Golden Autumn - Part Twelve
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I have to admit, it’s a different feeling this year. Not only because this is unusual for being an autumn Fling Thing. There’s another big difference that I’m finding myself way more conscious of.
Last year Aiden and I came to the Fling Thing as friends.
This year I get to lean back against him while we wait at the entrance for the rest of our group to catch up. He’s put one heavily muscled arm around my waist, and his thumb is gently smoothing in a tight little circle against my ribs while he talks to Noah. For some reason it’s making me blush hard and hold perfectly still, my heartbeat thrumming in my ears.
I’m hoping the others haven’t noticed, but I don’t think they have. Kasey and Will - who reappeared red-cheeked and slightly out of breath at the top of the mountain when Father Leo dropped us off - have soared up high overhead to watch the crowd streaming down the path towards the event. Aiden, Noah, Ralph, and I are off to one side of that crowd, which Ralph is watching with a certain professional satisfaction in his eyes.
He shrugs his shoulders when Aiden notices it and shoots him a questioning look.
“One could argue that I’m a major vendor for this event.” He settles his back against a nearby tree and folds his arms over his chest, watching another carload of people hop out to join the crowd. “And I’d say we got everybody pretty well-supplied.”
He nods at a puff of smoke that just drifted up from the crowd somewhere. I turn to look at him in surprise as the realization dawns on me.
“Wait, is that why you were so busy last night, dude? You were running around getting everybody their Fling Thing drugs?”
“Fling Thing is one of the most profitable days of the year for the Ketterbridge arm of my operation.” Ralph takes a puff of his own blunt, then hands it off to Noah. “This, music festivals, and holidays. Especially Thanksgiving, for some reason.”
A little lurch of unhappiness goes through me. I never thought about how Ralph, after getting banned from the Fling Thing, had to supply it from afar and be part of the buzz of activity without getting to go himself. He definitely brought it on himself - and onto Noah, too - but that still bums me out to think about.
But I brighten up quickly. It feels good to see him and Noah here with us, joining the party this time.
I can tell that Noah’s seriously excited to be back. He’s already hit the blunt a few times, and he’s still bubbling over with energy. It seems to me that he’s trying to hold it in, like he’s concerned he might get in trouble again. He’s all fidgets, rocking on the heels of his combat boots.
“I’m sorry, Noosh,” Ralph says abruptly, a guilty look flashing through his eyes. “It was my fault we got banned. Were you mad at me about it? And - are you still?”
“Yeah, you idiot fuckface,” Noah says brightly, enthusiastically bouncing on his feet. “Tu fais chier. Hate you.”
Ralph blinks at him, then lets out a groaning laugh, dropping onto Noah’s shoulder and sinking his whole weight in. Noah immediately retreats and pushes Ralph off of him, but he’s still grinning.
“You’re the one who got us banned from the chili-eating competition in Greenrock,” Ralph reminds him, taking a swipe at him that he barely dodges. “So you can’t say shit, dude!”
“How many events are you guys banned from?” Aiden asks, staring at the two of them in disbelief.
“Besides Chili for Charity?” Noah thinks about it for a minute, then shrugs his shoulders. “Dunno. Would take some time to add them all up, and I don’t want to do the math. I failed geometry.”
“Why would you need geometry to add up-?”
I’m cut off as Noah guiltily adds - “Ralph, it was kinda my fault, too.”
“What, the chili thing? It was completely your fault. You may remember I actually tried to stop you.”
“No, I mean us getting banned from the Fling Thing. It’s not like you were the only one who got too drunk and stupid.”
“No, it was my fault,” Aiden rumbles, lifting one hand to rub his eyes. “I never should’ve left you children unsupervised for eight years. I’m amazed that you’re not banned from - just everything. In general.”
“Okay,” I finally cut in, stifling a laugh as I turn around to face the three of them. “Not to break up you guys throwing all this blame around, um - at yourselves, but you two were never actually banned from the Fling Thing in the first place. Someone threw you out and said you were, that’s all.”
“Yeah, should’ve known they couldn’t keep me out.” Noah grins widely, takes his hands out of the pockets of his bomber jacket to make two fists. “Should’ve put that shit to the test. Made ‘em try.”
“Tough to stop a Noah in any context,” I tell him, trying not to laugh as he starts shadowboxing.
