,” Esme said. “Also, sorry to change the subject, but are you two dating yet?”

Ivan and Carina’s faces turned dark pink.

“Um...starting about two minutes ago, yeah. We’re counting today as our first official friend group date and then we’re going to go on a real one in the future,” Ivan said.

“Finally! Carina’s had a crush on you for like forever!” Esme said, teasingly.

Carina’s blush deepened.

Ivan laughed.

“So has Ivan,” Aydan said with a smirk. “Everyone knew except you two.” Aydan then laughed. Aydan wore a forest green shirt with a small black jacket and jeans. He also wore brown furred boots to match Esme’s.

Esme giggled.

Carina and Ivan’s faces were now cherry red.

A little while later, they arrived at the Autumn Festival.

“Ok. First things first, we need to find the others,” Carina said, after getting out of the car.

“Agreed,” Esme said.

Ivan and Aydan nodded in agreement.

“They said that we would meet near the Caramel Apple stand,” Carina said, looking around.

“There it is! I see them!” Aydan said, pointing to what looked like Rayn and Desmond from afar.

Aydan, Carina, Ivan, and Esme then walked over to the Caramel Apple Stand to see their friends.

“Hey guys!” Desmond said with a smile. He wore a black long sleeve shirt with a dark purple puffed up vest. He wore blue jeans and black boots to match.

Rayn stood next to Desmond wearing her blue hair in one big braid hung down on her left shoulder. She wore a white sweater and matching dark purple puffed up vest. She also wore white furred boots.

“Hey,” Ivan said.

“What’s up?” Aydan said.

“I hope we didn’t keep you guys waiting,” Esme said, sincerely.

“You didn’t. We just got here like two minutes ago,” Rayn said with a smile.

“Ok good. Is Animos and Payton here yet?” Carina asked.

“No, not yet,” Rayn said.

Just then Payton and Animos ran up to them. Payton wore her black hair back in a fishtail braid with a white hat on and a white sweater with an oversized black jacket on it that looked like it could fit Animos. She also wore blue jeans and white furred boots. Animos wore a black sweater with a white vest jacket with blue jeans and black leather boots.

“Sorry we’re late. We got stuck in traffic,” Animos said, apologetically.

“You’re fine. I was just thinking about getting some hot chocolate before we start looking around and playing some games,” Damian said. “How does that sound, guys?”

“That sounds wonderful! I’m freezing!” Esme said, shivering.

Aydan put his arm around her and rubbed her arm to warm her up. “Sounds good to me.”

“Sounds delicious,” Payton said with a smile.

“I’m in!” Animos said with a smile.

“Me too,” Ivan said.

“Me three,” Carina said with a smile.

“Me fourth,” Rayn said with a smile.

“Alright, hot chocolate here we come!” Damian said, walking over to a stand that said “Hot Chocolate.”

After they got hot chocolate, they played some games, browsed, and shopped at some stores.

“Oh! We should probably go ahead to make the lanterns now. It’s almost time,” Aydan said, looking at the time on his phone.

Everyone then followed him to stand where they handed everyone markers and folded lanterns. They also handed them lighters to light the lanterns.

They all then walked over to a bench and sat down and began drawing and writing on their lanterns.

“You put your wish on the inside of the lantern before you put it all together and light it,” Aydan instructed.

Animos drew a big cloud with snow coming out of it on his lantern. Payton drew mistletoe and evergreen trees on her lantern. Esme drew Snowdrops in the snow on her lantern. Aydan drew a big fire in a fireplace with stockings hung above it on his lantern. Rayn drew icicles on the outline of her lantern and then wrote her initials and Damian’s in the middle in an ice heart. Damian drew a bubbly potion with a blue heart coming out of the bottle with his and Rayn’s initials inside it. Ivan drew a giant Christmas tree decorated with Christmas ornaments on his lantern. Lastly, Carina drew a giant bundle of presents each with her friends’ names on the tags on her lantern.

They each put their wishes inside and opened up the lanterns and lit them up.

Animos went with Payton and held her close to him as they both lifted their lanterns into the sky with everyone else’s. Animos then looked at Payton and kissed her.

Damian went with Rayn and lifted their lanterns into the sky. They then kissed while holding each other close.

Esme and Aydan went to lift their lanterns into the sky and then they kissed as they hugged each other close.

Ivan and Carina were the last ones to lift their lanterns into the sky. Carina then turned to face Ivan who was already looking at her. Ivan moved closer to her to the point where their noses almost touched.

“Can I kiss you?” Ivan asked, looking into Carina’s ocean blue eyes, blushing a little.

“Yes,” Carina said with a smile, blushing.

Ivan then held Carina’s head in his hands and kissed her. Sweet and passionately.

The kiss ended and Carina hugged Ivan as they stared up at the sky at the beautifully lit lanterns drifting past each other as they ascended higher and higher.