He moans quietly, as though the promise of taking me home isenough. “Yes,” he says again.
I press one more kiss to his mouth. Then I almost say it. It almost comes out. “Dorian, I…”
…love you.
But before I can get the words out, a pillow smacks me in the head, so hard I nearly see stars.
“Whew!” Ophelia shouts victoriously, the offending pillow in her hand. “Gotcha!”
“Ow!” I rub what is certainly going to be a goose egg on my skull. “Bitch. There’s something seriously wrong with your pillow.”
“There isnot, ya baby.”
“Actually,” Dorian points to her pillow, “I think there’s something in there.”
No, I want to plead.Let’s get back to me!Because I had something to say, something really important, but now the moment is melting away from me like snow on my tongue, and there’s nothing I can do but let the cold ice of words unsaid slide back down my throat.
Ophelia reaches into her pillow case. Sure enough, there’s a round lump in the case. She shoves her hand in, hunting around, and pulls out a purple ornament.
“Ah!” she shrieks. “Found it!”
Dorian gives me a mildly exasperated, but amused look. I can only return it.
I can’t speak. My heart is pounding too hard in my chest.
Ophelia pops open the ornament. She unravels the slip of paper inside and reads it out loud. “Around and ‘round we go…we spin so fast, but I won’t let you go…”
She stares off into the distance, mouthing the words a couple times, and I can practically see the gears in her heard turning. Then she shouts: “I’ve got it! Next stop: the Carousel Bar!”
She scampers off, nearly slipping on the inflatable in her haste. Dorian catches her elbow to help her right herself before she rushes to collect the rest of our friends.
He glances back at me. We’re alone again. I could tell him now.
“The Carousel?” Dorian asks.
“Yeah, it’s…a bar. In Dumbo.”
“Well?” he asks. “Where to?”
Home? Or the Carousel?
I bite my lip. “We’ve come too far. We have to see it through now.”
He nods. I expect disappointment from him, maybe, but instead, he takes my hand in his. The small intimacy makes my heart jump.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s round up the rest of your friends.”
It’s well past midnight when we leave. We exit into the crisp, cool night and it feels like I’ve left a dream-world.
Dorian hands me my jacket, but I need to cool off. I hang it over my arm.
All of us are sticky, sweaty, and covered in sparkles. Everyone except for Phantom, who meets us outside. His nose slightly red from the cold; he lifts two fingers in a wave when he sees us.
“Find what you were looking for?” he asks.
Ophelia twists the riddle triumphantly between her fingers. “Carousel Bar, here we come.”
“I’ll get a cab.”