“Fucking right, dude,” he agrees wholeheartedly. “God couldn’t even kill Noah in the Bible, and he flooded the whole world, so.”
I shrug my shoulders in agreement, then do a sharp double-take as what Noah just said actually registers.
“Hold on, what?” I stare at him in disbelief, my eyes going very wide. “Are - are you being serious, dude? You think God was trying to kill Noah, and that’s why he sent the storm and the flood?”
“I mean - yeah, right?” Noah glances at Ralph for guidance, confused by the question. “Didn’t the two of them battle it out? Why else would Noah build up that giant army with all the animals? Or I guess it was a navy, since they were all on a boat.”
I can only gaze at Noah in blank-faced amazement. “Wow, I - I…”
Aiden and Ralph are looking at Noah’s puzzled face with matching gigantic grins on theirs, grey-green and bright blue eyes all full of affection.
“Where, um - where did you get this version of the story, Noah?” I manage unsteadily, my voice wavering just a tiny bit.
“I don’t know. It just figures, doesn’t it? God wiped out basically all of humankind, dude. Think Noah was just gonna let that shit slide? Of course he was gonna go to bat for his brothers, his fellow man! And for all the critters what got wiped out, too.” He gives my head a shove, pulling a face at me. “I mean, obviously, Jamie. Don’t be dumb.”
I lean heavily against Aiden and drop my face into my hands, trembling with silent laughter.
“Oh, man,” Aiden sighs happily. He hooks one arm around Noah’s shoulders, the other around Ralph’s. “I’m so glad you guys are here this time.”
They both push him away immediately, but then exchange a pleased little grin.
“What are you guys talking about?” Calla asks, rejoining our group with Raj and Mel following behind her. “Don’t say chickens, or I’ll know you’re lying.”
“Fighting God in open combat,” Ralph answers, putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Oh, cool,” Calla says brightly, cozying up against his side. “What sort of armor do you want for that?”
Noah throws his arms out wide and gestures to himself, puffing his chest up. “This right here is my fighting outfit. This is all I need. If God wants a piece of me today, then this is my God-fighting shirt.”
“You’re wearing a sweater, dude,” Raj points out.
“Okay, well - this is my God-fighting sweater doesn’t sound as good, does it?”
I close my eyes in disbelief, struggling not to laugh. “Wow, I’m glad that Father Leo already left. I’m also so glad my mom isn’t overhearing any of this. I think we cruised straight past sacrilege without stopping and continued directly into blasphemy. If God is real he’s probably gonna blow up your new car, Noah.”
Noah’s eyes widen in alarm. “You think so? Fuck! After all that goddamned work? I think some of that smell is still in my hair. Maybe I should just cut it all off.”
“No!” Raj and Mel shout, in perfect unison, so forcefully and instantly that Noah draws back in startled confusion.
Raj and Mel exchange a sheepish glance, realizing how strongly they reacted. Raj even grabbed a fistful of Noah’s inky hair, like he was about to cut it off right now. Noah is holding perfectly still, looking like a puppy who’s been caught by his ear for doing something wrong but has no idea what it was.
“Um - I just don’t know about that, man,” Raj says more gently, releasing Noah’s long black hair. “Just - why change it, you know? It looks good how it is.”
“And the smell is gone!” Melanie insists, putting her arms around Noah’s waist. “So there’s really no need for that!”
“Yeah, no, I - I was just playin’,” Noah says, anxiously glancing back and forth between them. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, c’mon, you know you aren’t,” Raj assures him, briefly resting his cheek on his shoulder. “I think you’re just worried about getting in trouble today because you don’t want to get thrown out of the Fling Thing again.”
“It’s not gonna happen this year!” I jump in, slapping Noah’s shoulder as he glances at Raj in obvious relief. “And if for some reason they won’t let you in, we’re all just gonna leave with you.”
Noah flinches, then looks up at Aiden with an agonized expression in his grey eyes. “Why - why’s he always gotta say things-?”
“No, I know.” Aiden runs a hand over his heart, widens his eyes like he knows the feeling. “It hurts sometimes trying to handle it all. Quit being so nice and sweet, Keane. You’re stressing Noah out.”
I turn back to Noah in surprise and alarm. “Oh, I’m sorry!”
