Rosetendale

The fairgrounds buzzed with cheerful noise laughter, chatter, the crinkle of paper tickets and the sweet smell of icing sugar in the air. Kids darted between colorful stalls, each grade wearing a different color of the rainbow. Cade stood just outside the cake sale booth, a half-finished slushie in one hand, its cold drip soaking into the edge of his sleeve. The air was crisp but gentle not too cold, not too warm the kind of weather that made you feel like anything could happen.

He hadn’t expected to run into anyone today especially not Malikai.

It had been years since they’d seen each other, back when Cade used to visit his cousin Carra in the city. Time had stretched and twisted between them, but the second Cade saw him across the crowd taller now, broader shoulders, wrapped in a mustard yellow jacket everything snapped back into place, like a memory he hadn’t realized he missed.

They bumped into each other near the arts table. Not dramatically just a casual shoulder brush, the kind you’d forget if it wasn’t for the silence that followed.

“Malikai?” Cade asked, blinking like the sun had tricked his eyes.

Malikai turned, paused, and grinned. “No way. Cade?”

Their laughs overlapped awkwardly, uncertain but warm. For a moment, neither said anything more. They didn’t need to. The past hummed between them, quiet and unfinished.

Cade glanced down at the crumpled coupons in his pocketthe ones Alexa had given him to use on snacks and drinks before he left. He pulled them out and held them toward Malikai.

“Here,” he said casually. “You might as well use these.”

Malikai hesitated. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” Cade said, offering the slushie a final sip before tossing it in a bin nearby. “I’m heading out.”

Malikai took the coupons, their fingers brushing for half a second long enough to feel the weight of time.

Cade gave him a small, crooked smile. “Don’t be a stranger again.”

He turned and started walking away, not looking back. The fair behind him kept going, bright and busy, but something in the air had shifted. A beginning wrapped inside an ending.

And Malikai just stood there for a moment, holding the coupons like they meant something more.

Because maybe just maybe they did.

The sun had started dipping lower by the time Cade, Alexa, and Carra left the fairgrounds. The bright colors behind them softened into muted golds and pinks, and the air was just cool enough to make the walk feel calm, even peaceful.

They walked side by side down the familiar road Cade a little quiet, Alexa close beside him, and Carra just ahead, scanning the street with that restless energy she always had after being around too many people.

They were nearing the corner store when Carra suddenly stopped. Her eyes lit up.

“Oh my god is that Tamzin?”

A girl leaned against a low wall nearby, scrolling through her phone, earbuds in. At the sound of her name, she looked up and then broke into a grin.

“Carra? No freaking way!”

The two of them hugged, laughing like they hadn’t seen each other in years, which they probably hadn’t. Stories and memories poured out like they’d been waiting to be told, leaving Cade and Alexa a few steps behind, off to the side.

Cade said nothing, just kept his hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket. His thoughts drifted, unfocused, but they all kept circling the same name: Malikai.

Alexa glanced at him, reading his silence easily. “You okay?” she asked, her voice low but full of care.

Cade nodded, though it took a second. “Yeah. Just… one of those days.”

Alexa didn’t push. She didn’t need to. She just stood there with him shoulder to shoulder, steady and quiet.

She’d always been that way. Not loud with support, but constant. Present. The kind of friend who didn’t need to say I’m here for you because she already was.

Ahead, Carra laughed at something Tamzin said, the sound floating back to them like an echo from another version of the day.

But Cade wasn’t in that conversation. He was somewhere else still feeling the weight of a look, a voice, a moment that had already passed but hadn’t let go yet.

Cade and Alexa stayed behind, quiet now, just standing together.

Then Cade noticed something… it was Malikai walking in the same direction, headed right toward them. Cade’s heart jumped.

“So… he’s going home now?” Cade muttered, half to himself.

Alexa blinked. “Who?”

Cade leaned in, whispering, “Malikai.”

Alexa didn’t know him. She didn’t even know of him. Cade hadn’t told anyone. Not about Malikai. Not about the feelings.

But he knew now. He was gay. Or at least, something close to it. And the way he felt when Malikai smiled like he was floating and falling at the same time only confirmed it.

Still, he fought with the thoughts every day. Terrified of being judged. Of what people might say. And knowing Malikai was into girls didn’t help at all.

Yet sometimes, Cade couldn’t help but wonder… What if?

As Malikai passed, he gave Cade a friendly smile.

Cade smiled back.

Days passed. The buzz of the fair faded, but something new had started to bloom beneath the surface of Cade’s world quiet, unspoken, and just beginning.

That’s when Simon showed up.

He was one of Malikai’s friends laid-back, talkative, the kind of person who fit into any group like he’d always been there. Cade didn’t expect to click with him, but somehow they did. There was something easy about Simon. No pressure. Just someone to talk to, laugh with, distract from the noise inside Cade’s head.

Then one afternoon, Simon invited Cade to come with him to hang out with Malikai.

It felt like stepping into a dream that shouldn’t have been real.

The three of them chilled like nothing had ever been awkward. No weight. No questions. Malikai was chill, cracking jokes, tossing Cade a smile here and there that lit him up like streetlights at night. Cade kept himself composed on the outside, but inside, every word felt like something that mattered more than it should.

Then came the call.

One night, Malikai messaged out of nowhere:

"You busy?"

Before Cade could even think of what to say, his phone rang. It was Malikai.

They talked for hours.

Cade lost track of time, of everything. Malikai was so good at making him laugh ridiculous stories, weird jokes, impressions of teachers the kind of humor that left Cade breathless, grinning into the dark. And the longer they talked, the more Cade felt it the butterflies.

Real ones.

The kind that make your stomach twist and your heart flip and your thoughts spiral in all directions at once. Cade kept telling himself don’t fall harder, but it was already too late.

After that, they started hanging out again. A lot.

Malikai was over at Cade’s place almost every other day. They played games, watched dumb videos, raided the kitchen. Sometimes they talked late into the night. Sometimes they said nothing and just shared space. And sometimes… Malikai stayed over.

Like he belonged there.

But Simon started drifting not in a dramatic way, just less around. He still messaged now and then, dropped in for a quick joke or a chat, but it was clear something had shifted.

Still, Cade didn’t think too much about it. He had Malikai again. And maybe it wasn’t everything he wanted… but it was something.

Then one night, everything slowed down.

Malikai had stayed over again nothing unusual. They’d stayed up watching something dumb and comforting until they both passed out in Cade’s bed, sprawled across the blankets like always.

But when Cade stirred in the early morning light, something was different.

Malikai’s hand was resting on his chest light, unconscious, like it had been there all night. And his leg was tangled over Cade’s, warm and relaxed.

Cade froze. Not in fear just in awe.

His heart was beating so loud it felt like it might wake the whole room. He didn’t move. Didn’t want to ruin it. Didn’t want to shift and have Malikai pull away.

So he just lay there.

Felt the weight of Malikai’s hand. The softness of the moment. The ache of wanting more and not knowing if he could ever ask for it.

And before he could overthink it too hard… he fell back asleep.

Wrapped in something that felt like a dream, and for once, let himself stay there.