Frostbitten

Midsummer's Day

I sighed for the hundredth time.

"Quit being so sad," Mary said. She didn't know about Cupid and I but she still didn't want me to be so upset.

It had been two weeks since Cupid and I talked to each other. He avoided me and I avoided him. Though when he wasn't looking then of course I couldn't help but look at him. I never even got to kiss him, and if we kissed then maybe he could've realized we could be happy together. Though I was trying to get over him. Before he told me we could possibly be together I accepted the fact we weren't going to fall in love. Though after having a taste of what it could be like and dreaming about the future with him - it was so much harder to accept it.

"What's the matter anyway?" Mary asked.

"Nothing," I lied.

She groaned. "Obviously it's not nothing. What is it?"

"I just don't want to talk about it," I told her, my voice cracking at the end.

"Aw, baby." She took me in her arms like Mom did and wiped some of my tears.

"Hey, Mary, you - oh, hey you okay Jack?" Drake asked, entering her room.

"Yeah," I sighed, again.

"He's just emotional. It's a girl thing."

That managed to get a smile from me. "I'll let you two be alone," I said, standing.

"You sure? You two can talk more if you'd like," Drake told me.

"No, it's alright."

"Do you need a hug?"

I laughed, but thinking about, I did need a hug. So I nodded and he gave me a big hug, making me feel better knowing I had him as a friend. Then Mary tackled us, hugging me from behind and we fell onto her bed, laughing. At least I had friends. I told them goodbye and then walked home. School had let out and I was pretty bored. Though Midsummer's Day was approaching and it was the most important day of the year. It was officially the first day of summer to humans, but to us it's the middle of summer since Ostara, the first day of spring to humans, is like our first day of summer, but that's not why it was really important. It was more important because it was kind of like New Year's. It's a day of change, a time of family, a time for love, a day of magic and miracles. It was just a very beautiful day for all. Typically, everything would be open until about five o'clock the day before and then everyone would get some sleep early to watch the sunrise. Then the day was an actual party and it continued on until about four in the morning.

It was a beautiful day, but I always kind of got depressed because it was when a lot of people would find their true love, too. It was a magical day, and so magical things happened. I never found my true love, and since Cupid flat out rejected me, it was going to be worse. Normally I clung to Mom, but she had Mo and then Lady, Boogey, Drake, and Mary were all together so I was just going to be alone. Though I suppose that isn't the worst thing that could happen to me.

As I was walking, I was about to turn a corner, but I almost got shoved to the ground by the speeding object that nearly ran into me.

"Shoot."

I stumbled back but caught myself. I looked in front of me and of course it was Cupid. He had earbuds in and connecting to the mp3 strapped to his arm. He pressed a button and looked at me. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," I replied. Why did I have to see him. He was shirtless and sweaty and had gotten so ridiculously tan.

"How're you?"

"Fine."

He nodded. "I'll see you later."

"Bye."

He started to run away but stopped and turned around. He walked back in front of me, hands on hips. "Are you gonna watch the sunset with anyone?"

"Well, I was gonna watch it with Lady, Drake, Boogey, and Mary, but I'd kind of be a fifth wheel."

"What if I watch it with you and them? We can be the fifth and sixth wheel? I mean, if you want to."

"Uh...sure. I don't mind."

He just barely smiled. "Okay. I'll see you later then."

"Bye," I said again.

I started to walk to the house again, and I thought about how I was fine with just being friends with Cupid again. It was fine. I would love to love him and be with him forever, but obviously that's not going to happen. I smiled a little to myself. It's not going to happen, and that's perfectly fine. The sooner I get over it, the quicker I can find my true love.

On Midsummer's Eve, I got some sleep early and woke up at about five in the morning. I put on my charcoal shirt that said "Be yourself. Everyone is already taken," a quote by Oscar Wilde. Then I put on some metallic, black shirts that were pretty short and my ruby red slipper along with a red, sparkly belt, a necklace that had a red heart with a gold arrow going through it, my red heart earrings, and a bracelet with a red heart as a charm.

