Keegan’s POV

“I can’t believe I had no time to pick a costume,” my roommate whined again, glaring with jealousy at a couple of ten years old, who had dressed as Peter Pan and that Disney chick with the bushy read hair for the fair. “Why did they give us so much homework anyway? I started having nightmares about getting chased by numbers.”

“Well, at least I don’t have to walk next to you while you are dressed in green leotard,” I noted, watching Peter Pan play tag with his friend; the two kids were chasing each other around a corndog stand. “Come on, I need to find Morgan.”

“She already found you,” my sister’s voice commented from behind me. We turned around to face her.

Morgan hadn’t put on a costume either but that came as no surprise to me. It was next to impossible to convince her to get out of her designer clothes even though she’d become more down-to-earth since she’d started dating Caden’s older brother Logan. The boy in question smiled at us while keeping his arm around my sister’s waist. Even though Morgan was obviously taken, there still was a nearby group of young guys who were gawking at her. Not that I could blame them; she was tall, beautiful , with silky reddish-blonde and had an air of confidence about her. Logan didn’t seem to care as he knew the girl was only his.

“So, where’s the rest of the gang?” Morgan inquired.

“Ash took my sister to his parents and Cade went with Alice to look for the Greens, Will and Cillian,” Sky replied before I could.

“So my baby brother would rather spend his time with his lovely mother-in-law than with me?” Logan jested. We were all well aware of the cold war between Caden and Elanor.

“Just don’t rub it in on him,” I ordered. “I came to have fun, not for family dramas. Besides, they should be back any time now…”

Just as I said that, our four friends approached. The three girls exchanged hugs and immediately started to chatter away. Looking at their amiable expressions now, you would’ve never guessed there was a time when Morgan absolutely abhorred Alice.

“Why do girls always have to hug when they see each other?” Logan asked, shaking his head.

“It’s just a way of greeting,” Ash explained with a shrug and I saw Sky’s blue eyes sparkle.

“Oh, man, Caden, I missed you so much!” He shouted in a squeaky girlish voice and threw himself at the newcomer.

“Don’t even think about it,” Cade growled, making Sky freeze in his spot.

“It was just a joke,” the male twin muttered. “So what are we doing now that we are all here at the fair?”

“How about we get some cotton candy?” Alice suggested and the Millers grinned.

“Do you want some cotton candy, baby?” Logan muttered huskily to his girl.

“Maybe just a little; you can have the rest,” she concluded.

“I’m not going to ask you if you want cotton candy,” Caden snuggled Alice closer to him. “Just how much you want.”

“Okay then,” Logan kissed my sister on top of her head. “The cotton candy machine is thataway, right behind the carnival shooting range.”

“Did you say a shooting range?” Sky asked excitedly and both Beth and Alice groaned. What was the big deal with the range?

“Yeah…” Logan drawled, surprised by my roommates sudden enthusiasm.

“I love shooting ranges!” The blond screamed loud enough for the people around us to stop and stare. “We can go, right? We can go and shoot now, right?” He stared expectantly at my sister’s boyfriend.

“I guess,” Logan started to reply but Bethany cut him off:

“Maybe that is not such a good idea, bro.”

“Why not?” Sky shot back, stomping with his leg.

What was with him and shooting?
“Because you tend to get carried away,” Alice piped up. “If you start now, we’d probably have to drag you away from the range once the fair is over.”

“I won’t do that, I promise! So can we please just go?”

“That way,” Caden pointed and my roommate sprung in the designated direction. I gave my friend a quizzical look. “What? I want to see what the big deal is,” he answered my unspoken question and we all headed after Skyler.

When we reached him, we found him arguing with a red-nosed old balding man who I assumed owned the range.

“What do you mean you want take my money?” Sky shouted, shaking all over. He looked like a junkie trying to quit the habit.

“I said I won’t take your twenty,” the man spat on the ground before him. “If you have anything smaller, I’ll take that.”

“But all I have is another twenty, a fifty and credit cards!”

“Why did you bring such large notes to the fair?” I asked. “I doubt you’d find anything here worth more than a five.”

“Spend five here, five there and then you’d wish you had two twenties and a fifty. Can any of you lend me something smaller?” My roommate pleaded and Asher started to rummage through his pockets. Before he could take his cash out, Beth put her hand on his arm.

