"Come on Oscar," Hedgehog said. It had been yet another early morning for the pair. She was always fond of venturing out with her best friend even before the sun came up sometimes. Venturing out at the crack of dawn was always a good bonding experience for the two and she'd hope it would be like that for the rest of their lives. Or she did. Seeing how close Oscar was becoming with Max has made that previous vision a bit unclear, but that doesn't mean it was lost.
They had been walking around camp with no particular goal in mind. Oliver was busy with some sort of musical endeavor and Max had stumbled off to his cabin. Hedgehog presumes to give that album Susie had given them a whirl. Max almost didn't admit it at the time but some strange mix of nostalgia and joy must have been building up in his gut because he made that joy for having the vinyl known.
He was a really big fan of Susie or at least black Susie. He could remember listening to all of her songs when he was young, younger at least. There were even a few he would play on repeat throughout the day. So, to get a physical album from the woman herself was almost better than spending time with Oscar. Although he made sure to clarify that it was just barely when Oscar made a face at him. Hedgehog snickers to herself. She thinks the bat would have asked her to autograph too if she and Oscar weren't there and knowing Max, he wasn't one for feeling awkward.
"I still can't believe it," Hedgehog admits when she turns back to Oscar just behind her.
"Yeah, me either." They were making their way up a hill, planning to rest at the top to take in the cool summer air. Hedgehog definitely thought this was a good idea for both of them. It had felt like ages since they spent time together. After everything with Max and her new thing with Oliver, Hedgehog had felt like time had gotten away from her recently. She'd almost forgotten her little brother. Now was a good time to make things right with him. Even if he never noticed neglect, he still didn't deserve to be blown off so much. "Susie being a rapper is a little weird."
"Yeah. Out of all the weird stuff on this island, I think that might just be the weirdest." Oscar chuckles. They approach the top of the hill with Oscar nearly out of breath. Hedgehog's plan was to relax and observe the campgrounds below. But as they come closer to the crest of the hill, they see a figure standing atop the incline, an elf. They had been facing away from the camp and looking out into the ocean. Once they get closer to the elf, Hedgehog realizes it was Barb Junior. As they approach, she thinks it's about time there was someone she could talk to about the upcoming event. "Hey, bj." At first, the elf doesn't respond to the greeting, she doesn't say anything at all. Just stands and stares out into the deep blue. "Junor." One more prompt from Hedgehog finally breaks her focus from the overview.
She slowly turns her head to the kids and smiles a long, twisted, nearly broken smile at them. It was as if the words hadn't reached her ears until right just then. The elf's mannerisms were uncanny, to say the least. The slow movement even makes Hedgehog raise an eyebrow. "Oh hello, hedgehog... Oscar." Her words slip out in an almost snake-like manner that sends chills through Hedgehog's soul. "What can I do for you on such a lovely day."
Hedgehog hums to herself. Now she was hesitant to ask Joiner anything. The eerie familiar feeling she gave off didn't inspire any kind of confidence either, but she needed to know where the elf's mother was.
She would decide to push through the strange feeling. " Right... have you seen your mom around by any chance."
"Oh, my mother..." The elf stops. "Uhh... I'm sure she's Hanging around here somewhere." She begins to chuckle with all the subtlety of an old-timey villain. She was laughing like there was no one else around, at an inside joke no one could understand unless it was explained.
"Cool... do you know when she'll be available, or what's up with that?" Oscar says interrupting the maniacal laughter, butting in with a question of his own. His attempt at backing up Hedgehog with a conversation that seemed to be going nowhere.
"Oh, I doubt she'll turn up for a long while." Her creepy laughter simmers down into a light snicker. "I wouldn't put it past her," Jounier spoke quietly. With the way she spoke, her movements, and the constant laughing at nothing at all, Hedgehog's suspicion was peaked. The elf was acting strange, not too dissimilar to the one in Heartford.
"Are you okay, BJ?" Hedgehog confronts her. She was concerned for the elf, but she had also been a bit skeptical. She was acting weird, all of the elves were, and Hedgehog felt like she was the only one to notice.