Mary and Drake got me and we walked to the edge of town to the road on the hill. The road went right through the town and the sun would rise right on it. We could drive on it until noon and we'd be forced to turn. Everyone gathered at the end of the road in their cars to watch the sunset. We'd all drive down it and watch the sunset from there. Lady and Boogey were already there, but Cupid wasn't in sight. He showed up just as we were about to leave. We were in Drake's jeep, and Cupid and I were in the very back since it was a big jeep. We sped down the road as the first splash of orange rose above the horizon, the rest of the cars following. At first I was always bored with it, but as we kept going and the sky was turning shades of pink and orange, then I got more excited. We kicked on some some classic music and started to sing stupidly, laughing along. At one point, I stood up and held onto the bar attatched to the jeep. I stared at the sky ahead of me and smiled. I put my hands in the air as the wind whipped past me, tilting my head back and laughing. The sun was fully emerged, and everyone cheered. I nearly fell out of the car, but luckily Cupid caught me, sitting me back down.

We eventually slowed down and made our way back to town with everyone else. Now that the start of the holiday was over, it meant it was time to get everything ready. The mother and grandmothers would start the food, kicking the men out of the kitchen. The fathers would put up the maypoles, tying the colorful ribbon to the top for the kids to dance around. Then the rest would find other things to do, like make wreaths. Mary, Drake and the rest of us decided to make wreaths. We made some to wear, mine using red flowers to match, and then we made some more to throw into the river that ran through the town. We tossed them in and made wishes on them.

Then it was time to pick flowers. We grabbed our baskets and picked as many flowers as possible, all the ones we could get. We wore them, me wearing a rose on my belt, and then placed them in vases or burned them in a fire. We also started to burn other things in fires, like papers that said things we wanted to let go of. I was about to write Cupid on a piece of paper, but decided against it. Once one o'clock came around, most food was cooking and had to cook for a long time. Then the children were tired from the maypoles and it was time for everyone to rest. Most took baths with rosemary in them, which is what I did first. Once I was done, I meditated with Mom in the living room. Then we walked around the house with incesne to ward off evil spirits. Then things started to pick up again a little and I some how ended up getting stuck with Cupid on a nature walk. Mary and Drake and then Lady and Boogey ran off to be alone, so as we were walking through the forest it was just Cupid and I.

"It's a shame humans don't celebrate this as ofte," he told me.

I nodded.

"I mean, some countries do, but not many."

"Yeah."

"I wish people believed in us more."

"There are a lot of stories and movies about us."

"Yeah, but I wish we could actually let humans know who we are, but if we did that then they'd be very needy."

I didn't know what to say. I could hardly talk to him because I couldn't stop thinking about how we would never be together. I told myself yesterday it was fine, but walking next to him - I didn't believe myself.

"Look, Jack," he began, and I knew he was going to give me a big spiel about us. "I'm sorry, but I still want to be your freaking friend."

"Well that's hard Cupid. I can't get it through my head yet, okay?"

"Okay, but you should-"

"I should what?" I growled, even though I knew what he was going to say. "Should I try Cupid? Is that what you want me to do? TRY? Well maybe you should take your own advice."

"Did I not try? I went on a date with you didn't I?"

"You can't tell by one date, Cupid. I mean, we didn't even kiss!"

"And you think if we kissed you'd know right?"

"Yes! When people kiss for the first time that's when you shoot them with arrows a lot."

"That doesn't mean anything for us, Jack."

"You...you're mean!"

"I'm mean?" he asked, facing me.

"Yeah, you are. You just really know how to hurt people." My voice cracked at the end, and I looked away, not wanting him to see me cry. Though I started to sob a little and so of course he could hear me.

He grabbed me by my arms and pushed me deeper into the woods behind a tree. "I never meant to hurt you Jack. God, that's the whole reason why I'm doing this. I was afraid that if we were together then it wouldn't be right and after a long time then I'd have to break it off. I wanted to do it now before it was too late, so you wouldn't be hurt. I mean, I didn't think you really loved me that much."

"No, I don't love you that much, but I wanted it to grow. Why would it not be right down the road?"

"I don't know, because...we're two guys. For humans, it's natural. Though for us, I feel like it's not, you know?"

"Well...screw nature."

He smiled sadly. "Even though you control a part of nature."

"I don't care."

"I feel really stupid, because I just can't stop hurting you, and that's what I've been trying to avoid."

"You are stupid...but you make up for it by being cute."

He laughed and looked at me. "Come on, let's start heading back."

I didn't know what we were, but I was glad we were on the same page. I doubted he'd change his mind and we'd get together, but the more we talked the more I could get over him. He was right. This was something we just had to grow over. I was also glad that he didn't want to hurt me, because at times I felt he just liked to see me in pain, but that was when I was highly emotional and irrational. We walked back to town and things were finally getting started in the capitol garden. There were bonfires set up every where and people were jumping over them. Everyone was wearing bright colors (except for me) and eating potatos, strawberries, salads, pasta, cakes, and other fruits. There was music too, of course, and everyone was dancing around, having fun.

