Page 27 of Don't Scare Me, My Love

We made our way closer to the fire. The crackling was accompanied by childrenscreamingout of excitement and parentsscreamingout of fear that their kids would run too close toward it. We talked little, for the power of the bonfire was something that had to be taken in with all the senses—but I caught a few furtive glances from Nicholas.

Just as the trance of the fire had taken both of us in, a kid dressed as a vampire bumped into him, letting both of us instinctively take a couple of steps away from the heat. As if it was a reflex, Nicholas grabbed the kid under his arms and pulled it with us so it wouldn’t run too close to the fire.

“And who are you?” Nicholas asked as he put the boy back on the ground.

“I. am.Dracula,” the kid hissed and ran away as quickly as it had appeared.

We spent the next half hour petting some goats, admiring the entrance to the spooky hike, and exploring all the tents to see what they offered. At Sienna’s station from the Mountain View Cafe, I grabbed us some non-alcoholic apple cider before we walked back toward the fire, staring into it again.

“Did you know that it’s called a bonfire because, in the olden times, people used to throw thebonesof cattle in it as an offering to ensure the sun would come back after a long and hard winter?” Nicholas asked, taking a sip of his cider.

“So, it’s actually abonefire?”

“Exactly. Sometimes, they even burned personal items as offerings for protection against sickness and bad fortune.” Hishead turned toward me. “You think we should also throw something in?”

“Like what?”

Nicholas pulled his clenched right hand out of his jacket and opened it, revealing the rubber spider he had been trying to scare me with.

“No, you can’t burn that,” I replied.

“Because it’s of sentimental value?”

“Because they’ll kick us out if we haggle with the bonfire,” I replied, staring at the spider's squiggling legs. “But also because it shouldn’t suffer such a horrible end.”

“You’re right. It’s basically like our pet now, isn’t it?” He smiled as he gently let the spider drop back into his pocket. He took a sip of the cider and arched his back. “This is nice.”

“You should take some videos for your YouTube channel.”

He glanced at me. “During a date? I’m notthatrude.”

“It’s not rude at all. If you want to take some pictures, do it.”

“Okay.” He didn’t take his eyes off me as he pulled his phone out of his pants and turned around, his back now facing the fire. He held his phone up, getting ready to take a selfie.

“I can also take a picture of you—” I said, but he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me close before I could finish my sentence.

The screen on his phone turned white for a second before it displayed the picture he had just taken.

“That’s the only one I want to take tonight,” he said as he let go of me. “But I can also delete it if you don’t like it.” He handed me his phone so I could have a closer look. Apart from the fact that I had a stupid expression—my mouth stood open as if a fly had just flown into it—I had to admit that we were pretty cute together.

“Take another one,” I said, pushing his phone back into his hands. “Webothneed to lookmorestupid.”

I had little time to admire his wide grin because he didn’t have to be told twice to extend his long arm for another selfie. The screen flashed white at us again. This time, we both made faces like we were burning in the flames.

“A lot better,” I noted. “You still may keep both of them.”

Out of nowhere, Nicholas winced so hard that he sprayed his cider everywhere. I jumped a foot back so as not to be hit by it and turned around to see whoever thought it was a good idea to sneak up on us.

“Woah. Careful,” Jack said, pulling his hands up as if he was afraid one of us would hit him in the face. His yellow working vest glowed brightly. “See?That’show you successfully scare someone. By… calling their names three times and walking over to them because they didn’t hear you.”

Nicholas glanced at me and then back at Jack. “Trying to make your namesake proud again, aren’t you, Jack the Ripper?” He turned all the way around to reveal the eye patch to our friend.

As Jack’s gaze fell on it, his mouth dropped open wide. He searched for my face as if he wanted to ensure I approved of this. My confirming smile stopped him from commenting on it, though.

“So you two came,” Jack said, a mischievous grin on his face as if he thought we should be engaged in other activities. “How do you like it, Nicholas?”

“This,” he held his hand out in a way that it wasn’t entirely apparent if he pointed toward the bonfire or me, “exceeds my expectations, to be honest.”

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