Chapter 7

Aldryn

We were only a few hours into the drive. We could have gone farther without having to stop, but being in the car—even with Eli's comforting presence—sucked the air from my lungs, and I fought for each breath. When Eli suggested that we stop and stretch our legs, I did not argue. I pulled off the highway where he indicated and navigated to a little town that was barely even on the map.

According to the sign, it just so happened that the town we were passing through was having a festival of some sort. Eli's eyes lit up as he took in all the streets lined with vendor booths and tents. A large banner that read "Annual Strawberry Festival" hung over the four-way stop in the middle of the town.

"You love strawberries, Eli. You want to shop around?" I asked.

"Oh, I couldn't," he said. "I don't need anything. Besides, once we stretch our legs, we'll want to get back on the road."

"We're not in any rush," I said. "Looking at places, looking at stuff like this, it's not about need. What if you find something you can't live without here? What if you find a new bookmark?"

I nudged his arm, and his cheeks turned red. Eli liked to read, and I swore with every book he read he had a new bookmark, all of them different. Some of them were handmade. Some of them were simply little pieces of paper that he found wherever. He never threw any of them away though, they were his cherished possessions.

"All right, but just because we need to stretch our legs."

Already I was feeling better, and we hadn't even stepped out of the car. I parked the car in the designated parking area for what was apparently a very popular festival, based on the crowd.

"I wonder if they'll have sundaes or maybe strawberry pie?" Eli said.

"They probably have all of that and more. I'm hoping for ice cream."

Eli came around the other side of the car and fell in beside me. I laced my fingers into his. "So I don't lose you," I said because it was odd for us to hold hands. We were friends, not boyfriends. And we had not held hands much before, but ever since my dragon came out, I had been a bit out of sorts, and being near Eli helped. I was so lucky to have him as my best friend.

He chewed on his lower lip and nodded. "I won't stray far."

I had the most ridiculous urge to kiss his cheek. That was something I'd never done before, but I was wondering now just how soft his skin would be. Were his cheeks warm because he was blushing so deeply? Would he sigh and lean into my kiss?

We walked hand in hand as we looked at the booths. Eli was reluctant to buy anything, but I saw him eyeing a slice of strawberry pie, so I got us two. The lady selling them offered to put whipped cream on there for us. It was the homemade—not from a can. We were not going to say no to that.

"This is a really nice little festival," I remarked. "It would be kind of fun if we put something on like this at our pack."

"Yeah. Not sure our pack would have anything to celebrate for the festival, but it would be fun."

We sat down on a picnic table and dug into our pie.

I watched as he took a forkful of the pie and put it in his mouth, closing his lips around the plastic fork. His eyes rolled back and then closed as he moaned. "Oh, wow," he said, "that is amazing." His words came out breathy and hot. My skin prickled, and my dragon rumbled. "Did you try yours?" he asked. "It's so good. Better than your mom's. Just don't tell her I said that."

I cleared my throat. "Yeah," was all I could think to say. I had been staring at Eli for so long that my whipped cream was starting to run. I quickly took a bite, barely tasting the flavors because I was trying to minimize my reaction to Eli. What was wrong with me? He was my best friend, and here I was ogling him. We were on a quest. I needed to focus on finding my brothers.

"Not going to lie. I kind of want another," he said once he finished.

I was still just half done with my own. "You want the rest of mine?"

"Thank you, but no." He smiled, and a bit of whipped cream clung to the corner of his mouth.

I pointed at his face. "You've got a little something."

"What? Where?" He put his hand to his cheek, but it was on the wrong side.

I lifted my hand gently, touching his face, and swiped my thumb over the whipped cream that had settled on the corner of his mouth. My gaze caught his and I stared, unable to move, unable to pull my hand away. The noise of the crowd around us faded away. Even the brightness of the midday sun faded to nothingness. I saw only Eli.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"You're welcome."

The loud sound of the megaphone firing up announcing the start of a parade jolted me out of my thoughts. What was I doing? Touching my best friend like that? What was I doing continuing to hold his hand? We were friends.

"Want to go to the parade?" he asked. His voice was quiet and breathy.

I scrambled up and away from the table. "Yeah. Let's do that. Then we should be on our way. Unless you want to look at anything else?"

He shook his head. "We can go now, if you want."

"No, let's watch the parade. It'll be fun."

"Okay."

The parade was cute. There were bands and an orchestra on a flatbed trailer, decorated to look like a disco ball. The crowned King and Queen of Strawberries (whatever that was) sat atop a truck bed that had two large thrones in the back. It was adorable, a very family-friendly event.

I couldn't take my eyes off Eli as he watched and smiled at the different floats and the people that greeted us like old friends, though we had never met them before.

"There's a dance tonight and a live band!" he told me as we walked back to the car.

"That's cool. We could stay."

"No, of course not. We should keep driving. Thanks for stopping, though. That was fun."

I chuckled. "Pretty sure stopping was your idea, remember? I was about to break out into scales?"

"Oh yeah. Are you feeling better?"

I squeezed his hand. I had gone back to holding it while we navigated through the crowd so that I didn't lose him. It had nothing to do with the fact that I couldn't seem to stop touching him, or stop looking at him.

"I am."

We reached the car. Eli let go of my hand and went to his door. "Great! Then we can keep driving until we're too tired, then we'll find a hotel."

"Sounds great," I said.