We Burned Like Fireworks

When the most popular amusement park in Crestwater—Fableland released a special offer for pairs, my girlfriend, Alice Winslow, bought two tickets without a second thought. One for herself. And one for my childhood friend, Troy Prescott. After linking their tickets to their IDs, she turned to me. "Hunter, did you get yours?" By the time I came back to my senses, the two of them were already walking towards the entrance together. I hurriedly bought a single adult ticket. As soon as I got through the gates, Troy messaged the group chat. "Hunter, you're too slow. We're going to check out the attractions first. We're not waiting for you." It was supposed to be a trip for three, but they were always paired off. I was always the one trailing behind. I stared at the message I had typed, "I'll come find you." Then I deleted it. Then I opened my feed and saw a photo Troy had posted of himself and Alice wearing Wally Whiskers hats. The caption read, "Our 30th photo together." During our 10 days in Crestwater, they had taken 30 photos together. And they had left me behind 30 times. That evening, I ran into them beneath the fireworks over the castle. Alice held up her phone with a smile. "Hunter, let me take a picture of you." I forced a smile and raised two fingers towards the camera. She handed the phone to me, then slipped her arm through Troy's. "Take one of us, too. " For a moment, I simply looked at the two of them standing together beneath the fireworks. Then I handed the phone back to Alice and slowly turned away. This was where my summer trip with Alice ended. Chapter 1 The One Left Behind Alice hurried over after me. "The fireworks aren't over yet. Where are you going? Don't wander off again." I kept my hands in my pockets and smiled casually, but the moment my eyes fell on her hand locked with Troy's, the smile disappeared. "I want to head back first." "Alice, let's get closer to the front. The best view is up ahead." Troy's voice drowned mine out. Alice immediately turned around and let him pull her through the crowd. The people around us gradually closed the gap between them and me. So even if I stayed right where I was, they would still walk off together without waiting for me. Fireworks exploded behind me as I walked through the gates and looked at the roads, packed bumper to bumper. Before we left, Alice had planned everything out. She had said she was never comfortable leaving the arrangements to me. I followed the crowd toward the subway. Someone suddenly grabbed me. Alice was covered in sweat, but there was a faint chill in her voice. "Hunter, you've been off on your own all day. It's exhausting having to enjoy ourselves while looking for you at the same time." "I'm sorry for ruining your fun." I tried to hide my embarrassment and anger behind the familiar teasing tone we always used with each other. But once the words were out, the frustration weighing on me felt worse than ever. The previous 30 times, I had always been the one left behind. And I had always been the one trying desperately to smooth things over. Troy stepped forward as though he had every right to speak on Alice's behalf. "Alice has been tired all day. If you've got a problem, take it up with me. Don't take it out on her." I glanced at the bottle of water Alice had bought for him and plushies she had bought as a pair. I yanked my arm free from Troy's grip and asked him outright, "Who exactly are you to stand up for her?" Troy whistled and raised an eyebrow at Alice. "See? Say a few words to him, and now he's jealous." Alice furrowed her brows, clearly irritated. "Hunter, you've been making snide comments all day. Who has the time to guess what's going on in that head of yours? Troy has gone out of his way to take care of me. He's done a better job than you, my supposed boyfriend." Troy rubbed his nose, trying to hide the smug smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Then his eyes flashed. He grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her forward. "Alice, those two up ahead are looking for someone to share a ride with. Come on. Let's see if they'll share a ride back to the hotel." After they had gone a little way, Alice suddenly realized something and turned around to call out to me. "Hunter, it's best to share a ride at this hour. Troy and I will take one car. Find three other people to share one with." Troy tightened his grip around Alice's wrist and smiled. "See you at the hotel, Hunter." I stood there stunned for several seconds, watching them climb into a van as it drove past me. Whatever hurt I had been holding back finally spilled over. I turned around in anger and threw every birthday pin I had collected for Alice into the trash. I remembered how, after the SAT, Alice had suggested that we take a trip to Crestwater. She was the one who had said, "Hunter, let's be together." But when we were getting ready to leave, I found out she had also bought Troy a high-speed rail ticket. "Alice, let's break up." I sent her the message. She replied almost immediately, "Hunter, are you seriously being this childish? Are you really mad just because I spent the whole day with Troy? Your leg is still recovering. I was only looking out for you." Whenever I complained, Alice always said she was "looking out for me." But the only reason I had five metal pins in my leg was because of them. The summer before senior year, we