"Holy crap, there are a lot of people here," Cinder stated, standing by Chord as they walked onto the Fall Festival Grounds. Countless people crowded around various booths, near petting areas, and some settled among the tables set up to eat.

"Don't say crap, Cinder," her mother said, eyes watching all the activity. "But I agree. It's a good turn out. I've been looking forward to this. Oh, let's get a family photo."

"Nooo, Moooom!" Cinder whined as Chord let out a groan of his own. If there was one thing Shondra was adamant about, it was taking what felt like hundreds of family photos to commemorate all the little, special moments.

"Oh hush, you two. Chord's going to college soon, so we need to get in all of these as much as we can." Taking out her phone, Chord held Cinder as they posed for the photos. After an eon, Shondra seemed happy with them.

A child screamed as she ran by, being chased by her older brother, nearly bumping into Cinder. Chord pulled her closer to him. "Make sure to stick with me or your mom, kiddo. Someone might mistake you for curly fries and snatch you up."

"I'm not stupid, Chord. I know that." She gave a good natured roll of her eyes as she looked around.

"Where did Scarlett say they would be at?" Shondra asked.

"The animals rides." Steering Cinder in the direction, his cousin quickly saw the cool animals and darted forward. "Cin, don't run! You're gonna—" Before he could finish the warning, Cinder nearly knocked into a person carrying a drink and food in their hands. Steam came out of the drink, nearly spilling over the hand holding it.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. She didn't mean— Oh, Scarlett!"

Scarlett righted her stance as she smile. "Oh, hey, y'all are here! Hey, Diego." She gave a short whistle and the boy standing on the wood fence looked behind him.

At seeing Cinder, his eyes brightened and he jumped down. He took Cinder by the hand and started gesturing animatedly.

"I know!! Riding animals is my favorite thing here. I wasn't tall enough last year to ride a horse but I checked before we got here and I'm tall enough now." Cinder jumped in equal excitement. "Right Momma?"

Shondra smiled and nodded. "You are indeed. Is it okay if he goes with us?" She asks Scarlett.

"Yeah, sure. Just make sure you walk along with the horse. He doesn't do good when he's up high."

As she went in with the two kids to get on their own horse, Scarlett offered the food in her hand to Chord. "Want one?"

He saw a little light brown balls on a paper to go plate, the steam still slightly coming off of them. "What is that?"

"Fried mac and cheese balls? At least that's what the lady at the booth said. I like cheese and most everything is better when it's fried so why not. They're the shit."

Taking the food in hand, he looks at them skeptically before he popped one in his mouth as he propped his elbows on the wood fence. "Holy cheese balls." His eyes widened. "Those are the shit."

Scarlett let out a cackle not too far from a witch's as she pushed herself up on the lower bit of the fence to stand level with him. "Told ya. She said the secret to these is all in the cheese. It's Cheddar and Monterey Jack." She took a sip of the warm apple cider in her hand. "Would it be extremely corny if I said that all this is super awesome to me? I love orange so all the decorations are cool."

"No, I always enjoyed coming to these. You see this place on Halloween. This entire area is like an actual circus. They have scary games, stalls and all that."

"Ohhh, darling, now you are speaking my language," she moaned as she tossed two cheese balls in her mouth. "Let's go check out some of the games!" She called out, "Shondra!" As his aunt turned to them, Scarlett continued, "Is it okay if we go see the games?"

"Sure! Just don't eat too much! Last time you came to this, Chord, you made yourself sick with too much food!"

"Oh my god, let's go. . ." he muttered, ignoring the chuckles around him.

"Stay away from the jalapenos! Your stomach doesn't like spicy stuff!" she called out. "Chord, did you—"

"Yes! I heard ya!" he yelled out as he grabbed Scarlett's hand, pulling them away before he turned into a puddle of pure embarrassment. It's a good thing he had tan skin or his entire face would be as red as a Big Boy tomato.

Scarlett snickered.

"Don't you dare." Once they were at a safe distance he released her arm. "I swear, that woman wants to embarrass me to death. It is literally going to be on my tombstone just below my name."

"I didn't even say anything. It's really sweet, Chord. She's really concerned for her nephew. Plus, if you think about it, the last thing you need is to have an upset tummy. You can't enjoy good food if your stomach's upset and that's a crime. Now," finishing up the rest of the cider and the cheese balls between us, she tossed the trash in a nearby bin. "It is time for us to conquer all the games here. I expect nothing less than at least one stuffed animal going home with me tonight. But first there's this contest I want you to try out. I want to see how big of a brain you got."

"Wait, what?"

"There's a big ass bowl of candy corn in the middle of booth area that someone gets this prize if they guess the number. If you guess it, you win."

"My math skills are solely for solving math problems. That's not the same thing as guessing how many items are in a certain surface area." Chord chuckled.

"The prize is a Lego set."

". . ."