Barb Junior stops her laughter and slowly recomposes herself. "Oh, I'm fine. It must be this midsummer breeze. It's kind of got me a little lightheaded is all." Abruptly, and seemingly, the elf returns back to her normal self or as normal as she could be. "I'm sorry about that. I should really go lay down." She said, holding a hand to her head and walking past the two kids.
As she leaves, Hedgehog couldn't help but feel that there was more to, the event, the elves, and all of this than she had first thought. She didn't get any of her questions answered as usual, but she had the feeling that she derived something from Junior's rambling.
If Hedgehog were being honest, the whole interaction with BJ put her off of today's plan. She wonders if Oscar feels the same. "Was BJ acting strange to you Oscar?" She turns to him with her question, almost knowing what the answer would be.
"Well, you know... elves are weird like that." He shrugs off the exchange that had just taken place. "I wouldn't read into it so much Hedgehog."
Of course, he wouldn't think much of it. Hedgehog didn't want that excuse. This was more than just elves being elves, she could feel it. She felt something was wrong. "I mean... she wasn't acting really strange to you?"
Oscar squints his eyes and thinks for a moment before coming to some realization he had forgotten about. "Maybe her brain is still a little messed up from the thinking cap." He reminds Hedgehog of the time at the elf invention convention. Barb's daughters needed help with coming up with good ideas to impress their mother. The best way they could have thought to go about that was to use the device that helped them come up with those ideas a little longer than one another. By the time they got around to Junior, her sister had already come up with two impressive ideas. The only thing they could think to do was leave it on her even longer. Only it was maybe a little too long and ever since then she's been a bit different.
"Yeah... maybe that's it." It was the best explanation for why the elf was acting the way she was. Though that wasn't what Hedgehog was hoping to hear. In any case, it's a better excuse than just them being weird like that. Because they weren't weird. Never this weird Hedgehog thinks.
"Alright, so are we spending some time together or what?" He asked. Though it sounds like he was being sassier with her she could understand. He didn't want to have climbed the steep hill just to immediately go back down again.
"Oh yeah." She laughs. "It's been a little hasn't it?" She and Oscar sit down on the radiant grass, bathe in the sun's glow and they began talking about the past few days. About what she's been up to, her and Oliver's relationship, if Hedgehog could call it that, and the blood drive.
He shivers a little when the topic comes up. Oscar hated the thought of getting a needle, but Hedgehog assures him that it was going to be fun and that the little pinch he was going to receive would be worth it.
Switching the subject, Hedgehog would ask him about Max. She brought up how much time they have been spending together and if he shared anything private with him. She swore to Oscar that she wouldn't tell if the bat had said anything. Though sadly, for her at least, there was no new information besides the excuses Max always gave for wanting to hang out with Oscar.
"So, you and Oliver huh?" Oscar invokes the name and smirks at Hedgehog. "Did he try to touch your private parts?" Oscar says with his smug smirk growing even wider. Hedgehog could barely say anything instead flashing a quick shy blush once she recalls what she had asked him days ago.
"Oh, shut up." She playfully shoved him, causing him to fall over in the process but laughing about it nonetheless. "He's sweet okay. I wouldn't mind letting him... just a little" He set back up and looks at her still laughing with his hands over his mouth.
"Hedgehog that's gross. You're so weird." He tries holding back his laughter with no luck. He continues to chuckle uncontrollably, before coming to a calm. "Hmm... what time is it? You wanna get something to eat?"
Hedgehog looks up at the sun and thinks for a moment, before giving him her answer. "Hm... you go on without me. There's something I think I have to get from my cabin first." She said standing up and he does the same.
"Shoot yourself. More for me then." He said rubbing his hands over his stomach. "Race you down?" Before Hedgehog could accept the boy's challenge Oscar takes off down the hill. A race down a steep hill was never a good idea but when she was with Oscar, the thought of what was a good idea or not really ever crossed her mind. She caught up to him quickly though almost tumbling along with her friend on their way to the bottom.
"Oh, you little cheat." She laughs once they reach the bottom of the incline. Oscar had just managed to be her by an inch.
The elephant looks back at her with little to no shame. "Aw, well you know. Some people aren't cut out to beat the best." He brags not so subtly.
