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     I waved my wand in Heath's face, smirking, as I watched his cheeks grow red. I skipped in front of him backwards, attempting to not smack into multiple people as I did so. He shook his head annoyed as he bit his inner, right cheek. "Thanks, loser!"
     Heath knocked my hand down and I pouted, falling back into step next to him. "You're such a child! That was wrong, I hope you know."
     "I don't know what you're talking about." I shrugged, putting my wand inside the inner pocket of my robe. "The sorting hat is never wrong."
     "I hate you." Heath laughed, rolling his eyes. He stopped walking immediately when he saw a vendor outside of the Harry Potter portion of the park selling lemonade. He quickly walked over, leaving me stranded for a moment.
     "Yo! Elton just texted me!" Zane smiled widely, coming up beside me with Gabbie. "There's going to be fireworks near the center."
     "I'm game!" Heath said, walking up to the group chewing on a green, plastic straw of his overpriced lemonade.
     We began walking towards the center, excited for the show. Heath and I fell into step behind Gabbie and Zane, moving throughout the crowded park together. I felt my right arm go cold and I flinched, looking down. Heath handed me a cup of lemonade, drinking out of his. I smiled lightly, taking it from him. "You got me one?"
     "You don't want it?" Heath raised an eyebrow.
     "No, no... It's not that. Thank you." I felt myself jut my head backwards in confusion, though a sense of warmth found it's way into my chest. Heath smiled to himself, silently, before taking another sip from his cup.
     We entered the center park quite quickly, though it was partially due to us having to practically run after an overly-excited Zane. We stood on the back row before we were greeted by the rest of the squad. Gabbie stoof at my side and I heard her whisper in my ear, startling me at first. "He got you a drink?" I looked at Gabbie, signaling her to shut her mouth. She put her hands up in self defense. "Are you going to be okay?"
     I felt a wave of anxiety rush over me, realizing how loud the fireworks were going to be and how badly the popping noises bother me. "I'll be okay, I-"
     The first loud pop went off, a burst of pink and silver engulfing the night sky. I jumped back, my throat letting out a high-pitched screech. A few others around us looked at me, giving me annoyed looks. An arm immediately went around my shoulders and I looked over, being instantly snapped out of my horrified trance. "You want to head further back? It won't be as bad."
I frowned, shaking my head at Heath. "No. I'm alright. I just didn't expect it to be so-" Another one went off, causing me to jump again. "Loud."
"Come on, hey, hold this." Heath handed Gabbie his cloak and wand. He motioned for me to do the same. I hesitated before she shimmied it off of me herself, shoving it into her white backpack. "We will be back by the food. Tell Zane I'll meet him at the car."
Heath began walking and I lowered my head, following him out of the crowd and to the con session area. Once we were out, Heath was no where to be found, causing my head to whip around several times before he snuck up on me. My neck jerked back as he handed me a little plastic box, shoving it towards me. "Here, wear them. They'll help."
I looked down at the little pink, foam ear plugs in a clear, frosted, plastic box the size of my palm. I looked back at Heath, feeling guilty he bought them. "I don't want to look-" Heath smirked, opening up a box and shoving a cobalt blue pair into his ears. "You don't have to."
"Look! That one looks like a poop emoji!" Heath ignored me, pointed towards the sky. I looked up, following his pointer finger, as I shoved the ear plugs into my ears. The world seemed to have a large earmuff around it, the popping and voices instantly becoming fuzzy around me. I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Is this their way of catering to the youtubers?"
"How hip and trendy!" I said sarcastically, taking a sip of my lemonade as Heath giggled. The subscribe and like icons were next up in the sky and I looked at Heath, disgusted. "I'm gonna say that was their way of trying to support us."
I looked back at the sky, feeling eyes on me. I chose to ignore them, crossing my arms over my chest tightly as if that somehow concealed me from their stare. I smiled, seeing the fireworks go back to shooting normal colors in the sky to random songs. Formation began to play and I watched ahead as I saw the crowd form a circle, random people beginning to dance along to Beyoncé and the fireworks. "Fifty bucks says Gabbie attempts to hop in and gets punched."
"Fifty bucks says it's Zane who punches her." I laughed, running a hand through my hair.
I felt eyes on me again and I went back to crossing my arms. I felt the humidity calm down, a slightly breeze in the air as the sky turned to yellow and red. I looked out of the corner of my eyes, seeing that Heath was glancing at me every so often before finally landing his eyes on me. I turned to him, furrowing my eyebrows. "What are you looking at me like that for?"
"I wanted to talk to you about... stuff." I felt a thickness in the air, though it was ten times worse than the Florida air could ever imagine to be.
"What, ugh... What do you want to talk about?" I bit the inside of my bottom lip, feeling my nerves rise.
"I have been thinking... I have gone on dates since Amber... Well, two... But I got puked on on the first date and the second chick kept talking about how she wanted me to come to her snake room and I didn't know if that was a hipster bar or code word for sex room and-"
"Get to the point." I laughed nervously.
"I just was thinking... I was wrong to just make you feel like... I wasn't trying to use you." I felt myself take a step back, feeling uncomfortable with his sketchy he began to act.
"You looked at me like I was garbage." I looked at the ground, shaking my head aimlessly as my arms fell to my sides.
"I didn't look at you or say anything because I was in a state of shock!" Heath laughed lightly, throwing his arms up dramatically. "I didn't think we would ever..." Heath fixed his hair under his hat nervously, shifting his weight on his feet before looking back at me. "I don't want to keep dicking each other around like this."
"We can be just friends. I thought that's what we agreed on?" I raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of lemonade.
"That's not what I want." I nearly ripped my earplugs out and asked him to repeat himself. I shook my head, taking a step forward to make sure I heard him explain himself correctly. "I want to actually try, Katie."
"Try...?" I furrowed my brow, trying to figure out if we were on the same page.
"I hated how we started to become people we didn't recognize." Heath swallowed hard and I could tell he was fighting back getting emotional. "I hated how we would go to bed without saying goodnight on some nights. I hated how I felt like you would hide emotions from me. I hated how we would go out and we wouldn't tell each other where we were until last minute. I hated... I hated how we stopped giving a fuck about each other."
"Heath..." I couldn't find words to say, knowing he was putting everything I had been thinking about for months into words.
"I'm so sorry I made you feel like I didn't give a shit. And I'm so sorry the only way you felt like you could cope was by finding someone else." Biting the bottom of my lip, I felt it begin to tremble as I watched Heath's eyes go glassy. "Katie, the truth is I never stopped regretting not giving a shit. Don't get me wrong, I regretted what I did to Amber, but-"
"But you weren't who she needed to begin with." I finished for him, a small smile appearing on his face. "I get it. If it's any consolation, her new boyfriend is totally smokin'."
"My point is... I wish I could start again with you." Heath stepped closer to me, putting a hand lightly on the side of my neck. "I wish I could act like we don't have any history. I just... I want to re-meet you. I feel like if we met each other in the place we are right now, we could actually be something. I just-"
"Hi." I stepped back, holding out my hand. I heard my throats crack from holding back tears and I began to let them flow, a smile spreading across my face. "My name is Katie, Katie Haven."
"I'm Heath Hussar." Heath grinned widely, shaking my hand. "Are you free tomorrow night? I know a bomb ass sushi spot."
"I would like that. I leave here for California Monday." I giggled, that oh-so-familiar fluttering in the lower part of my stomach beginning to sprout as I watched the first genuine smile Heath had flashed me what was a lifetime of waiting.

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