Huckleberry Finn approached them.
He had that confident, wide, strutting gait of his, even after all this time. He walked slowly over until he was a part of the group, standing next to Tom.
He was warm. He was real. And he was glancing over at Tom with a quizzical look in his eyes Tom couldn't place, and the edges of a smile on that familiar and grown face.
Tom felt his energy and the feeling of being next to Huckleberry Finn overwhelm him, with his tall form. From the corner of his eye, he could see Becky looking at Tom strangely, wanting to meet his eyes, even though Tom was focused on Huck.
"Are you alright, Tom?" Becky asked lightly, and still Tom couldn't look away. That curling feeling in him just magnified.
"It's..." Tom took a breath. His voice was uneven. "It's Huck." He said. Everyone else looked at each other confusedly.
"So ya' remember me. Took you a while, didn't it?" Huck smiled lightly, and that voice. That voice, the same deepness, the same richness and familiarity--
"That was you!" Tom's eyebrows raised, and his eyes were wide, and his hands came up to his hair. Everything in him was magnetic, was quick and sharp and alive at once. He felt dizzy. "That..." Tom looked around. "How long have you been back?" He asked.
"Around a week or two now, Tom." Joe said. Tom pulled his eyes away from Huck's face, back towards Becky and everyone else's.
They all knew.
They had known Huckleberry Finn was back, and yet this was the first time Tom realized.
"What?" Tom asked bewilderedly. The excitement of the air dimmed to quiet. They affirmed. They knew and he didn't. This wasn't news to them anymore, somehow. And Tom was left in his own mind, wondering how he hadn't known. He stared at Huck's face. There was a new depth in the boy's eyes. And his face had new wrinkles and lines, and was sharper than Tom remembered. Huck was more grown up.
Tom looked around, perplexed, isolated. They all, including Huck, started walking again, wandering through the different booths.
He had to follow.
Tom didn't get it, thoughâthey knew, and yet never said anything. This was too fast.
Tom had to subdue the wonder in seeing Huck, the feeling of being caught off-guard. If he could tell it was Huckleberry Finn by just his eyes, then how had it taken so long for him to know he had been back?
...He had been distracted with Becky and Amy, he reckoned, but... He should've known.
Tom didn't realize, but he had slowed to the back of the group. Huck was second to last, and with his slow pace, Huck, talking with everyone else, delayed the group's pace. Even with the slow stroll, Tom was lagging behind. It was so overwhelming. Tom had just realized Huck was here, and yet everyone was already back to normal. They all expected Tom to get over it this fast? Huck was walking, talking, looking at all of them as if he had always been here. His best friend was right here! Alive. Solid. More than just a stranger in the woods. More than a dream, a drawing.
Becky slowed until she was beside Tom, and she took his hand and made him walk faster, guiding him to rejoin the others. But Tom just wanted to slow down, to stop and to talk to Huck. The moon and the stars and sounds and lights of the fair didn't matter anymore; he wanted the stillness of a night in the woods. Time to talk to Huckleberry Finn.
Tom breathed, looked at Becky. Smiled as she met his eyes. The night would be over soon enough, he reckoned, seeing his own nervous reflection in her eyes. He was splitting himself in two to keep up. He blinked and saw the soft glows of all these lights in her eyes, on her skin, in her hair.
He walked with them. He had to. Becky squeezed his hand whenever he drifted off to thought, and he would look at her and smile and pick up their conversations again.
Eventually the night calmed. The booths packed up, and the darkness settled too deep to see past the glows of the lamps and the light of the moon. And they made their way back towards town. Tom still couldn't understand fully. It was so strange, so sudden, and yet he was expected to be calm about this.
The fair was ending. The night dimmed, and their conversations had turned to low voices and laughs and a calm as they walked through the fair. Tom could see Huck slow behind the group, hardly even saying his goodbyes before turning and walking to the woods.
Tom wanted to follow him. He wanted to talkâ Huck had hardly even looked at him tonight. Why?
Becky squeezed his hand. Tom's head swirled. Eventually, they were done. Tom walked Becky home.
"Did you enjoy the fair, Tom?" Becky asked.
"Yeah, um... I think I did. I'm glad you brought me." He said. Becky smiled and squeezed his hand before she parted from him, going inside. It left his hand cold, but still he smiled.
Tom made his way back towards his house, but... He sighed.
He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. Hopefully Aunt Polly had forgotten about him being out, because it was already past curfew. And instead of going inside, Tom turned back and went to the woods.