"Whatever." Hedgehog steps past him, still chuckling. "I'll see you later, Oscar." She waves him off promising to be by as soon as possible then starts her track to the cabins. In truth she didn't need anything from her cabin it was just easier to say that instead of 'hey I'm gonna blow you off to hang out with Oliver.' She wouldn't have said that, but she felt that's how Oscar would take it and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him intentionally or not.
She finds her way back to her cabin in no time and immediately shifts her direction to Oliver's. Ever since the summer started and she had first laid eyes on him, Hedgehog always thought it would be her and Max who'd end up together, but Oliver? That came out of nowhere for her and probably everyone who knew. She hadn't even considered that he liked her as more than just a friend.
It's Not like she didn't mind Oliver. He made her feel what Max could only do in her dreams and now all she wanted to do was spend every waking moment with the young musician, even if they had only been a thing recently. Come to think of it, were they a thing? Oliver hadn't said anything, not really. He would always act weird around her and the one time he did ask her out was for the movie night not too long ago. But he never officially said he wanted to go out with her.
Hedgehog wonders if she should be concerned. Was she reading too into his behavior, his advance? With the way he was acting, it should have been a dead giveaway that he liked her. Or maybe all the awkward behavior, nervous laughter, and touching were just a coincidence. Maybe she should ask about what they were. But it could end up being another Max situation. Whatever she was going to do, she'd have to decide immediately upon reaching his cabin.
She finds him sitting in front with his eyes closed and headphones from his cassette player plugged in. He was bobbing his head and tapping his foot to a rhythm of a song she couldn't hear herself. Hedgehog could tell he was definitely jamming to something deep that priced his heart and moved his soul. She was sure he wasn't aware that she had arrived. He probably didn't even know he was still on earth.
She taps her foot against his, causing his eyes to shoot open in surprise. Hedgehog had been leaning down, tilting her head to meet him at eye level. Oliver speedily pulls the headphones from his ears and holds them in his lap. "So what are you listening to?" She asked him curious as to with he was playing that brought him so far from earth.
His cheeks glow a light tent of pink and a small smile touches his lips. "Oh- ha. I-it's nothing, uh-" He stammers. He was acting weird, but he notices and catches himself, takes in a deep breath, and recomposes. "It's just my Moomin jacket. There really good." Oliver gets up from where he sat in front of the cabin to hand Hedgehog his headphones.
She takes them up and puts them over her head. She listens to the music play for a moment and a pleasant smirk reaches the corner of her mouth. "Oh cool. I might check them out." She said handing back the headphones. Her interest in his causes his once pink blush to turn a deeper red. None of the girls he was ever interested in seemed to like the same things he liked. "So... are you going to invite me in or are we hanging outside?"
"Huh!?" Oliver blurts out. Her comment throws him for a loop. Oliver thinks he's misheard her, but she repeats the question, not with actual words but by lifting her eyebrows up and down and a nod to her head. "Oh- yeah right- yeah." He jumped up as quick as the wind, and maybe even faster, and held the door open for her. Though he struggled with the knob in his nervous jittering. "Uh... come on in." He's never really invited anyone into his cabin before. No one really wanted to come over for some reason. Eventually, he get it in his head that he was just too uninteresting. That the reason no one wanted to hang out with him that much was because he was the boring music kid. But apparently not. There he was now, with someone right beside him and someone he really liked. That made it all the better.
"Oh man, Oliver. I don't think I've been in your cabin before." She notes all of the music memorabilia around his cabin. Posters of bands and composers alike are plastered across every wall. Music-themed books and tapes lined the floor and even his bed sheets had keynotes laced over them. "Wow, it's... very musically."
"Yeah... I like music." He mentality kicks himself for blurting out something so stupid. Of course, he liked music, everyone knew he did. "That's my whole thing, I guess.
"I can see that." Her response almost makes him want to vomit. If she wasn't interested before, she definitely didn't want to be with him now. No, he was putting too much thought into it. One little thing wasn't enough to break a deal, was it? The best he could do right now was tell her how he felt. What's the worst that could happen?
"Hey- Hedgehog." He stammered out the words.
"Hm..." She had been looking over his wall of posters, reading each name and observing the portraits closely. "What is it, Oliver?" She turns to him when he didn't respond and waits for him to say what was on his mind.
