“You think they have a chance at winning?” Wilson was at my elbow, eyes dancing with amusement as he watched the costume contestants line up.
I scanned the competition. One “crew” wore vampire costumes, with bloody teeth dripping down their brown fringe vests. A family I’d seen twice in Rainwood’s were zombie cowfolk, “brains” tucked inside their holsters.
“With just colors?” I asked and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
Somehow, Rae and her team had found the time to find outfits fit for a rodeo. What they lacked in story, they made up for in layers of rainbows and laces. They looked beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But they weren’t exactly telling a story.
“First crew,” Maggie announced while looking at her phone. “The Bloodsucking Gunslingers.”
The crowd cheered and whistled as they climbed onto the stage.
“Hope you’re wrong,” Wilson leaned over to say. “I spent way too much time mending those wings.”
I leaned down, trying to hear him better. “Wings?”
“Next up, we have some of our new friends in town,” Maggie said. “They go by…?”
She frowned at her phone. December hurried onto the stage, her flowy dress with a lacy train billowing behind her. She whispered into Maggie’s ear before running back off to prepare for their entrance.
“The Demon-Slaying Fae,” Maggie laughed around the words.
I stood on my toes, trying to see over the few people who’d filtered in to block my view. The struggle to see didn’t last long as the team climbed onto the stage. Wings adorned their backs. Each set wass wider than their shoulders, decorated in beads and jewels. My laugh was one of awe. They were colorful fae with cowboy hats. The wings looked powerful enough to carry them in flight.
“You have to give us a three-sixty.” Maggie’s mouth remained wide open as Rae and her team spun. The crowd cheered at the display of artistry. I clapped along with them, placing two fingers under my tongue to whistle.
Rae’s gaze somehow found mine. She raised a brow, questioning what I thought. I shook my head, unable to communicate how everything from how she walked, talked, got people excited, and made people feel safe had me willing to do any and every single thing she asked of me.
I simply whistled again, and she did an extra spin that was just for me.
“There you are!”The spurs on Rae’s boots clicked as she made her way over the railing where I leaned. She brought with her the smell of whisky and clung to a folded-up check.
“Hey.” I smiled when she unfolded the check and did a spin while holding it over her head. Her wings were still on, glittering like a stream under a full moon.
“Why do I keep having to find you?” she asked.
After an hour of surviving the constant hum of overlapping voices, I decided I’d done enough socializing to earn a breath of fresh air. The bar had a weather-worn porch. Colorful flags from various states and countries lined the roof, flapping halfway down the porch.
“This sometimes feels more painful than work to me.” I nudged my chin toward the bar. “Being outside and around so many people.”
Her smile faded. “You’re not having fun.”
“No…I wouldn’t say that.”
Rae snorted. “Would you dance with me?”
I laughed under my breath. Rae smiled, and before I could voice my refusal, she lamented, “You won’t dance, you won’t drink, you won’t talk to strangers unless it’s a means to an end.”
Rae released an exaggerated sigh as if she’d been hunting for something important for ages. “What do you do for fun?” she asked, and before I could answer, she quickly added, “And don’t say riding horses. That’sone thing.”
“One very fun thing,” I countered. I couldn’t hold back my smile when she rolled her eyes.
It was easy to lump real-life Rae back into that framework of poster-woman Rae. Plushie Rae. Stage Rae. The woman in front of me was all that and more, fearlessly unfolding before me. For a moment, I ached to be more like her. Ached to share. To be in a sort of communion with someone else without fear of being rejected.
“It’s a very fun thing that’s tied to your job,” Rae reminded me.
“And what do you do?” I challenged. “If not things that are also tied to your job?”
“Hobbies.”