took Troy's family's minivan to the beach. He insisted on switching seats with me. I moved to the passenger seat while he stayed in the back playing Pictionary with Alice. They were fooling around so loudly that they crashed into the steering wheel of the front seat. The van slammed into a cliff, and the door crushed my leg. I spent the entire six months of SAT prep with half my leg in a cast. Alice took care of me for half a semester, and I thought she liked me. Looking back now, maybe she was only trying to ease a little of her guilt. Chapter 2 No Room for Me It was almost 11 p.m. when I got off the subway and followed the directions into a narrow alley. Halfway through, two figures suddenly appeared. Two burly men lurked a few feet behind me, following at an unhurried pace. I panicked. I did not dare call the police outright, so I shared my location in the group chat and frantically tagged the two of them. "I'm a little over 300 feet from the hotel. I think I'm being followed. Call the police for me." "These two guys are carrying weapons. Alice, call me. I'll put you on speaker so they'll know you two are waiting for me up ahead." "Where are you?" The farther I went, the darker the alley became. The atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive. Troy finally messaged me. My palms were slick with sweat as I opened it. "Hunter, stop messaging us. Alice and I are playing a game, and the connection keeps lagging." I stared at the message for a full minute before laughing out loud. Hearing me laugh, the two men quickened their pace and came up behind me. "Someone was killed on this stretch of road just two days ago," one of them said ominously. "We're out patrolling. You shouldn't be wandering around here. Head on out." I nodded stiffly and kept saying, "Okay." Cold sweat prickled across my back. I was still shaken from the fear, but a bitter feeling was rising in me, too. When I got back to the hotel, Alice was sitting outside. The moment she saw me, she let out a long sigh of relief. "Hunter, it took you two hours just to get a ride? Seriously?" I walked past her without a word. Her phone was still on the game screen. "Did you see my messages?" After a long pause, she looked up blankly. "What messages?" Troy came out of the hotel and bumped my shoulder. "There you are. Where'd you run off to? We thought you weren't coming back." He dropped into the wicker chair beside Alice and started going over where they had lost points in the last round. I turned and went upstairs. The elevator doors closed, shutting the two of them out. I looked up at the ceiling, my expression numb with disappointment. My eyes were calm. Whatever love had once been there was gone. At that moment, I finally made up my mind. I sent my mother a voice message. "Mom, I want to go to Brassport University. I don't want to go to Briarwood University anymore." She could hear how unhappy I was and asked if Alice and I had gotten into a fight. I did not give her a straight answer. … When I woke up the next morning, Troy's bed was still perfectly made. He had not come back to the room last night. The group chat was silent. Alice had sent me a private message in the middle of the night. "Hunter, I just saw what happened in the group chat. You're a grown man. Who would've thought you'd still go wandering into dangerous places?" She also forwarded me an article about how to stay safe when going out late at night. There was no apology. No sign that she was worried about me. Just cold blame. I deleted the article and went to find her so we could clear things up. I wanted to tell her that the trip had been painfully boring and that I was not going to continue it. But after I knocked on her door for a long time, there was no answer. She was not in her room. I called Troy, but it was Alice who answered it. "You're up? Hotel breakfast ends at 10. Don't forget to go eat." I hummed in response and asked where they were. There was a brief silence on the other end before Troy took the phone. "Hunter, the hotel gave us a couples' photo package, and it expires today. You usually sleep in and can't get up, so Alice said we wouldn't bother you. We came out to take the pictures ourselves. Anyway, the photographer's waiting. Stay at the hotel, okay?" In the background, the photographer teased them. "Come on, guys, loosen up. You're a couple. What are you shy about? Yeah, kiss her on the cheek. Good. Let's get another one." My fingers trembled as I hung up. To take my mind off things, I made a last-minute reservation at a museum. Part of me wanted to show them that I could be the one to leave them behind, too. I could have just as much fun on my own. But the truth was, they did not care. When Alice found out I was going to the museum, all she said was, "Okay. Troy and I are having lunch with an old classmate. Have fun on your own. We'll meet you at the food street tonight." I glanced at the time. It was noon. They had just finished the photo shoot. In other words, they had never planned to invite me to lunch with their old classmate in the first place. That evening, we met at the food street. Alice's expression tightened the moment she saw me. She frowned and handed me an iced tea. "Look who finally decided to show up." Troy sipped his drink, his eyes lingering on Alice's lemonade. Alice sighed and handed her drink to him. He took half a sip, said it was too sour, and handed