"I-uhh... I don't know if you noticed the other night but- uh... but- I..." He starts to choke up and activates his usual defensive measures by pulling his hat over his eyes. "I like you. I really like you, dude." It's silent for a few seconds and for a few second more he feels like he would die when he lifts his hat to check her expression, then recovers his eyes. He didn't know what to do before Hedgehog brings her hands up to her cheeks and puts on her best 'shocking reveal' face.
"What? Oliver... I had no idea." She makes sure to sound as convincing as possible.
"Really? You didn't!?" He peeks out from under his hat, his face redder than the shiniest red apple she could find.
"Of course, I knew dum-dum... and I kinda like you too." He feels a wave of relief and overwhelming joy wash over him. From the way she was acting toward him, it should have been obvious that his feelings weren't one-sided.
"Right, right my bad. Guess I should have known." He takes a second to settle down though his peace would only last for a brief moment before his panicking would start up once more. Hedgehog was getting strangely close to him, with a strange look in her eyes. Once she's close enough, she takes Oliver's hand up in hers and puts the other on his chest as she gently touches her head against his. Oliver begins to feel strange, his face falling into a blazing heat when she hovers her lips over his. This was yet another thing he wasn't expecting to happen to him today, but he was all for it. As nervous, and on the verge of death, as he may have been.
Though just before anything could happen, a letter comes flying into the room from an open window, startling the both of them as it passes.
"What the?" Hedgehog jumps back and whips her head around to where the latter had landed. "What was that?" She walks over to where it was resting on Oliver's floor and all he could do was moan when she steps away from him. What a great time to receive news, he thinks. She opens it up to find that there was a card inside "It's an invitation to something called... the midsummer waltz?"
He walks up behind her to examine the card as well. "Midsummer waltz? What's that? I don't know what that is." She surges and flips open the red invitation card to abruptly find Betsy's face on the inside.
"Hello, camper. You are hereby invited to the midsummer waltz. A dance we host here on the island every summer. Come dance with a partner of your choosing. Hang out with friends or just simply take in the festivities of the evening. We hope the see you there." The message explodes into a heap of confetti when, what she can only describe as a pre-recording, ends.
"A dance? Oh, that's perfect." She muttered to herself grabbing Oliver's attention into progress.
"I'm sorry what?" He said in his confusion. "Mind filling me in?"
"Oh right. So, I was thinking of ways I could go about assisting Max..." She sighs a bit out of frustration. "With Oscar, since he can't seem to pull himself to tall Oscar how he feels."
Oliver's mouth falls open and practically hits the ground. "What? You actually want to help Max? Even after everything?" The boy was surprised. After how the two have been treating each other. He thought their friendship might have fizzled out.
"Not helping." She flashed a toothy grin and growls through her teeth. "Just assisting. "She shook her head. "I was gonna brew up a love potion, but I think this dance thing could be way better." She explains how she's planning on going about playing matchmaker for Max.
"Oh right." Oliver nods to her. "Yeah, Max is going to need all the help he can get. Cause Oscar... well he's just not gonna get it."
"Assistance." Hedgehog corrects him. "But Yeah... I should go tell him now." Before she could step away and out of the cabin, she stopped. Oliver had held a grip around her arm.
"Wait hold on. I'll go." He sees the look of confusion on her face and hastily proceeded to explain himself. "I've seen the way you two have been going at each other. I'm guessing he's still bitter about it and I know you are too. I'll go so he doesn't get the wrong idea."
She sighs at the remembrance. She couldn't deny that there was still some bad blood between her and Max. He was definitely not going to hear her out. Her relationship with Max is something she'll have to deal with later.
She smiles at Oiler. His offer sounds like a good idea. That was probably the best way to go about it, so she agreed. "Thank you, Oliver." She hugs him and gives him a kiss on the cheek, making up for the better one he could have gotten earlier.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Hey, Max!" Oliver bangs on the door to Max's cabin "Max! You in there!" He wondered what could have been taking him so long. He goes to knock again but stops when the door opens up. Slowly but at least it does.
