Guacalmont

Chapter One: How a Human Girl and an Elf Boy Met

A road trip with my sister finds us on the opposite side of the state. It has been an adventure and we still have a ways to go to reach our destination. It is nighttime, but hasn't been dark for long, it's just 8:17 p.m. now.

"Time to fill up on gas," Isabela says, pulling into a station. "And you should get provisions for us later."

"Provisions? But we're having dinner soon, aren't we?" I ask.

"Yes, Mira, of course," Isabela says, with a smile exhibiting those fulsome lips of hers. She pats my knee. "But we're going to be driving like, half the night. We'll definitely want something later, so it's better if we get it now, not wasting any time, you know? I just don't want to pull into another gas station and have to do this then when we just grab what we need now."

"Well, what do you want?"

"What I usually get from gas stations."

"Okay, got it," I say, pushing open the door for the passenger's side, shutting it behind me, and sweeping into the gas station, knowing exactly what to grab.

Powdered doughnuts, Brisk iced tea for Isabela, and Mountain Dew Major Melon for myself, and of course Cheese Puffs. Gotta have those.

I also get Rold Gold pretzels, for both of us. It's good for us to have something to share. But I will say there's no one in my family I'd rather go on a road trip with than my sister, Isabela.

I make my way to the counter to pay for it. The gas station door opens and for some reason I feel a chill go down my spine, even though it's a warm summer night. There shouldn't be any chilly air blowing in.

"Hey, you're one of the Madrigals, aren't you?" asks the man at the counter.

"Um yeah, Mirabel's the name," I say.

"Ah, you're the one who…" He scratches his head. "I don't recall what your power does."

Great, people on the opposite side of the state still have heard of the Madrigals. But they don't seem to have gotten the memo.

"Uh, the door dissolved when I tried to reach for the knob."

He tilts his head. "What does that mean?"

I decide to lie, I'll never see this many again, and the truth still hurts, even if my family has finally accepted me. "Well," I say, giving a big grin. "I dissolve doors." There's no way he'd want me to demonstrate my gift if it's something like that. So I'm safe.

"Wow," he says, taken aback. "That's impressive. And would be useful if you were a thief."

"Yeah well, any of the Madrigals could use their powers like that if they chose," I say. "For devious purposes. But that's not what we do."

He nods and starts to ring up what I brought to the counter.

After ringing it up, he tells me how much it is and I check my dalmatian print wallet and pass him two bills, feeling someone breathing on my neck.

"Um, what the blip are these?" the man asks.

"Cash?" I say, confused.

"I've never seen dollar bills like this."

"Huh?" I ask. "They're issued by the United States government."

"No," the man says, shaking his head. It is pretty dark behind the counter so I can barely make any of his features out. "I don't even know what this creature is on the front of these. Or what you are, for that matter."

"Huh?" I ask, taking back my ten dollar bills. "That's just Alexander Hamilton." I was a bit worried my cousin, Camilo, had swapped out fake money for the real kind, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Who the heck is Alexander Hamilton?"

"You're kidding, right? One of the Founding Fathers? There's a movie about him on Disney+, based on a Broadway musical."

"I don't know what any of that stuff is," the man says. "If you're going to come in here with fake money, I'd advise you to get out."

My ears burn. I shove the dollar bills back into my wallet, furious, eyeing the snacks I cannot take, and make way toward the exit when I bump into the dude who had been standing in line behind me.

Who had blue skin. And very cute blue hair. And like, people can dye their hair, and technically their skin too, but I've never seen somehow do that IRL. The skin, I mean. Hair, yes, obviously. But what is more, this boy has pointy ears. And even so, I can't help but want to tickle his chin. My heart is beating super fast. I should be freaked out though.

It's just cosplay, MIrabel, I tell myself, though I dunno why a cosplayer would come into a gas station like that. Maybe he had been at a convention all day, that's my guess.

"Say, I'll pay for you if you don't have the right money, I don't mind," the dude says.

I blush. 'Um, that's okay." I start for the exit.

