I had texted Damion a few minutes after he left, when I noticed he left his car at the restaurant, and conveniently enough, his keys as well. I had a feeling that he planned this to get me and Lexia alone, but it was actually enjoyable.

 About 10 minutes after I texted him, Dame finally responded:

“Oops, well I guess you can drive Lexia home” 


Then another text.

“Don’t stay out too late and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do ;)”

Of course, he would say that. I guess the stunt Lexia and I pulled may have deserved it, but still, it was just a small kiss. Nothing too big, right? I decided to text him back since Lexia had to step outside to take a call. 

“Haha, very funny,” I sent the text, and then decided to try to trip him up again. “Oh, btw, how’s your fish doing? What was its name? Kevin, was it?” I chuckled to myself, and I didn’t even realize that Lexia had come back to the table.

“What are you laughing at?” Their voice, while it should have startled me by coming out of nowhere, wrapped itself around me, like a safety blanket from your childhood. 

“Nothing, just asking Dame how his fish is doing,” I chuckle again thinking about how flustered he was.

“I still can’t believe he tried making up an excuse like that,” Lexia smiled to themselves, but my eyes lingered on their perfect features. 

“What time is your curfew?” I ask. The question seems to be spontaneous, but I’ve been thinking about it, trying to plan for us do something before we have to go home.

“I think it’s like 1 am, but I’m sure my parents would extend it for me. “

“Ok,” I couldn’t hide my smile as the perfect night flashed through my mind. “I’m going to go pay and then we’re going to go out for a surprise.” I saw Lexia’s face light up with their beautiful smile, but their expression had hints of curiosity. 

“Hey! Why can’t I pay? I ate too, it’s only fair,” they never lost the smile I adore so much. 

“Maybe next time, maybe not. You’ll never know.” I saw determination on their face, and I knew that they were going to try to pay, they tried on our date as well. I ended up asking if they could pack up the food Damion didn’t finish. They reluctantly agreed, and I went to pay while they got the remaining food packed up. 

“So do I get to know where we’re going?” I find it funny they think I’ll crack that easy. 

“Nope, but you can pick the music if you’d like,” I looked at them for a second and saw them connecting their phone to the aux without hesitation and turning on music. I’m not sure what kind of music it is, but I like it. I don't know if it’s just a good song, or if I only like it because they like it, but it doesn’t matter to me. 

“What type of music is this? It’s much better than I expected.” I looked at them for just a second, it was just enough time to see them get excited about sharing something with me. I’m not sure what it is but seeing Lexia this way makes me feel some sort of way, and I can’t stop a smile from forming on my face. The whole, not being able to control my smile seems to be an ongoing pattern when I’m around them, but it’s definitely something I would never want to change. 

“It’s a little bit of everything. Mostly just some songs I heard growing up, or songs I’ve heard on the radio, and even some that friends have recommended. Plus, my music is obviously better. You just listen to classical music with a couple of alternative songs, not much taste there.” They teased me, but not in a mean way. Damion had tried teasing me like that a few times, but I just kept taking it too personally, but when Lexia teased me, it felt natural.

We had been driving for about 15 minutes while Lexia played DJ with their playlist. It’s so weird to think that I used to believe the only way I could find true feelings for someone was to be out, but now, I know I don’t, even if I would love to be.

“Are we almost there?” Lexia asked this like a child on a road trip. “I’m getting impatient, Mallow.” I forgot about that, the whole physical identity and all that fun stuff.

“Yes, we are almost there, and you can call my Mal if you’d like,” I was hoping they would pick up the nickname. 

“Ok, Mal, would you like to tell me where you are taking me at 10:30 at night?” The way they emphasized my nickname gave me butterflies. “You know, if I didn’t know you, this would be very, very bad.”

I let out a light chuckle and said, “Well if you didn’t know me, I would be concerned you went out to dinner with me and my friend, and then decided to get into the car with me.” When I looked over to see their reaction, I could see the “ok, you win” look painted all over their face.

 We were only about two minutes away from where I was taking them. I knew that very soon it would be very clear where I was taking them. I looked over to Lexia while we were sitting at a red light. Their face was so wholesome while they were singing to their music. The way they were acting as if they had no care in the world.

“Mal, where are you taking me? Because I swear if you are taking me to the carnival I may scream.” There was a lot of traffic so I couldn’t look over, meaning I couldn’t see if this was a good thing or bad thing.

“Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? We can go somewhere else if you’d like.” I was a little scared I made the wrong choice. I have never been to the carnival and I wanted to experience it with Lexia for the first time. 

“It’s a really good thing!” I was finally able to turn my head for just a moment, their smile was one that spread across their face like the rising sun.  

“I’m glad to hear that,” I chuckle. “We’re almost there.” I could feel my heart start to speed up as we get closer to the carnival. I kept looking at Lexia whenever I could. Usually, I just saw them dancing or singing to the music, except, when I looked over this time, they were looking at me with the same face they made when they came up with their idea at the restaurant. I was about to ask Lexia what they were thinking about, but they spoke first.

“Hey Mal! I have another idea.” I didn’t need to look at them to know their face was covered by their unique, sly smile. 