“No, don’t be sorry! Just-” Noah closes his eyes and tilts his head all the way back like he’s in physical pain, but the corners of his mouth are tellingly dimpled up. “For fuck’s sake. Can we go into the Fling Thing now or what? Why the hell are we standing around out here, anyways?”
“We’re still missing two.” I shade my eyes with my hand so I can scan the crowd. “But they should be here any - oh, there they are!”
I raise my hand in an enthusiastic wave, spotting Roger and Luca. They’re weaving their way through the crowd towards us, Luca in the lead and pulling Roger along. Both of them look excited, but Luca especially. It’s his first Fling Thing, too.
“Hey, everyone!” he calls out as he rushes up to us, his usual cheerful smile even brighter than usual.
“Hey, man! I’m glad you two could make it!” I accept a hand slap from Luca, then turn to the rest of the group. “You know most of these guys! Melanie, Calla - this is Roger, and that’s Luca. Friends of ours! Melanie is Raj and Noah’s wife, and Calla is Ralph’s girlfriend. An amazing party planner and software engineer, respectively.”
“Oh, cool!” Luca says brightly, as Roger gives Calla and Mel a warm smile. “Nice to meet you! I’ve met your baby, Melanie, she’s the cutest. Calla, I think your boyfriend’s pretty cute, too.”
This draws a giggle from both of the girls, then another when they see the startled expression on Ralph’s blushing face.
“Wait, this is Roger, like your ex Roger?” Mel whispers in my ear. When I nod in confirmation she bites back a giggle, running her eyes up Roger’s tall, muscled figure. “You have a type, don’t you?”
“Anyways!” I turn back to Roger and Luca, a flustered blush spreading across my face. “Are you excited for your first Fling Thing, Luca? What’s - what’s in there?”
I’m realizing that Luca has a backpack on his shoulders, one that looks stuffed to bursting.
“Oh, just some medical stuff!” He turns to the side to show me that he’s made a cross out of red duct tape on the front of the backpack, and put one on the sleeve of his jacket as well. “Roger told me this whole thing is kind of unofficial, so I was worried maybe there wasn’t anyone here to help out in an emergency. And I already had the backpack set up like this from some protests I’ve been to, so I figured why not?”
He pauses, then nods with a grin at Aiden and adds - “I’ve been spreading the word that if anyone needs help they can find me by the tall guy. Sorry, Aiden, but you do stick out from the crowd.”
“Seriously?” Aiden widens his eyes at Luca in disbelief. “That’s not gonna work! I am not that-”
“Excuse me,” someone interrupts. We all look to the side to see a stranger standing there, gingerly cradling one of his fingers in his hand. He’s looking at Luca, but he gestures at Aiden. “He’s gotta be the - so are you the medic? Can you help me out, man? I just got stung by a bee.”
“Oh, see?” Luca says brightly, slipping his backpack off of his shoulder. “It’s working already!”
“For fuck’s sake,” Aiden sighs, rubbing his temples as Noah and Ralph let out a snicker of laughter.
Luca is already busy taking the stinger out of the guy’s finger, asking him questions about whether or not he has allergies. Roger watches him work with adoring eyes, a little smile playing around his mouth.
He bends down and reaches into the open backpack, pulls out a package wrapped in brown paper. “We didn’t only bring medical supplies, Luc. We’ve got a food contribution.”
“Oh, yeah!” Luca adds, gently wrapping up the guy’s finger. He nods over his shoulder at the package Roger has in his hands, then flashes us a smile. “Pão de queijo, enough for everyone, my grandma’s recipe! But made by Roger instead of me, which means they actually turned out well.”
“Yeah, smells good,” comments the bee sting guy, taking his injured finger back, looking a little bummed out that his Fling Thing started this way.
Luca tilts his head to the side sympathetically. “Aw, well - here, then have one before you go.”
“Really?” The guy blinks in surprise, taken aback. “Thanks, that’s so nice!”
Mel leans over to whisper to me again as Luca gets one of the little round pastries out of the package for him.
“Roger has a type, too,” she giggles, then laughs when I make a face at her.
“Ketterbridge people are so soft,” Calla sighs, grinning widely, her arms folded over her chest.
“I’m not from Ketterbridge,” Luca tells her.
“No? Well, you belong here.”
Luca beams brightly at that, zips up his backpack eagerly. “Then let’s get to what I hear is the Ketterbridge event of the year!”
