(song: "Twenty Thousands" - EXES)

"Take good care of your mother." My father lovingly advised me.

"I will dad, don't worry. Everything will be okay," I assured him with a firm hug.

He released me and looked to my mother. The two of them embraced and shared a kiss. He didn't need to use so many words with her, they both shared everything they needed to say in their gaze.

He then got into his car, started it and rolled down the windows. "I love you both, I'll see you in a few weeks!"

Then he was gone, leaving behind him only a trail of dust.

My father had to return back to San Jose in order to get back to his job. It'd just be my mother and I trying to clear and pack up Nana's things. I had begged my mother to not sell the house, especially with me going to school in Seattle. I planned to still spend the weekends in Willowbrook.

I'd avoided Marcel for two days and that was hard to do when he lived right next door.

I just needed time to think and be around normal activities instead of paranormal activities. I wanted to believe everything was just some huge, cosmic misunderstanding. There was nothing I wanted more than to see Daniel and Marcel standing at the door explaining how they orchestrated the whole thing and that it was just a joke.

Alex had desperately tried to contact me—just as Marcel had predicted that he would. Prior to the strange week I experienced I'd have probably taken Alex back immediately. After everything I knew and had witnessed, I didn't know how to go back and be the fake girl that Alex loved. I told Alex that I needed time to figure out if we should get back together.

"Mom, I'm going to go into town and get us some groceries, we're out of everything!" I informed her before snatching up the car keys.

"Oh wait! Can you stop by the hardware store and bring back some WD-40?" My mother called out.

Inside I cringed, but outwardly I smiled and said, "Sure!"

Driving to the hardware store felt like heading to school when you know you have exams. My stomach was turning flips and I could hardly keep down the tea I had for breakfast. When I arrived there I sat in the parking-lot scraping my brain for exactly what I would say to Marcel when I saw him.

"Lily! Don't freak out, it's Daniel! Roll down your window!"

I almost gave myself whiplash with how quickly I turned to see Daniel standing beside my car with a lit cigarette posed between his fingers.

Daniel looked like he was ready for a photo-shoot; his demeanor and confidence glowed through and through. He took a dramatic puff of his cigarette and when my window was completely down he blew the smoke in the opposite direction.

"I know, I know what you're thinking—bad habit right? It's going to age me, I'm going to smell like a sack of burning tires and ass or  I'm going to die of lung cancer. I've heard it all, and I get it." Daniel flicked the ashes to the ground and took another drag. "But I smoke for my nerves you see. I can suffer from anxiety sometimes, I mean, who wouldn't in a depressing town like this. Have you ever seen Twin Peaks? This is basically that town."

I smiled brightly. I liked Daniel and I liked how he rambled the way he did.

"Nice to see you again too. How are you Daniel?"

"Honestly? It's been terrible around here with Marcel moping around the past two days. He walks around like a mindless zombie. I don't even need to be psychic to know that it's related to you."

I let my mouth hang open just a little and felt my law tighten. "It's not like I'm upset with him or anything. I just needed a few days to myself. A lot of things have happened in a very small amount of time. Lost my grandmother, got dumped by my boyfriend then find out my next door neighbor might in-fact be an alien? Yeah, I think that more than deserves some alone time."

Daniel rocked on his heels a few times and nodded. "Well, sure when you put it like that. But if you think of him as your friend instead of your neighbor then the perspective changes. You both have lost someone important to you, but you had a life. You're smart and pretty. You're going to be going off to college and having a normal life. Marcel has never had anything close to normal. I can kind of relate to him there just a tiny bit."

I sighed. There was definitely some logic to what Daniel was saying. "Like I said, Daniel. I'm not upset with him. I like Marcel, I think he is incredibly sweet and he tries his best to protect everyone he cares about. I am just struggling with accepting that he could be some sort of—I don't know—telekinetic or something."

He leaned forward against my door and rested his arms against the window frame with an adorable smirk against his lips. "Well, when I was fourteen, my family discovered my search history on my laptop and realized I was gay. They refused to accept it. They thought they could go through extreme measures in order to 'cure' me from being gay. Fast forward to now, as you can see, still here and still queer. But being gay is just like being born with brown eyes or blue eyes. It's a part of me, but it's not who I am. I don't want all anyone ever thinks about when they see me is 'there's Daniel and he's gay'. Don't define Marcel by the things he can't change, define him by his character."

There really was no denying Daniel. He was absolutely right in every way possible. Marcel was confused and lost. I still had both my parents, Marcel had no one to depend on. Daniel and I were the closest things to confidants and family that he had.

"You're right, I feel so stupid," I said with shame.

I didn't waste anymore time. I rolled up the windows and locked the car and I didn't even wait for Daniel to follow me. There was a need inside me to apologize to Marcel as quickly as possible.

Daniel dropped his cigarette on the ground and stamped it a few frantic times and rushed to catch up to me. I threw open the door of the hardware store and I could see Marcel standing in his uniform holding a plastic watering can.

I headed towards him without stopping. His face looked so confused and uncertain about what was going on. I knew how fierce I must have looked. I'd seen girls on the field look at me that way when they knew they couldn't stop me from scoring the goal.

My arms reached out and I grasped onto Marcel to hug him. It was something I'd never done with him, and it was the only way I knew to really show that I didn't fear him. I squeezed on and pressed my face well into his shoulder.

I could hear him drop the watering can from utter surprise.

"Marcel, I don't care what you think." I said against his shoulder before I lifted my head up to stare at his face. "Let's talk about facts. Fact, you are a good grandson. Fact, you are one of the warmest and sweetest guys I've ever met. Fact, you didn't hit on me or at anytime make me feel uncomfortable or like I was in danger around you. Fact, you have a really sexy smile. Fact, you're probably the first friend I've ever made that accepts me for who I am, and not because of that status I represent. You were eight, there's no way to know if you really caused what happened to me or not. Those facts are the only things that matter to me, the rest is just theories and technicalities."

Slowly, I could feel his arms rise up and surround me. He held me like he hadn't been hugged for a long time. I felt the side of his face brush against me and his fingers spread across my back. It felt so good to be in his embrace. It felt clean and warm and right in all the ways it was supposed to.

I could feel the electricity rise between us and the energy pulsed.

He didn't let me go, and I didn't let him go. I had no idea what that meant.

Softly—at a volume only I could hear—Marcel whispered into my ear.

"Fact, I still have a crush on you. . ."