it back. The gesture was so natural that it was as if they had done it countless times when I was not around. I slowed my pace, letting the distance between us grow. I walked with my head down for a while before someone suddenly slammed into me. An entire cup of iced tea splashed across my clothes, and the other person's phone went flying. The screen shattered on impact. The person who hit me was a middle-aged woman. Her long fingernails dug into my arm, scraping away a layer of skin around my wrist. The man with her punched me in the lower back. "Are you blind? This is a brand-new phone. Pay up!" Through the pain, I turned around. For a split second, I met Alice's eyes across the crowd. Chapter 3 The Last Spark Alice anxiously pointed toward Troy. He was arguing with the vendor because his QR payment had not gone through. "Alice, call the police!" I shouted to her. The woman suddenly let go of me, and the man behind me kicked the back of my knee. I stumbled and fell. The sharp heel of her shoe dug hard into my ankle. I was drenched in sweat, and the pain made my vision go black for a moment. Meanwhile, Troy finally settled things with the vendor. In the chaos, Alice seemed to glance in my direction. Her eyes lingered on me for less than a second before Troy pulled her around the corner. In the end, a middle-aged man in the crowd could not bear to stand by and watch. He called the police for me. By the time I finished giving my statement at the police station and returned to the hotel, it was well past midnight. I limped into the hotel lobby, my ankle so swollen that I could barely keep my balance. Hearing the commotion, Alice hurried over to help me. She was carrying a bag of medicine she had just ordered for delivery. She crouched down and started treating my injured ankle. "Put some ice on it first and spray it with some medicine. We'll see how it looks tomorrow." I stared at her face. Beneath the concern on the surface, I could still sense the restlessness and annoyance she could not quite hide. It was as if I were just another problem on this trip she had to go out of her way to deal with. Her touch was gentle, but it felt cold to me. "You saw me, didn't you?" Her hand stopped for a moment, but she did not look up. "I didn't notice there was a fight over there. Troy was arguing with the vendor, and I was too busy pulling him away." She was clearly feeling guilty. She spoke quickly, her cheeks turning red. Troy was still eating his fruit-and-yogurt cup. In his usual seemingly concerned but actually mocking tone, he lectured me. "Hunter, don't go charging around in crowded places. Watch where you're going." Alice forced a smile. "Is this your first day knowing him? This guy can't even follow a map. He gets lost everywhere." My voice turned cold. "Was I the one who wanted to get lost? You clearly saw me. Why didn't you come over?" The smile faded from her eyes little by little, and the annoyance she had been hiding began to show. "You had a problem over there. Wasn't Troy dealing with a problem too?" "Was my problem less important than a few bucks' worth of fruit?" I lurched upright, unable to understand it. When she had to choose between us, why was I always the second choice while Troy was always the first? "Alice, if I'm not your first choice, then you don't have to keep taking care of me." The moment my ankle touched the floor, pain shot through it, and I sucked in a sharp breath. But I refused to keep swallowing my frustration just to be her second choice. "Alice, Hunter's just blunt. You should go after him and explain." Troy lazily offered his advice from behind us. Alice raised her voice, finally letting all her pent-up frustration explode. "Leave him alone! We agreed we'd act like a team on this trip. He's the one only thinking about himself!" I limped back to my room. The first thing I did was pack my bags and book a ticket home. When everything was done, I opened the group chat. Troy had posted a photo of the three of us on the food street. After 11 days, I had finally appeared in one of their photos. He tagged me. "Hunter, Alice said this trip was to make up for the fact that I couldn't go on the class trip to Crestwater during the summer after our sophomore year. I didn't realize you were this bothered by me being here. If that's the case, I'll buy a ticket and leave tomorrow." Every word made it sound like I was an outsider. During the summer after our sophomore year, Alice's car had hit Troy. He was found to have a bleed in the subarachnoid space and needed a drainage procedure. Even though the doctor said it had nothing to do with the accident, she still could not let it go. From then on, Troy became someone we could never avoid in our relationship. Alice replied without hesitation, "I don't agree." When I left, she accused me of making an exception for myself. When Troy wanted to leave, she said she didn't agree. Her favoritism could not have been more obvious. I opened my social media feed. Troy had just posted a set of nine professionally shot travel photos. In the pictures, Alice was laughing with him, holding his hand, and gazing into his eyes. She had never done any of those things with me. Our friends congratulated them on making their relationship official. I liked the post and left a comment. "You two really are perfect for each other." A moment later, someone pounded on my hotel door. When I opened