“Yeah, we should move,” Ralph says firmly. “If we stay here any longer Noah’s gonna wander off and get himself into trouble.”
We all glance at Noah, then do a double-take when we realize he’s not there.
My hands fly up to my cheeks, my eyes widening with alarm. “Oh, no!”
Aiden and Ralph are already in movement, swiftly leading the way through the crowd flowing past. Aiden has the best vantage point, so the rest of us fall into line behind him. Kent spots us and quickly comes over to see what’s going on.
“I see him, the maniac!” Aiden calls over his shoulder, speeding up.
We break through the crowd to find an alarming sight: Noah and Ripley, standing at the place where the road begins winding down the mountain, each of them with one foot on Ripley’s skateboard.
“Just remember to lean the right way during the turns, okay?” Ripley is saying to Noah. “Actually - have you ever been on a skateboard before?”
“Nah, not really, but it won’t be a problem,” Noah explains confidently, “Because you’re driving, and you know how to skateboard.”
Ripley does some thinking, then shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, alright.”
Noah grins maniacally, testing his weight on the board. “What kind of speed d’you think we can get up to?”
“On a mountain this size? Probably pretty-”
Ripley is cut off as everyone springs into action at once. Aiden quite literally lifts Noah and Ripley off of the skateboard, which Calla catches with her foot as it begins to roll away. Ralph confiscates it and hands it off to Kent, who turns to Ripley and Noah to stab a finger at their faces.
“No,” he says firmly. “No. You simpletons.”
“Is this why you told him to bring his boner?” I ask Noah in disbelief.
Roger lets out a sputter of bewildered laughter. “What was that, Jamie?”
Noah begins to struggle, trying to kick himself free. “Put us down, Aiden!”
“Not until you promise not to attempt this or anything like it.”
Noah looks up, panting indignantly. “What’s wrong with what we were doing?”
“Oh, I can answer that one,” Luca says, raising his hand. “You can’t do this because you will hit your head, and completely rearrange your whole brain.”
Noah’s shoulders slump with disappointment as he looks over at Ripley. “Guess we better do what the Doc says.”
“Again, Noah, I’m not a doctor-”
“I prefer to keep my brain how it is,” Noah decides, after some thinking. “Or - mostly. I mean, I don’t know what sort of configuration I’ve got going on in there now, but this version of my brain got me my wife and husband and baby, so I don’t want to fuck with it.”
“Can’t believe this year’s Fling Thing nearly began with Noah falling off the mountain,” Roger says weakly, running a hand through his hair. “On purpose.”
“Well, you don’t know him very well yet,” Raj answers, staring at Noah with adoring eyes.
“Alright, alright, we won’t do it,” Ripley sighs, then nods at his board. “Guess I don’t want to risk breaking my boner in half, anyways.”
“Is something very specific wrong with my ears?” Roger asks, glancing between me and Ripley in bewilderment.
“Pull it together,” Ralph growls quietly into Noah’s ear. “Calla thinking I have cool friends is part of my plan to convince her to stick with me long-term. Don’t fuck that up for me by revealing that this is a full-time goon squad.”
“You’ve got a plan to get Calla to stick around?” I whisper, turning to Ralph in disbelief.
I blink in surprise when he suddenly looks a little panicked.
“No, dude,” he whispers back urgently. “I’ve got nothing, to tell you the truth. I never expected to get this far. What am I supposed to do? Do you guys know? And if you do, can we talk tactics, when we’ve got some more time-?”
“Oh my god, man,” Aiden whisper-laughs, leaning down to join our huddle. “You don’t need a plan to convince her to stay with you, can’t you see she’s-?”
“Hey, are we going in?” Calla asks, coming up to Ralph and wrapping her arms around him, fixing him with a warm, excited smile. “I’m increasingly curious to see what this whole experience is like. Perk of dating a Ketterbridge man that I get to attend, I guess.”
“Yep, a perk, one of many, ‘cause there are lots, and - more on request,” Ralph insists, then blushes slightly, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go in, before Noah tries to destroy any more of his bones.”