I decided to actually enjoy myself. Screw being alone. I shouldn't think about it and just let things happen. So I danced with everyone on the floor, enjoying myself. I laughed, smiled, sang, danced, and flat out had an amazing time. I didn't need a guy to have a good time. I had myself and the entire night.

At one point in the night, I was dancing with Lady and Cupid was standing off to the side. He was one of the only ones not dancing, because it was getting late and everyone was on the floor at that time. He had his arms crossed and was just looking at me. I nearly tripped because I was so weirded out by him looking at me, but Lady caught me. I told her I needed to get a drink and walked to the drink table where Cupid was standing at. I down some juice and asked, "Why aren't you dancing?"

"I don't know," he said loudly and like he was annoyed, but not annoyed with me, more like someone else or himself.

"Why do you keep looking at me?"

"Because I'm a freaking dumbass, that's why."

"You're figuring this out now?" I asked.

He smirked, looking at me intently. "Yeah. I am, and my parents might have those thoughts, too."

I smiled back. "Come on." He led me out of the huge garden and to the woods where his tree house was. After getting away from the crowd, he took my hand and we walked past the lake we skated on and carried me on his back, climing the ladder. We sat on the edge and watched the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful. The sky was orange, pink, purple, red, and absolutely stunning. We sat on the edge of the tree house and we still had a little while before it finally went down, but we didn't want to move.

"You know I keep telling myself we're not right for each other," he told me, looking ahead. He looked so gorgeous. I was drooling practically. He was basically glowing and since he naturally glowed because of his wings he was just shimmering and looked like a piece of gold. His tan was so sun-kissed and golden, too. He was just so luminescent. His hair was wild and longer and sexy. He was shirtless and of course he still had the amazing body, but he seemed to have gotten stronger over the past month. Then his eyes were also glimmering, looking like emeralds on his golden body, his lips being pink diamonds that needed to be shined with my own lips.

"How's that working out?" I asked.

"It's not. I feel like my parents should be right about this, but they're not right about a lot of things. I've discovered that the hard way, too, because I would think they were right and it ended horribly when I believed them."

"So what's your plan, champ?"

He smiled over me, and there were those pearls to adorn his bejeweled body. "Well, I plan on telling you how you're probably going to be so annoyed with me, because I plan to tell you I was wrong, but hopefully you'll just laugh it off. Then I plan to smile at you and hopefully you'll smile back. Then I'll lean in and kiss you and it'll be amazing and you'll laugh once we let go. I plan to tell you that you were right - a kiss can make people realize how they feel. Then I plan to kiss you more and more and watch the sunset."

"That sounds lovely."

"Then I plan to rip your pants off."

"Cupid!"

"Sorry. I had to."

"Whatever, but go ahead and go through with your plan."

"Okay," he said, but just sat there and looked at the sky.

So we sat there for about fifteen minutes and the sun was almost hitting the horizon. After a while, he said, "You're going to hate me for this, but I was severely wrong, Jack."

"How so?"

"Because I was wrong. My parents were definitely not right, and so I think I just might try."

"That really is annoying, but I'm just going to laugh it off."

"Okay."

Then we sat there for fifteen more minutes and the sun was slowly sinking into the horizon.

He looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back. He moved my hair out of my face and leaned in slowly. He gently pressed his lips against mine, and he was right - it was amazing. We kissed tenderly, his lips succumbing mine. I moved closer and leaned against him, kissing softly. We let go, and I really did laugh.

"You were right," he said.

"How so?"

"A kiss really can make people tell how they feel."

I laughed again and we kissed more and more. Eventually, our lips departed and we watched the sunset, on that day of magic - and miracles.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

What? WHAT? They got together? And you thought they weren't?!?!?! Muahahaha! Well look at that! Oh Cupid...you are indeed a dumbass, but you make up for it by being cute :D

Dedicated to le awesome fan! Ha, you get the good chapter dedicated to you ;)

Slideshow is of Jack and Cupid and Jack's outfit. I found out Arthur Sales is actually gay and Alex McKee is gay or bisexual, but basically they can be together in real life and make an old fag hag like me drool :D

If this ever gets turned into a movie then they're going to star in it. But that's only in my dreams :p

Anyway, comment, vote, and so on!

Thanks!