Two Days Later…

Fledge couldn't keep the smile from his lips.

Above them, the sky unfolded dramatically, enormous white clouds towering to the heavens drifted slowly across the deep blue, occasionally passing over the sun but hardly masking its luminescence. They walked through the trees, enjoying the clear afternoon air. Nothing had been said between them for several minutes, but they were both comfortable in the companionable silence.

"I wonder how it's going."

Shrugging, Fledge took a deep breath, feeling the autumn air clear his lungs and reinvigorate his soul. They continued strolling along.

"I'm worried. He's trying so hard. I don't know whether to hope that it works or hope that it all blows up in his face."

He nodded. "I know what you mean. I can't forgive him that easily, but it is good to see that he's putting in so much effort to fix all this." He paused momentarily. "Still, I suppose it doesn't really matter to us. We're not part of that whole mess anymore."

Another few steps of silence, then, "Yeah, I guess you're right." There was a deep, discontented sigh.

"What's wrong?" Fledge asked.

He sat down at the edge of the island, dangling his feet over the side, and was joined moments later. They sat for another minute or two in silence, looking out into the open air as Fledge waited.

"I don't know. I really don't know how I'm supposed to feel about it."

Rolling his eyes, Fledge grinned cheekily. "Maybe you should stop worrying about it, wait to see how it all plays out between them, and trust that everything will happen the way it's supposed to."

They both laughed wistfully, remembering the bad times that were still fresh in their minds. The sun, beginning to approach the horizon, had begun to discolor the sky, turning it into a pale pastel blue that gave way to pinks and yellows. Fledge marveled at the change he observed while they sat watching, so inconsequential to time's passage.

"How do you think it went yesterday?"

The laughter died on his face, as though he wasn't sure how to proceed. "I don't know." There was a laugh as he paused, struggling to find the right words. "I mean, I had fun. It was nice to meet someone new and it was nice of him to set that up for me…"

"But…?"

"But… I don't know how I feel about him."

"What do you mean?"

He stared out into the open sky, looking down into the inviting clouds below, and in that moment was almost overcome with the desire to slip off of the island and surrender into the arms of deep blue, not out of some nihilistic death wish but simply out of a desire to stop. To cease being.

It was almost a full minute before he answered. "At the Fall Festival on Saturday I saw him, just barely, but I got a good look at him when he passed me. And there was something uncomfortably attractive about him. Like, there's nothing in particular about him that justified this attraction, but there it was. And yesterday, when we were introduced, I didn't really have a chance to think about it. He was just there, talking, telling me about his opinions, his history, his struggles, just everything."

"That was different for you?"

"Exactly. I've known Link for years, and I've gotten to know him pretty well. I've had plenty of time to think about my feelings for him, to understand exactly what I loved about him. But yesterday, it was all so sudden and unexpected, and now I don't know how to take it."

"Maybe you should trust that everything will work out the way it's supposed to."

They both chuckled again, and Fledge continued to watch the change in the sky as the sun dipped down to the edge of the clouds.

"Are you gonna meet him again?"

Fledge sighed. "Yeah. He said he's coming up to the island tomorrow to visit an old friend, and I agree to meet him in the Bazaar."

"Fledge, you know you don't have to keep seeing him. Link introduced you as a way to apologize for his behavior, but he didn't know if you would match up together."

"No. I have to do this. I'm not going to go back to the sheltered, quiet life I used to lead. If there's one lesson that I've learned in all this it's that I need to be more forward and outgoing. I'm not going to give up and sit in my dorm listening to Link get it on in the next room."

They were quiet for a while longer, and the sun sunk beneath the clouds, throwing deep purple streaks across the sky to mingle with the last reaches of gold.

"They're probably getting it on right now."

"Yeah. If everything went the way he planned."

Fledge felt as though he was supposed to be upset and sad, but he didn't feel anything in particular. He felt as though he had left that part of himself behind and started a new chapter of his life, and he was alright with that. It was scary, not knowing what the future held, but it was far less frightening than the past.

"You know that I'm always here to talk if you need me, right?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I know."