“I wasn’t trying to destroy my bones,” Noah argues, as we all move towards the rest of our group. “Nobody likes it when the nurse at the hospital goes ‘oh, sweetheart, no’ when she sees your X-rays. Totally uncalled for, too, I was just fine! Eventually. After a long time.” He reconsiders, looking over at Ralph and Aiden. “Guess it actually didn’t heal up too good for a little while. Like all semester.”
“Probably shouldn’t have tried to do a backflip before you got the cast off your wrist, dumb fuck,” Ralph tells him, with as much affection as he’ll allow himself to show at one time. “If Aiden hadn’t caught you basically out of the air it would’ve been so much worse…”
He trails off like something just occurred to him, then looks over at Aiden with wide eyes.
“Jesus, A,” he says softly. “How many little Guardian things have you done for us that we didn’t even notice?”
Aiden shrugs his powerful shoulders. “One. Maybe two.”
Ralph lets out a snort of laughter, rolling his eyes as he turns away. “Yeah, alright!”
“What other perks of dating Ketterbridge men were you talking about, by the way?” Calla asks him. “Now I’m curious.”
“Oh, there are tons!” Noah jumps in, eager to be helpful, then seems to realize he should have thought at least one sentence further ahead. “Like, um - like - there’s - you’ll never have to go to a chili-eating competition so long as you keep dating Ralph. If chili’s not your thing, that’s pretty good, so, you know. Think that one over.”
Calla stares at Noah in blank confusion, then looks at Raj as he chimes in -
“Oh, are you talking about Chili for Charity? That event is a blast, man. The cook-off alone is worth going for. Last time they had some pretty good live music, too.”
“Sounds like fun,” Calla says brightly.
“Goddamn you, Noah,” Ralph sighs, running a hand down his face. “Should have let you feed yourself the mountain.”
“But you didn’t, because the power of love is stronger!” I tell Ralph, smiling brightly, refusing to notice the searing glare he immediately fixes me with.
“You want to get armbarred, Keane?”
“Try it and see what happens,” Aiden growls warningly.
“Aiden will crush you and so will I, dude,” Noah informs Ralph, then grinds the heel of his boot into the grass to demonstrate. “Pest Control Fatality, like in Mortal Kombat.”
“Oh, okay, Ermac.” Ralph jerks his head in Calla’s direction. “You forget I’m dating Sonya Blade?”
“Kiss of Death if you touch my boyfriend,” Calla says, smiling sweetly at Noah in a way that makes his grey eyes widen with alarm.
“Why do I feel like she really means it, bro? She looks like she means it.”
“Doesn’t she?” Ralph asks, smiling dreamily at Calla like she’s an angel.
I let out a helpless laugh, twisting the heist ring around my finger as we all stop to gather up the stuff we left by the trees, coolers and blankets and backpacks. “This is so much violence borne from me talking about the power of love.”
“Now you know how Jesus must feel,” Kasey says, lightly descending to land by my side, pulling Will down with her.
“That reminds me, I’m gonna need Noah to tell you his idea of the flood story,” I tell her, suppressing a grin.
“Hey, it wasn’t that much farther off than a lot of depictions of historical stuff in the movies,” Aiden laughs.
“Are you talking about 300 again?” Noah asks him, then turns to Raj. “Aiden hates that movie.”
“Ah, yes, the one where the Spartans are fighting the terrible Persian army in the name of freedom!” Kasey scoffs. “Should we talk about the seven-to-one helot ratio in Ancient Sparta, or?”
“I mean - not right now, we shouldn’t,” I laugh, as Aiden repeats Kasey’s words for the group. “We’re at the Fling Thing, so it doesn’t seem like the time to get into a helot conversation.”
“Hey, I’m down for this conversation,” Noah tells me, breaking into a grin. “What kind of harlots are we talking about? No matter what the answer is, a seven-to-one ratio sounds pretty good to me.”
“Helots, dude. Helots.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Alix asks, rejoining the group with Gabby at her side.
“Helots in Ancient Sparta,” Ripley answers, making both girls lift their eyebrows.
“Weirdly I feel like that one wasn’t a lie,” Gabby says, around a baffled laugh. “And yet it’s no less confusing of an answer.”
I miss whatever explanation Kent gives her as we fall into the flow of the crowd, heading down the path towards the field on the mountainside where the Fling Thing takes place. There are enough people this year that I catch Aiden’s hand to make sure I don’t lose him.