"Oh... what's up Oliver." Max rubs his eyes as he greeted. Oliver could tell something was up. Max had either been sleeping since their trip to Susie's or stressing out about something. Or he should say, someone.
He thinks for a second, choosing his words wisely and carefully before diving head-first into speculation. "Are you okay man?" Oliver asked the disheveled boy. He wasn't expecting Max to open up to him, though all the same he wanted to lean an ear to his friend.
Max looks at him for what felt like hours. The bags under the bat's eyes didn't do much to convey what the problem had been, only that there was one. They set in long silence before motions him inside. Oliver took the gesture as a sign that things were defiantly not alright.
He walks in and watches as Max throws himself down on his bed. Given everything he knew about Max and how he must have been feeling. Oliver could only assume that this was about the dance.
"Right, so... what's wrong dude?" Oliver asks him again. The boy waited for an answer he thought would never come. Until it does that is.
"Umm... so there was this letter. It came earlier and..." He pauses for a moment. "And, it said something about a dance. And well..." He stops again. He's searching for the right words though he couldn't seem to find any amidst the fog of his mind. It didn't matter though. Oliver already knew what he wanted to say.
"And you want to go with Oscar." Max's eyes widen and he nearly jumps out of bed. He hadn't even considered Oliver would find out so quickly.
"You know huh?" Max brought his head up to face the other kid in his cabin. He wonders just how long the boy knew. He must have seen the way he would act around Oscar. Max found it a little embarrassing to think about.
"I mean besides the fact; you want to ride him like a bicycle... yeah I know." He jokes with him, but it was clear that Max wasn't in the joking mood at the moment. "Right- So... what are gonna do?"
Max goes back to laying down. He has no idea what he's going to do. There was no real plan. "I'm not going. No doubt he's gonna want to hang with Hedgehog the whole time." He says with a familiar spiteful tone in his voice. He feels like he shouldn't have been as broken up about this as he was, but he couldn't help himself.
"Oh, come on Max." Oliver steps over to the side of the bat's bed. "You're really just not gonna go, man?" He begins his best attempt to convince his downhearted friend. Try as he might, Max doesn't budge, doesn't look up at Oliver, or even let out a muffled groan from his pillow. "Max look at me." Oliver leans down, crossing his arms over the bed. The sound of the bedsprings moaning and the feeling of someone else being on his bed eventually forces Max's hand. He brings his head out of his pillow and rests on his side to look at the other boy. "Remember what you told me to do about Hedgehog. Now I'm telling you to just go for it. It's never gonna happen if you don't try and there's not a worse feeling than never trying at all."
Max stares at him hesitantly "I-... I don't know." Max leans up on the bed. "What if things get too weird. What if he doesn't want to hang out with me anymore. Or what if Hedgehog tells him something and he doesn't want to ha-"
"Max!" The bat's rambling comes to an abrupt stop when Oliver yells. He had never heard Oliver raise his voice like that. It was enough to get his attention. "Look dude, don't think about the what ifs. Hedgehog is gonna be with me all night, and you made it this far with him, right?" Max shakes his head agreeing with him. "If you're so worried about what could go wrong, just tell him that you like him. He's either going to like you back or he's not and you'll still be friends."
Max thinks to himself before speaking again. He thinks about how right Oliver sounded then. "Yeah... yeah you're right, Oliver." He brings his legs over the side of the bed to set up right on the bed. "That's a good point. Thanks, Oliver."
"It's what I'm here for." He shrugged before getting up and sitting on the bed next to Max what's the worst that could happen?" He and Max share a laugh. Max thinks to himself, the only way it could go wrong was if he didn't show up at all. He at least needs to try.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Oh man," Max whispers to himself. He had been walking next to Oscar, who had admittedly cleaned up fairly nicely for tonight's event. The elephant was wearing a black suit with thine white stripes lining the surface of the suit with a gold-colored vest and purple dress shirt beneath that. He had also been fidgeting with his golden cufflinks the entire way there. Oscar probably wasn't used to wearing accessories like that too often. "How did I let Oliver talk me into this." He mutters with a sigh. At the time going to the dance seemed like such a great idea. Could have been a spur-of-the-moment thing.
"What's that Max?" Oscar overhears the murmuring. He may have been distracting with his own suit then, but that doesn't stop him from trying to pick Max's brain.
