Wanderlust (Kellic)

Chapter 16

"Mm-hmm."

"This should be interesting."

A few minutes later, Mike gives his controller to me, and Vic grabs another one. We both sit on the couch, with Mike, Tony, and even Jaime gathering around it to watch the showdown.

"What track are we doing, then?"

"Uh…the crown thing." I point at one of the icons, which shows a group of four different tracks. "The master levels."

I don’t remember all that much about this game, but I do remember that the first track is some desert setting, the next is some highway where all the cars drive on the wrong side of the road, the third one is one of Bowser’s castles, and the last one is…

"We are not doing Rainbow Road,” Vic says.

I give him an innocent smile. “Why not, Victor? Are you afraid you’re gonna lose?”

"Rainbow Road was created by Satan."

"Your point?"

"Rainbow Road," Mike chants. "Rainbow Road."

Vic rolls his eyes. “Fine. The master levels it is.”

Twenty minutes later, I’ve got thirty more bucks in my pocket.

—

When the sun is low in the sky, Vic takes me to the beach where we first met. I’ve decided to stay in San Diego for at least another week or so, mainly because I don’t want to let go of Vic just yet. He seemed really happy when I told him that I wasn’t leaving immediately, so I think he’s feeling the same way about me (God knows why).

Now he and I are strolling along the shore, hand in hand, and talking. Surprisingly, there aren’t as many people here as I thought there’d be, so we pretty much just walk a straight line, occasionally kicking our feet in the waves.

When we reach a particularly empty portion of the beach, Vic stops and turns to me. “I got you a little something.”

My face heats up. He got me something? “Um…what is it?” I ask, glancing down at my feet.

He puts a finger under my chin and tilts my head back up. “Hey, don’t be embarrassed. I wanted to do this. Now close your eyes, darling.”

I do as he says, my face growing even warmer. I can faintly hear him pulling something out of his pocket, and then he says, “Okay, you can look now.”

He’s holding up a small object with a circular thing hanging from it. It’s got some weblike string across it, and at the bottom are three feathers. I’ve seen it before, but I can’t remember what it’s called…

"It’s a dream catcher," he explains, as if reading my thoughts. "It’s supposed to, like, ‘catch’ all the bad dreams so you don’t have any. I figured, because, you know…" He shrugs, blushing a little. "I just thought it seemed like a good idea." He glances at it, and everything about that split second looks like a perfect snapshot, with the sun in the right place and everything.

"It’s…wow," I say, smiling in disbelief. "This is…"

"You don’t have to take it if you don’t want it," he adds quickly.

"No!" I say, cursing my natural awkwardness. With no other way to communicate my feelings, I give him a soft peck on the lips. "I love it."

"Really?" He bites his lip. "I…thought you might think it was dumb."

"I don’t," I say, taking it from him. "I really do love it." I glance at the dream catcher as it moves with the breeze. "When did you get this?"

He makes a face. “You sleep a lot.”