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A.J. shrugged.

“I was really into Fern Gully back when I was little.” He sat down and plucked a scraggily foxtail, trying to make it grow with the magic within for old time’s sake. “I got it in my head that this place was Mount Warning but for Moose Jaw and, like, asked my parents to take me here constantly.”

The look that appeared on Bren’s face was so gushy that A.J. had to fight the urge to shove him into the river below.

“You were trying’ to catch a fairy, weren’t you?”

A.J. spun the stalk between this thumb and index finger, doing his best to keep the grin off his face.

“I mean, I kinda caught one in the end, didn’t I?”

It took Bren a couple seconds to piece it together, and then his laugh carried across the view.

“You’re really pushin’ it, Robolad.”

He shoved the last of his ice cream into his mouth, plopped down, and pulled A.J. close with one arm. A.J. let his head come to rest on Bren’s shoulder.

“I never thought I’d get to show you stuff like this.”

The breeze set the trees rustling down in the valley as Bren pressed his lips against his. A.J.’s hand found the back of Bren’s neck and everything else melted away.

Mint chip and salted caramel, who knew?

7

“Alright, Miss Holly, let’s see if you’ve got everything.”

Bren stood back as Arlo got down to eye level with his sister, not sure what to do with himself. The ride from Arlo’s place to the school had only taken about five minutes, but it had been a weird five minutes. Steering wheel on the wrong side of the car aside, he was still having trouble wrapping his head around how relaxed Arlo looked while driving.

Then there was the Holly of it all.

He’d given her his best smile-and-wave when she’d come out of the house, and she’d stopped to stare at him like she couldn’t decide if he was really there or not. He’d asked her if she liked primary two and she ignored him completely in favour of asking Arlo if they could listen to Anastasia today.

A kid in a Spider-Man T-shirt bumped into him in his hurry and threw out a hasty ‘sorry’ before hurrying off to catch up to his friends.

“Got your headphones? Lunch? How about cards?”

Holly touched the headphones around her neck, rattled her Hello Kitty lunch box, then unzipped her backpack and pulled out a small stack of what looked like laminated printer paper.

Arlo shuffled through the stack and pulled one out so that it faced Holly.

“How about today?”

Holly stared at the sheet like she was picking something off a menu then smiled and pointed towards the top.

“Woo!” Arlo said, and he leaned in when Holly opened her arms for a hug. He was wearing a smile that made Bren’s heart flutter in a way he didn’t quite have words for.

Hoping he wasn’t about to get the stare-treatment again, Bren closed the distance.

“Alright, Holly, do you want to say goodbye to Bren?”

Bren gave an attempt at a wave but Holly wasn’t paying attention. She was staring at the card Arlo was holding, now at an angle so Bren could see what was on it too.

He’d been right about it being a piece of laminated printer paper, but the thing had been decorated with rainbows and kitty-cats around a list that read:

1.) Hug

2.) Fist Bump