"No, please, let me pay. It sucks to go into a gas station with the intention of getting stuff and to have to walk out empty-handed."

Well, can't just not let a cute guy pay for my snacks if he offers. I wonder if I can get his number. And yes, if this is cosplay, which it has to be, he might look completely different when not-suited up. But those ears look so real…I am super tempted to play with them, but I can pretty much guarantee freak him out and I'm not about that life.

I notice the man behind the counter has a nosering now. He accepts money from the elf, though the bills look blue and around the edges and orange in the center. I'm going to assume that's some kind of credit for the gas station and not actual cash.

"Here you go," the elf boy says, passing the stuff to me.

"Thanks," I say, feeling my cheeks grow hot. "Nice to meet you." I start for the exit again.

"Wait, can we like…talk a little? After I pay for my stuff, of course."

"Um, yeah, sure," I say, kind of excited. Surely a boy this good-looking has a girlfriend, though? No way he'd consider me. I'm glad my stuff is in a bag now, otherwise I'd probably drop everything, fantasizing about this boy asking me out. No way is that happening, though. Best I can hope for is his number. But first, got to talk to him, smoothly. Without a hitch. Surely that's not too much to ask?

After the cosplayer grabs his stuff, we step toward the door and he holds it open for me, I step outside and he follows.

"So, I'm Ian Lightfoot," he says, when we're facing each other again.

"Mirabel Madrigal," I say, shaking his proffered blue hand. I'm going to assume he gave his real name and not like, whatever character he's cosplaying as. At least I hope so. I think it'd be rude to not tell a girl who's interested in him what his actual name is. Then again, he probably doesn't know I find him to be alluring. And I might not be his type. But who knows? It's not like I came on this road trip to date anyone, though I have to say, it would be a nice added bonus.

"So Mirabel, where you headed?"

"Um, we're going a couple of states over to explore an abandoned theme park. My entire family, that is."

"Wow, that's really cool," Ian says. "My brother and I were just out for a night on the town. It's so cool to hear you're on a road trip."

"Whoa, whose this, Mira?"

I turn to see Isabela, having come over. "Oh, this is Ian Lightfoot. And Ian, this is my sister, Isabela."

Her eyes go wide at what Ian looks like and I whisper in her ear that he's a cosplayer.

"Think I can get your number, Mirabel?" Ian asks, hand on the back of his head out of nervousness. "Only, I'd like to text you."

"Wow, cosplayer boy has a crush," Isabela whispers, elbowing me.

"He does not," I say, elbowing her back. "Yeah, you can have my number," I say, thrusting the sack of provisions into my sister's hands and pulling out my phone.

Then as Ian is happily getting my number down into his own phone, another cosplayer who has painted blue skin and long ears that end at a point and also blue hair bounds over. This dude is fairly burly, unlike Ian who isn't very muscular. I have to say though, a pair of brothers who are both so into the same fanbase that they cosplay as elves together when going out for a night on the town is fairly intriguing.

And like, it'd be one thing if they were cosplaying from something well-known, but even if whatever they're cosplaying from has a sizable fanbase, I've certainly never heard of it. If they had been dressed as Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter, perhaps that would fit more since they'd be easily enough recognizable. Although since these brothers could hardly be taken as twins, perhaps Barley would be Fred or George and maybe Ian would be Ron?

Then again, Ian seems so much cooler than Ron, at least to me. Well, I suppose I'd have to speak to him more to figure that out, but either way I''m interested in him, even in cosplay he's very nice to look at, and there's something drawing me to him besides. I also haven't had a romantic interest in like a year and that guy had bena jerk. Hans had red hair so perhaps seeing Ian dressed as Ronald Weasley wouldn't exactly have worked, after all.

"Hey, Ian, who are the babes?"

"I'm Isabela Madrigal, and this is my sister, Mirabel."

"Nice," says the burly elf cosplayer. "I'm Ian's brother, Barley."

Ian hands me back my phone. "Yeah, I ran into Mirabel here, the Minotaur wouldn't take her money."