“Oh no,” I chuckled under my breath. “You know, Lex, Damion didn’t appreciate your last idea very much. Although, seeing him so flustered was priceless.” I looked over as I finished talking to see their face covered by a rosy blush.

“Lex? That’s new.” I guess now it was my turn to be the flustered one.  

“Oh, um, I didn’t mean,” I cut myself off, “I’m sorry, I’ll stop calling you-”

“No! I mean, you don’t have to stop. I, um, I like it, Mal,” they cut me off. I already knew my face was red, and I’m sure Lexia is blushing too, you know, with their stammering and all.

“Ok then, Lex.” I emphasized their nickname just as they did with mine. “So, now I’m interested, and I need to know, what is your idea?” 

“Oh yeah! So, I think that we should make a bet,” I could hear their smile as they spoke.

“I’m listening.”

“We’ll have a competition of who can win the most games.” I already know I won’t do so well.

“So, what does the winner get?” There’s really no point in asking since I know I’m going to lose, but I’m curious.

“The winner gets to choose something for the loser to do.” Once they say that, I knew I had to win. I already have the perfect idea.

We had finally gotten to the carnival and parked. I bought both of our tickets, which Lex obviously had to fight me on, but I won again. We made our way to all of the games.

There must be hundreds of games set up here! We’ve played two games, and I have managed to win exactly zero. Well, there goes my idea I had for if I won. 

An hour passed as I miserably failed at winning games. Lex won 8-2. I knew I wouldn’t win, but I didn’t expect to lose by so much.

“So, you obviously won that bet.” I found it kind of funny I lost by such a large margin. “What do I have to do?” I began preparing myself for the worst.

“Hmmmm . . .” they pretend to be thinking over their answer, “I think I’ll make you wait for that answer. So, I’ll tell you when we leave.” They flash me an innocent smile.

“Lex! Are you really going to make me wait?”

“Yeah!” They chuckled. They really chuckled at that?

I gasped with an exaggerated face of disbelief. “That’s not very nice of you, Lex!” I see them smile at my dramatic actions. 

“Well, I never said I was nice,” they emphasized the end.

“Well, I never said I was going to wait,” I retorted.

“Too bad, so sad.” Lex skipped towards the food stands like a little kid. “How about some food?” they turned around and asked me with their innocent smile.

I stopped walking and crossed my arms over my chest, a pout on my face. “Come on Lex! Just tell me what I have to do,” I started to complain. Suddenly, their innocent smile became a sly smirk.

“Begging? That’s a new one,” they stared at me as my face turned red instantly.

“Uh- no I- no I wasn’t- uh why don’t we go get some food? The churros smell really good,” I chuckled nervously and quickly walked past Lexia towards the food stands. They followed behind me, trying to catch up while their laughter filled the air.

We ended up stopping at five different food stands to try different snacks before settling at a table with our food. For some reason Lex insisted I tried fried butter. It was absolutely disgusting, like a crime against humanity. They started dying of laughter as I took a bite out of the butter, and immediately spit it out into a napkin. 

“Oh god! That was disgusting!” Lex was still laughing at my reaction to the food.

“I know,” I swear I could see tears in their eyes from how hard they were laughing. 

“If you knew it doesn’t taste good, then why did you make me try it?!”

“Because your reaction was the best part!” Their laughter never stopped, and while I wasn’t happy about the bad food, I couldn’t be mad at them.  

As Lexia’s laugh slowly came to an end, we fell into a comfortable silence, and I couldn’t look away. Their green eyes daring me to come closer. 

“Oh, hi, Mallow! I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?” Princess Julia’s giggle forced me to break eye contact. 

“Oh, uh, hi, Princess Julia. I’m good. Um- What are you doing here?” I was caught off guard by her appearance I almost forgot Lexia was seated across from me.

“I came with my brother, but he left early,” she answered with a smile I wasn’t sure was entirely real. “And who would this be?” She glanced at Lexia before looking back at me.

Before I could register the question, Lex stood up with their hand reached out, “Hi, Royal Lexia Fuller, Mallow’s partner, nice to meet you.” The way they spoke with such confidence left me watching in awe. 

“Princess Julia Winsor, nice to meet you.” She hesitantly shook Lexia’s hand, clearly caught off guard.

“So, was there anything you needed from us?” Lexia asked without taking their seat.

“Oh, um, I don’t- I just wanted to stop by and see how Mallow was,” Julia’s confidence wavered for a moment before she looked at her phone. “Looks like I should get going now. See you around, Mallow. Nice meeting you, Lexia.”

Lex smiled and waved before sitting back down. I remained silent while looking at them with awe. It wasn’t until Lex’s face turned to confusion that I realized I was still staring.

“Oh- Um- Sorry, I was just- you were-” I was stumbling over my words terribly before I finally got a single word out, “wow.”

They laughed softly before asking, “what do you mean?”

“I mean ‘wow’. I always get so awkward when talking to her.” I saw jealously flash through Lex’s eyes before I quickly clarified, “I didn’t mean like that! She is just so straight forward, and it seems she can never take a hint.” I was rambling, like a lot, and I was probably embarrassing myself. God, why do I always do this to myself?

“Mal! Calm down,” their face softened, and I got butterflies from the way my name sounded when Lexia said it. The way they looked at me made me feel safe, and comfortable.