"Uhh" Max stops to think of a quick explanation for his murmuring. "Nothing, just excited... yeah" His excuses could have been better, but it also could have been much worse. Max tells him that he was alright, though on the inside he felt like he was dying.
So far, the night was off to a rough start. Everything was a mess for Max. His suit wasn't the greatest, just a hand-me-down he received from his father, back when the man was a part of his life.
From the moment Oscar stepped out of his cabin, Max couldn't help but feel like the boy was way out of his league. He would constantly stumble over his words when he saw how good Oscar looked from head to toe, no doubt dressed by Hedgehog. He had accidentally head-butted the other boy when they both bent down to pick up something Oscar had dropped, He was fine, but it still shouldn't have happened in the first place.
But to top it off. The thing that he was afraid of the most was that he couldn't dance. Not for a lack of trying, but more so a lack of natural skill. Max didn't think this night was going to get any better. Maybe it wasn't too late to turn around and leave. That was his plan though his mind would firmly change. Oscar didn't deserve to be ditched because he was feeling inadequate. Max was just going to have to stick it out and bear with the night.
"Hey look, I think that's it." Oscar pointed grounds where the dance was being held. The Same spot Susie had hosted her birthday party. That buried memory quickly drags up some remnant post-traumatic stress felt amongst the two.
"I didn't know it would be here." Max groans when sees the familiar sight. Although it had been more beautiful than last time. Lights adorned the trees, strung from one to the other like brightly lit spiderwebs. The dim lighting made the scenery pop out, making the dance area more pronounced. There were tables lined with snacks just out of view to not drew attention from the center of the area and the moonlight broke through the trees, shining right at the center of the dance floor.
"Hey Oscar, Max. It's about time." Hedgehog said, walking up to the boys. By the looks of things were the last to arrive. Everyone had already been sorted and strewn about the event grounds. Other kids were either dancing, some showing off their best moves more than others, or gathered near the snack tables talking with friends. "How cool is this right, Oscar?"
"Yeah, we would have been here earlier, but Max took a while to actually come get me." Oscar gave Max a sassy sideways glance as he explains their delay. The look doesn't exactly make Max feel any better about himself though he could walk it off. She wanted him to wait for Max instead of going with her and Oliver but due to the bat's reluctance and slight anxiety over how he looked, it had taken longer than anticipated. "I don't mind though. The wait was worth it to see all this."
"Right right. Hey Oliver!" Hedgehog calls the boy over, in which he almost comes flying. "Can you take Oscar to the snack tables? I kinda want to talk to Max." Oliver doesn't understand at first but walks off with Oscar when she insisted in her nicest 'do with I say or else' tone. "So, what took so long anyway?"
Max rolls his eyes at her. He thinks wouldn't she like to know. " Honestly, I really didn't want to come in the first place but... Oliver convinced me." He tells her. That was probably all she was getting from him on the subject.
"Oh okay. Well, I just wanted to say that I'm okay with you and Oscar." Hedgehog said, getting him to raise an eyebrow, and even sneer at her.
"Oh okay, I didn't know I needed your permission now." He Scoffs, keeping his voice just low enough to not cause a scene.
"What?" Her eyes go wide. "No- that's not wh-"
"Look Hedgehog you're my friend and all. But the last thing I need is you telling me what I can and can't do." He said. "They may work for other people in your life, but I'm not one of them. And I doubt Oscars going to continue to be one of them either." He brushes past her and walks over to the snack table leaving her dumbfounded and more than a bit angry.
"Wait... What?" She looks at him when he goes. "Oh, okay... I see." Hedgehog was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if that's the kind of tone he was going to take with her, she'd happily oblige. She wouldn't stop Max from getting with Oscar, but she sure would make it hard for him. But she'll save that for tomorrow. Tonight, she was just going to enjoy herself and come up with a plan later. She walks over to where the three boys stood and pulls Oliver out onto the dance floor by his arms.
"It's about time those babies got here." Susie silently molds as she watches Max and Oscar enter the dance.
"What was that, Susie?" Betsey Asked. She and Alice had been close behind the head witch, doing much the same as she had been. Watching over the event and making sure no trouble would occur.