"Darn those Minotaurs!" Barley said, looking mock-outraged. Isabela giggles, and I smile. It is kind of funny. He shakes his fist then lowersit. "Say, by any chance, would you ladies like to come have dinner with us in a diner?"

"Barley! You can't just invite two girls you just met to dinner."

"Well, it looks like I just did, bro, so I daresay I can."

Isabela pulls me away briefly, calling back, "Be with you boys, in a moment, with our answer.

Several yards away, she asks me, "You like that one in the red flannel shirt, don't you?"

"Um, maybe?"

"You do," Isabela says, smirking. "So we should definitely have dinner with them."

"I thought we were going ot eat after nine."

"By the time our food gets to us, it'll be after nine, most likely, so it all works out."

I turn to look back at Ian, who waves. I can't just not take this opportunity to get to know him a little better. After all, not all guys are like is somewhat a bummer that Ian lives on the opposite side of our state, but maybe we can meet each other halfway sometimes, if we hit it off? And anyway, it's summer, got to try new things, meet new people. And a run-in at the gas station isn't quite enough.

I return my attention to Isabela. "Yah, I'd like to the diner with them."

"Awesome!" Isabela says, grabbing my arm and leading me back over to them. "We're coming, boys."

"Sweet," Barley says, with a wide smile. "Just follow us on the road and we should be there with no problem." He indicates the van the elf cosplayers must've driven here in. It features a white unicorn on the side, looking quite majestic. "That's Guinevere," he says, proudly. "The precious steed that takes us on our grand quest to have victuals in the cozy indoor heat!"

Isabela laughs, what Barley just said must be part of the character he's cosplaying. "Okay, we'll follow you on the road," my sister says, then she passes me the bags of provisions and I go around to the passenger's side and slide into my seat, excited to go out on a date for the first time in forever. And yes, it may not really be a date, I mean my sister will be there and so will Ian's brother, and it's not like they're into each other, unless Isabela is hiding it very well. Which is not impossible, she concealed the fact that she had no romantic interest in Mariano for ages, she just wanted to make Abuela proud by keeping the family going with producing offspring. Luisa hadn't found anyone, Dolores seemed to not at that point, but now she had Mariano herself, and they were quite the couple. But also now Abuela understood that insisting that her grandchildren produce offspring just to keep the Encanto strong didn't exactly fly.

But I'm sure Isabela wouldn't rush into a relationship, that still hinged on her mind. Just like the awfulness of dating Hans rankled on mine. However, I just had a bad boyfriend. Isabela's situation was worse than mine, being pressured to marry someone she didn't feel strong feelings for. That is scary stuff. For every Hans, there is a nice dude like Mariano. But Isabela deserves someone who belongs with her, whom she can cherish. And I hope I deserve that as well, even though sometimes, I still shed tears when it gets to me about what happened the night of my gift-receiving ceremony…

But this is not the time to consider that. I retract the tears that threaten to soak my cheeks now. Isabela glances over at me. "You okay?"

"Um yeah," I say. "I just hope Ian is way nicer than Hans."

"Oh, he definitely is, don't worry about that, I can tell, he gives off good guy vibes."

"And Hans didn't?"

"Not really, but you were quite smitten with him, couldn't talk you out of it till he really hurt you. Now you can have better judgment over who you should be with."

"Yeah, that's true," I say. We pull out onto the road after Guinevere, with two elf brothers inside that van, who want to have dinner with us. And we're going to have exciting adventures with all the Madrigals at the abandoned theme park. Life is good, and things should work out.

My eye catches on something pink and fluttering out the window. Has to have been a butterfly, but it barely looked like one. That was so strange. And a dude on a motorcycle in the lane next to us when we're waiting at a stoplight seems to have a tail. How many cosplayers are out together? So weird.

I shake my head. There's only one cosplayer I need to focus on right now, and that is Ian Lightfoot, and my phone dings now with a text from him. Can't wait to have dinner with you. We'll be there soon enough.

I smile and fire him a text saying, Will be fun to have company for dinner. I add a winking emoji and send the text, hoping that's not too much.