Chapter 22

Batting your eyes like a frog in a hailstorm
A phrase for someone flirting in a very obvious way.

• o 🦋 o •

It was May and the weather was great. All the buds had turned into flowers and everywhere I looked I saw a kind, gentle beauty that reminded me of Mica. As it turns out, George hadn’t said a word to Mica about my feelings for him. And.. It seemed he was allowing me to be in Mica’s life. Well, for now. All I had to do was control myself when George was around so he wouldn’t know we were already dating. I could do that. 

Well.. so long as I avoided him like the plague which was easy cause he was a busy man. 

I was waiting for Mica at the annual Spring Festival in our town. It was just starting to get dark and people were lighting their lanterns and candles and soon they’d have fireworks blasting through the sky. Isn’t it every guy’s dream to watch the fireworks with his lover? I was so lucky.

It’s traditional to wear a yukata or kimono to the festival so that’s what I did. My brother helped me pick it out. It was deep blue and very simple but I still felt a little extra when I saw so many people wearing casual clothes go in.

I nervously fiddled with my fingers. Gosh, it was May already. Riley’s birthday was only two months away now. I wondered if that really was our deadline. Without Riley’s birthday party as an excuse, would Mica and I still be allowed to see each other? Even so, we wouldn’t have as much time together as we do now. And Mica’s dad hated me. He’d find a way to keep us apart. It worried me a little. How could I ever go without…

Mica. I looked up and there he was, across the street from me, smiling and waving. Now, he looked good. And he was wearing green again. A pale green yukata that complimented his eyes beautifully. He had his hair in a low ponytail with a matching ribbon in his hair. 

When the cars had all passed he crossed the street. 

“Hey.” He smiled. 

I was too awestruck to respond. I just couldn’t stop staring at him. 

“Is it too much? I thought the ribbon was a bit much but Charles insisted..” Mica pulled at it. 

I stopped him from pulling the ribbon out of his hair. “No, no, no, it looks perfect. You look perfect.” I nodded and kept staring at him. “Seriously.”

Mica blushed. He stared at the ground. “So do you.” 

Eeeeekkkk!

Now I felt the urge to hold his hand again. I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t want to? I resisted.

We went on in and were amazed by the number of stalls with different foods and trinkets to buy. It was a feast of color. 

“Are you hungry? Wanna get some food?” I asked.

“Uh.. I’m not that hungry but you can get some if you want.” Mica shrugged.

“Did you eat before this?” 

“Kinda..” Mica looked embarrassed. 

“That’s such a sin! You have to try some of this street food, come on! You’re not gonna get a chance like this until like.. next year!” 

Mica chuckled. “Okay. I’ll have a bite of whatever you have.” 

“Oh, I’m having everything! Are those candied strawberries?!” I instinctively grabbed Mica’s hand and pulled him to the market stall. There were so many different colors and sizes of candied strawberries. The ones that caught my eye were the big ones displayed in the middle. There were three big strawberries skewered to one stick! 

I ordered two and gave one to Mica. 

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish all of these.” Mica stared at the fruit a little apprehensively.

“Just eat however much you want.” I said before eating the entire first strawberry in one bite. 

Mica chuckled at me. “Is it good?” 

“It’s GREAT. Try it.” I urged.

Mica smiled nervously. “Okay.” He took the tiniest bite and nodded. “It’s good.” 

“You don’t sound very excited. Then again, if I had Charles’ cooking I’d be picky too.” I chuckled. 

We strolled along the little booths, sporadically stopping for snacks. Mica just took a little bite off everything I had mostly because I’d rant on about how delicious everything was. 

Then we came across a photo booth. For the first time today Mica became excited. 

“Do you wanna take some pictures?” He grabbed my arm and smiled enthusiastically. 

“Yes! Let’s do it!” I said determined. 

I had to put my ego aside. It’s okay if I look like an ogre. Mica still loves me!!!

“Kay, ready?” 

I nodded and Mica pressed the button. Every five seconds the light would flash, taking a picture of us. We smiled on the first one, did silly faces on the next and then… Mica laid his head on my shoulder. 

I was starting to sweat. Whenever Mica touched me I just got so nervous and happy. And nervous..

Then he lifted his head and looked at me. It was such a loving look I almost fainted. Before I knew it, Mica kissed me.. hard. 

I was so shocked I didn’t even move. Why was I still getting so flustered about being kissed by him you ask? Well, IT’S NOT LIKE I WAS EXPECTING THIS. And he was Mica. Sometimes I was even surprised I didn’t wake up to a break-up text.

When he pulled away he looked very pleased and relieved.

“Why- Whit- What was that for?” I stuttered. 

“Just wanted to check.” 

“Check what?” 

“Your… body temperature.” Mica smirked before getting out. 

I touched my lips and fan-girled for a moment. 

When I got out I saw Mica was talking to someone. Someone I didn’t like very much. Mica was holding our strip of pictures behind his back. The person he spoke to was wearing a black yukata and dammit, he looked great!