Hmm? Nothing." She turns to Betsy and holds out a hand. "Come on let's go dance." Betsey hesitantly reaches for the hand. She feels like Susie was deflecting, but how could she refuse a dance with the witch.
Alice watches them go, without words or complaint. All she could really do is sigh and pout and watch Susie dance with someone other than her.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Oscar watches Hedgehog and Oliver move to the music. It was almost like the song itself was interwoven into their souls as they move to the sounds of the monster's violins. Their movement was getting him excited enough to want to get out there next. He thinks Hedgehog was always a good dancer and he was grateful she had taught him.
"Hey come on Max, let's dance." Oscar turns to Max. He wanted to get on the dance floor as soon as possible.
"Uh- I don't know. There's a lot of kids there already." He tries his best to discourage the other boy, but Oscar was having none of it.
"Don't worry Max theirs not that many." He starts pulling at Max's arm trying to get him to move from his spot. "It'll be fun tru-"
"Wait Oscar...I- I can't dance." He decided to just admit one of the reasons why he was so afraid to come in the first place. "That's why I don't want to... I can't." He whispers, though that hardly stops Oscar from taking his hand and guiding him slowly into the dancing crowd.
"Don't worry Max," Oscar whispers back, with a soft smile. "I'll teach you." He takes Max's right hand and puts it on his hip and puts his right hand on Max's shoulder. "This is the basic positioning for a slow dance. Just keep your right hand right there on my hip, I'll hold on to your shoulder and we keep our left hands intertwined. Of course, you could mix it up and put the other hand on my hip too." Max begins to feel himself heating up again. The position they were dancing in had made, his hand on Oscar, Oscars on him. None of it helps his excitement at all. Although he was fairly new to this, he hadn't been doing a bad job, he thinks. "See. You're getting the hang of it." The sound of approval from Oscar's soft voice almost makes him faint. He felt himself melt whenever Oscar spoke low tone. It was like hearing the voice of an Angel, dipped in gold, performed by the boy band, boy band. A constant stream of soul-soothing music directly in his ear. It was a sound he always wanted to experience for the rest of eternity.
"Thanks, Oscar." The sensation from Oscar's touch was almost too much for Max to bear. He had closed his eyes to drown out everything but the sound of Oscar's voice and the feel of his body. All of it combined made him feel like he was floating in mid-air.
"Max." He could hear Oscar call his name, as soft and loving as he always wanted the other to. "Max," Oscar says again, though with a bit more urgency now. "Max, open your eyes!" Max's eyes open immediately when Oscar shouts. There were no other kids, no snack tables, and not even a dance floor anymore. Something was wrong, more than just wrong actually. They were actually floating in mid-air. He almost couldn't believe it. They were in the sky and still ascending toward the moon.
"Woah! What's happening!?" Max huddles close to Oscar, and he shrugs, just as lost in the moment.
"Hey guys how's it going." The moon Greets them as they get closer to him.
"Moon! What's happening right now!?" Oscar yells keeping his eyes off the ground in fear of losing his lunch. Oddly enough he was less panicky than Max had been.
"Oh well, that's simple." The moon begins to explain. "Every year, during the midsummer waltz I get to choose the most passionate pair to dance in the sky with me. That's why my light was shining in the center of the dance floor. That's the gist of it anyway." The moon finishes. "You two clicked so much, I had to bring you up. It's a really high honor you know."
"That's... really cool actually." Oscar, a little nauseous from their distance from the ground, completely focuses his eyes on Max.
When he stares into Oscar's starry orbs, The bat remembers what Oliver told him hours earlier and figures now was probably a good enough time to tell Oscar how he felt. "Hey... Oscar." He begins to ask.
"Yeah, Max?" Oscar stares back, waiting for Max to speak. It makes his stomach knot up and he starts to reconsider again.
"I-uh I think-uhh... I think you're a really cool friend." He couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't pull himself to tell Oscar. The only thing he felt now was ashamed of himself.
"Oh yeah... I think you're a cool friend too." Oscar flashes that ever-so-sweet smile. Maybe with the next chance he gets, he'll say something for sure. But for now, he'll just enjoy what they have.