it, Alice stood there, her face cold with anger. She grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. "Why did you make a snide comment under Troy's post? He's left because of you!" I staggered and caught myself against the wall. My ankle, which had just started to settle down, began swelling again. "Troy's gone?" "Yes. Thanks to you!" Unable to contain her anger, she turned and shouted at me. The urgency of finding him pushed everything else aside. I swallowed my retort and followed her, hopping on one foot. We split up to search for him. I called Troy countless times along the way. Just before dawn, I returned to the hotel. When I opened the door, empty liquor bottles were scattered across the floor. Alice had her arms around Troy's waist as they slept together on the cramped sofa. That sight was the last spark on the fuse. The next second, the last shred of my reason shattered. Chapter 4 The Cruelest Ending I lunged at Troy, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him awake. How could they do this to me? Did they not know how cold it was out on the streets in the middle of the night, with the rain pouring down? Did they not know how badly my leg hurt? Troy jolted awake, his swollen eyes filled with panic. I had him pinned to the floor as he rasped out an explanation. "Hunter, I'm sorry. I lost my temper last night and smashed my phone. Alice's phone died, too. We looked for you for hours. She had a bit of a fever, so we came back first." I swung my fist at his face. A large red mark immediately appeared across his left cheek. Alice abruptly knocked my arm away, her expression dark with anger. "Hunter, you like doing things on your own. If you can't stand seeing Troy and me together, then leave. If you leave, then our promise to be together is over!" I tripped on the carpet, and my foot hit the edge of the nightstand. All I could do was force out an exaggerated laugh to hide my humiliation. "You two have already ended up in bed together. How are we supposed to be together now?" I dragged my suitcase out of the room. Behind me, Troy called out anxiously, but Alice cut him off coldly. "Let him go. Apparently, everything has to revolve around him." After a two-hour train ride home, I found my mother waiting for me at the station. The moment she saw my foot, she sucked in a sharp breath. At the hospital, the doctor studied the X-rays with a troubled frown. "This started as a minor injury, but the repeated strain caused your Achilles tendon to rupture. Even after surgery, you may have trouble pushing off with that foot. You could have a slight limp when you walk." I stared at him, stunned. My mother squeezed my hand. "Hunter, don't be scared. There's still a way to treat it." For a while, my cries echoed through the examination room and the hallway outside. Then Troy posted in the group chat. "Hunter, when Alice had me fill out my vocational school applications, I put Kingsbury down, too. I checked. That vocational school is right near Briarwood University. The three of us can be together again! Alice and I are both so happy!" After that, I left the group chat and blocked Troy and Alice from my social media. Troy seemed to know I would not be checking his posts anymore, so he started live-updating the class group chat with everything he and Alice did on their trip. "The 50th photo with Alice. Today we're at Aetheria Tower. Someone said this is the perfect place for a confession. Is that true? Should we try it?" Everyone started egging them on. "Do it!" Troy then turned the camera on Alice. She stood on the 850-foot-high glass skywalk, holding a bouquet of sunflowers, and confessed her feelings to him. "Troy, you win. Will you be my boyfriend?" From behind the camera, Troy laughed and replied, "Sure!" My heart lurched. On the day we filled out our college applications, I was about to leave under the streetlights when Alice grabbed my hand and simply said, "Let's be together." I laughed and told her it did not count. Before we left for the trip, she had promised that she would bring the sunflowers she loved most, look out over the Golden River, and give me a proper confession. Now, she had given that moment to my best friend, Troy. That summer, my unrequited love had come to the most absurd ending possible. Three days later, Alice returned from Crestwater and left me a message. "Hunter, you're really hard to calm down. Because of you, I lost the bet, so I have to be Troy's girlfriend for three months. Once we start college, you don't have to come see me too often. I'm worried Troy might get upset. When the bet is over, I'll ask you out again." But by then, I was already on a plane to Brassport. … After Hunter ignored her message, Alice decided to give him some more time. On the day of the flight, she got up early, grabbed her suitcase, and took a cab to the Lawson Residence. Before ringing the doorbell, Alice paced outside for three minutes. Part of her thought Hunter would calm down the moment he saw her there to pick him up. She was also trying to figure out how to explain that she and Troy would be renting a place off campus together once college started. The door suddenly opened. Hunter's mother, Sloane Mercer, stared at her in surprise. "Mrs. Lawson, I'm here to pick Hunter up for college. Could you have him come out?" Then she heard the last answer she expected. "Alice, Hunter already left for Brassport University."