“Don’t,” she mouthed to her boyfriend then spoke louder: “I still don’t approve of this, Sky, so no, neither Ash nor I will give you money. I’m sure the same applies for Alice.”

The green-eyed brunette nodded.

“Come on, Kee!” My roommate beseeched. “Lend me the money; I’ll give you the prize after I win.”

I laughed at him.

“Yeah, right! As if you of all people could actually win something.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“First: they make these games seem easy but in reality they are not; second: no offence, Sky, but you are… you.”

“So you think I can’t really win?”

“Nothing big, that’s for sure.”

“Okay then, bestie,” he jabbed his index finger in my chest. “I was going to play for small prizes, but no more! See that huge teddy bear at the top? The really fluffy one? I’ll play for it and when I win it, I’ll name it Mr. Snuggles, gift it to you and you’ll have to hug it and say loud enough for the people around to hear ‘I love you Mr. Snuggles’. Do we have a deal?”

“This is dumb,” I turned around, fed up with his nonsense.

“What’s the matter, McNeil? Afraid that I’ll actually win?” He sneered in  a voice I’d never heard him use before.

 “You are on, Miller,” I swung back around. “And when you lose, you’ll have to do all the chores for a week, not till the rest of the week; a whole week and without any help from Bethany, Alice or anyone else.”

“Okay,” he said calmly, handing one of his twenties to the red-nosed man. The guy frowned at it but took it off of Skyler, muttering ‘could’ve told me he’d be playing for the damn bear from the start instead of asking me for damn change’.

Sky loaded the shot gun and squinted his eyes, pointing the end of it at the targets. There was a set of thirty beer caps he had to hit in order to win the huge reddish-brown teddy bear.

BANG!

One shot, one cap down.

Beginner’s luck, I thought.

BANG!

Second cap down.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ten shots, ten caps.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t luck. Then again this was Skyler; if not chance what else could it be?

Twenty caps down, I was starting to get worried.

What if he really won?

BANG!

Last shot and the thirtieth cap fell down like the others.

“How the Hell?” I gaped and looking around me noticed several equally astonished faces. Beth and Alice were the only ones who weren’t surprised.

Skyler turned expectantly to the range owner, waiting for his prize. The man was as wide-eyed as the rest of us. He stared at my roommate, then to the ground where the caps had fallen, then back to my roommate. His face started changing from unbelieving to one of annoyance and finally anger. He took the gun from Skyler’s hands and checked the peep-sight. I knew that carnival range owners purposefully damaged those so that there would be less of a chance for someone to win. He then crouched down and counted the fallen caps twice before sighing in resignation; there was no way to dispute my friend’s win and there was nothing left to do but give him the prize.

As soon as the teddy was in Skyler’s hands, he turned to me with a smug grin and handed me the bear.

“You are not backing out on our deal, are you?” He asked as I didn’t move a muscle.

I reluctantly took the thing.

“The hug,” my roommate reminded.

I embraced it.

“And now…”

“I love you, Mr. Snuggles,” I muttered through my clench teeth.

“I can’t hear you,” the blond teased in a sing-song voice, putting his hand next to his ear.

I looked around, noting we’d already attracted quite a few viewers. They were mostly little kids who stared longingly at the bear or asked their parents to get them one just like it. There were also some teenagers who were grinning or stifling their laughter.

Did Skyler really want me to humiliate myself in front of all these people?

This was my hometown for crying out loud; I personally knew some of them.

“Keegan, you promised,” the male Miller commented.

“I love you, Mr. Snuggles,” I repeated, this time louder, but still through a growl.

I felt my face redden as most everyone around cracked up laughing; the only exceptions were the still pleading children and the grumpy shooting range owner.

“You really are terrible with love confessions, aren’t you, Kee?” Sky kept on jesting. “You weren’t even looking into his eyes while you said that.”

That was it!

I pushed the bear into Beth’s hands and started chasing Skyler.

*****

Disclaimer: I don’t know how carnivals work outside my country so I just described what we do here. I don’t even know whether the term “peep-sight” is correct. If you find any mistakes, please comment below.

A/N: I think we had enough of Skyler and Keegan for now so the next chapter will have Alice’s and Caden’s POVs.

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