“Hey Dax.” I said reluctantly as I stepped up to him.

“Jay! Good to see you again!” 

“Uh-huh.” 

“You look great! Blue is totally your color!” 

Mica smiled proudly which made me blush. 

“..Thanks.” I scratched my head. 

Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe Dax wasn’t into Mica after all. And even if he was.. with the way Mica looked at me he didn’t stand a chance. 

“What brings you here?” I asked.

“Well, I was actually going to meet a friend here but he cancelled.” Dax shrugged. 

“Aw, bummer.” 

“Oh, well. Guess I’ll just look around here by myself for a while.” Dax chuckled. 

I felt kinda bad for him. Going to a festival alone was no fun at all. 

I looked at Mica and his eyes were asking the same question as I was thinking.

“Why don’t you join us?” 

“Aw, really? I don’t wanna intrude. Since you guys came together and all.” Dax said.

“No, it’s okay, really.” Mica insisted. 

“Aren’t you guys on a.. date?” 

“What?!” Mica and I said in unison.

“Well, I just thought-“

“MICA!!! JAYY!!!” I heard Riley’s voice before she jumped on top of me, tackling me to the ground. 

“Must you greet me by breaking all my bones?!” 

“I’m so glad I found you!” She then looked up. “Hey Mica!” 

“Hi.” Mica tried to subtly point to Dax.

Riley turned her head to Dax. Apparently she hadn’t realized he was there. She turned beet red and quickly jumped up on her feet. “Hey Dax.” She said nervously, adjusting her pink kimono. 

“Hey Riley.” Dax chuckled. He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. “You look lovely.” 

“Ah… I.. Who? Me?” Riley started giggling. 

Meanwhile, I was still on my elbows wondering if my bones would ever work again.

My boyfriend knelt down beside me while Dax and Riley were catching up.

“Are you okay?” Mica dusted me off. 

Aww.. he was worried about me!

Mica, I love you! 

“James?” Mica cocked his head. 

I nodded. “I’m okay. But I think you can make it better.” I looked around and no one was watching us. 

“How?” Mica was clueless as ever. 

I shot forward and kissed his cheek while I rose to my feet again. No one had seen a thing. Mica blushed and held his hand to his cheek for a moment before quietly rising and lightly leaning against me. 

If I could bite you right now I would. NOM.

“Can’t believe we both got ditched by our friends.” Dax chuckled. 

“Yeah, that’s crazy..” Riley played with her hair. 

“Well, since we’re all here we might as well enjoy the festival together, right?” Dax proposed. 

“Huh? Oh, well-” 

“YES, LET’S DO IT!” Riley interrupted me. “This’ll be fun!” 

Mica and I reluctantly agreed even though we really wanted to be alone but hey, we didn’t want to seem even more suspicious. Especially since Dax already thought we were on a date. 

And so we continued down the line of booths. Mica and Riley were catching up now and Dax and I walked behind them. 

“I’m sorry about that, by the way.” He said. 

“Huh? About what?” 

“You know, before Riley came. What I said about you and Mica. I seriously thought you guys were dating.” 

Well, we are. I wish I could just tell him. You know, I’ve never been much of a tattoo guy but I’d totally get Mica’s name tattooed on me. Maybe then people would get the memo and leave us alone. 

After way too long I said: “Well, we’re not.” 

“You guys just always seem so close. And whenever I’m with Mica he talks about you.” 

“Really?!” Now, this was interesting. 

“Yeah.” Dax chuckled. “Yesterday at school he was ranting about how much you love butterflies and how cool he thinks it is to have a passion like that.” 

“Really..” I smiled. 

“Uh-huh. But.. I guess you’re just really close friends.” Dax shrugged. 

I said nothing. I may have pouted a little. 

“Well, guess it might be better that way.” Dax smirked. “Better for me anyway.” 

“…Why?” 

“Maybe I like him.” Dax shrugged. 

My eyes grew wide and I opened my mouth to tell him to back off but then I realized I couldn’t say anything! If he was into Mica and I wasn’t dating him I couldn’t tell him anything! Dammit! I knew it! I knew that little snake was into my guy! 

Mica and Riley laughed about something I hadn’t heard and Dax ran up to them. He wrapped his arm around Mica and pulled him close. “Hey, what are you two laughing about, huh?!” 

“Oh, nothing you need to know.” Mica chuckled. 

“Are you sure about that? I’m a very curious guy, you know?” Dax pushed his face against Mica’s for a moment, causing Mica to giggle. 

UrggHH!! 

“I’m starving! They should have fried fish around here somewhere, right?” Riley asked. 

Yeah. I’ll fry your stupid crush! That’s what I’ll do!

“They must have a stall around here somewhere..” Dax let go of Mica. Finally. Now I just needed some hand sanitizer to wash the stink off my boyfriend. 

We found the fried fish stall soon enough. Riley, Dax and I each enjoyed a nice fried fish. It tasted so fresh! Dax gave Mica a bite of his before I even got the chance to ask. 

This was going to be a long night.