The familiar feeling of walking this path puts a gigantic smile on my face, which grows a little bigger as Noah and Ralph move to walk ahead of us. Noah is bouncing to the music we can faintly hear drifting to us from off in the distance. Ralph looks over at him and snickers fondly when he sees the radiant, eager grin on his face.
I drop Aiden’s hand and dart up closer to the two of them.
“Can I say something emotional and from the heart about our friendship?” I ask brightly.
“Fuck no, dude!” Ralph sputters, his eyes widening with alarm. “Absolutely not! The fuck sort of ambush is this?”
Noah didn’t even say anything, just simply tried to run, but Aiden catches a fistful of his jacket before he can get too far and holds him in place for me.
“I’m also really glad you guys could come this year,” I tell them affectionately, then dissolve into laughter as Noah desperately attempts to struggle free. “Okay, okay, I’ll just leave it at that! But I mean it. I mean it a lot.”
I give them a quick hug from behind, then fall back to walk with Aiden. Ralph and Noah exchange a glance with each other. Noah winces and runs a hand over his heart, and Ralph gives him a pained grimace like he agrees.
I can’t help but break into a huge smile. I really am so happy they’re here. And I’m glad that Ripley and Alix came, and Kasey and Will, and Roger and Luca, and that Calla gets to be part of this for the first time. As we make our way further down the path Destinee and Angie join us, beaming excitedly, Angie waving the nachos in the air above her head like a flag of victory. Rasheem follows in her wake with a speaker in his hand. Leaving a trail of dancing people in the crowd behind him, doing a lil’ dance himself, laughing when we all cheer at their arrival.
The ghosts soar up to float just above the crowd, catching the autumn sunshine in their pearly, translucent forms, glimmering from within with the golden light. Merlot-colored leaves drift down from the crowns of the trees, swirling in the breeze and catching in people’s hair or on their scarves. Brown leaves crunch beneath our feet, a light mist drifting around our ankles.
Every now and then a burst of joyful shouting swells up from somewhere in the crowd as friends find each other. The noise climbs up with a general swell as we reach the end of the path, and finally step out into the open expanse on the mountainside.
The stretch of field is fringed with autumn colors this year, the trees all in vivid shades of deep crimson and flamy orange and soft amber. Heaps of fallen leaves blanket the earth around their roots, swept a little bit away by the breeze with each slow gust. The sky is soft with clouds that let the golden sunshine fall right through them. In the gaps I can see a few very early stars peeking through. Two girls near the edge of the field have brought kites, which they’re flying up towards the glittering sky.
The field is full of people, talking and laughing and setting up their picnic blankets. This year people have brought blankets to bundle up in, too, and lanterns to put out. Someone is walking around selling popcorn balls and candy apples dipped in caramel. Someone else is playing guitar for a little gathered-up group. The smell of hot chocolate drifts towards me on the crisp breeze, a warm cidery and buttery smell beneath it.
There’s no bonfire scent from the big fire yet, since it won’t be lit until later, but people are at work piling kindling up for it. Roger runs an expert eye over what they’re doing and quickly heads over to help out. Kasey tugs on Will’s hand and pulls him up high into the air. The two of them alight softly on the kites flying above us for an overhead look.
The rest of us stand gazing out over the Fling Thing in silence for a moment, taking it all in.
“Oh, yes!” Ripley shouts excitedly, springing forward with Alix’s hand caught in his paint-stained fingers.
Everyone else goes bounding forward with a cheer of excitement, which ripples out from us across the field as other people cheer in response.
Aiden weaves his fingers through mine. I look up at him, then blink in surprise as a kiss lands on my lips. A quick little one, there and gone before I can react.
Aiden is already looking out at the Fling Thing again when I open my eyes. His achingly handsome profile is outlined in autumn sunlight, the tropical blue of his eyes even warmer for all his excitement. A sweet, eager grin is lighting up his face.
I lift my fingers to my lips and leave them there for a second, my pulse fluttering. Suddenly I feel so sharply aware of his hand in mine, how good it feels. I didn’t get to hold his hand like I wanted to the last time we were here. Everything between us was still unadmitted at that point, so I couldn’t.
I give Aiden’s fingers a soft, adoring squeeze, snuggling up close to him as we set out across the field.
Happy as I am watching our expanded group rush forward to join the Fling Thing, this is far and away my favorite difference from last year.
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