"It's Lord of the Rings themed."

"Where is it?"

She smiled, seeing probable stars dancing in his eyes. She took his hand in hers, small and warm, pulling him into the crowd. It was as if holding a child's hand, but resolute as they dodge through the people. 

Chord couldn't help but focus on how natural having her hand in his felt and the warm feeling that spread through his chest, like a blanket completely enveloping him.

------

Time flew by in the blink of an eye as they bounced from booth to booth. Their first stop was a booth with half a dozen spots of "pumpkin" painted bottles stacked like a tower to be knocked down. Despite Chord making a remark that that game is usually rigged, Scarlett was adamant about knocking them down. However, in her ginger-infused inner rage that awakened during that day he introduced her to video games, her tower fell down like London Bridge. The ball nearly knocked into the guy manning the booth. He glared at her and she mouthed an apology, but her attention was quickly turned to the big-eyed giraffe plushie handed to her. She squeezed it, pressing it to her face.

"Told you I'd win." Her eyes burned with fiery satisfaction. "I shall not be denied my treasure."

"Pretty sure that guy hates you now."

"His fault for rigging the game." She rolled her eyes with a blush to her cheeks. As they walked on, Scarlett flexed her left hand repeatedly and had a slightly pained, annoyed look on her face.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I slept on my arm wrong, so it's a bit sore." She gave him a smile to assure him, but the pain remained in her eyes. It looked like she was close to crying, leaving Chord concerned. However, before he could ask the question, something caught her attention. "Oh, look, bobbing for apples." Switching the giraffe to her left arm hung low, she grabbed his wrist with her right, dragging him along.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon until it turned night, Chord observed Scarlett during the rest of the activities. When she bobbed for apples, she grabbed the tub holding them with her right arm and the other kept closer. When two or more people were walking by her, she was switched from his left side to his right to avoid bumping into them. Off and on, she would flex her hand and make a low, grunt of noise as if she were hurting but she never showed more than a slight expression of discomfort before she hid it away.

Even now, as they're standing at the rental photo booth, she stood on the side that was blocked from other people coming and going.

I know she said it was okay, but it certainly doesn't look like it. Was it really just because she slept wrong? Would it be overstepping if I asked if she was sure? Chord shook his head. It's like she's afraid of anything touching that side but why? This wasn't something she's been doing right?

Looking back on their interactions, Chord could not recall if she had ever seem to favor a side. After all, he was so hyper aware of her being around him and how her being near affected him that he couldn't recall if she did. When he got nervous, he got tunnel vision to anything but that certain thing. Even now, the butterflies rattling around in his stomach were no longer butterflies, but miniscule-shaped torpedoes trying to burst out.

As Scarlett set a black haired wig with a witches hat on his head, his attention focus back on them. "Why do I get the witch's hat?"

"It doesn't fit my head."

"Are you saying I've got a big head?"

"Yes, but that's alright. You need a big head to have all that smartness or else it'll fall out your ears. Me and my small head like you and your big head. Oh! Yesssss," she made a sound of victory as she put a overly large black hat with orange pumpkins on it on top of her head, looking extremely happy. She added a pair of fake glasses with bushy eyebrows to her ensemble and offered Chord a pair of glasses with bats around the eyes. "Embrace your spooky side."

"You two ready?"

Giving the woman behind the photo booth rental a nod, Scarlett grabbed a belt loop, pulling him closer to her. Chord's eyes widened when he felt her right arm snake around his waist, he barely was able to pose for the picture. They changed the props a couple more times, each time doing a different expression. When they were done, Scarlett quickly retrieved the photos from the woman and came back with a little hop in her step.

"Here you go, I got two copies. I think they turned out pretty damn good."

"Oh God, what is my face doing in the first photo? I look like a damn deer in headlights." Chord grumbled, but he still smiled. "I think we can do one more thing before my aunt is going to demand I come home. What do you want to do?"

She tapped her chin in thought before letting out a gasp, "I want to see if that guy is still selling caramel apples. I know I ate earlier but I've always wanted to try caramel apples. But first I'm going to the bathroom. You want to go ahead and I'll meet you there?"

"Yeah, sure." She ran off, the giraffe tucked under her arm as she went, her ponytail whipping back and forth.

He looked at the photos again, unable to stop from smiling. Tonight had been fun. With the stress of school, college applications and Xander, unwinding and just hanging out with her was something he needed. He tucked the photo strip in his pocket.

Chord dodged around people, making his way to the food area. However, he was too close when he noticed who was sitting at one of the tables by the food area. Xander was talking to a girl batting her eyelashes at him in a disgustingly flirtatious way.

Xander seemed to sennse someone staring at him as he turned his head. When their eyes met, he gave Chord a familiar, cold smile, beckoning him to approach.

Knowing better, Chord turned to run and get the hell out of Dodge but his way was blocked by one of Xander's friends, who started pushing him towards the tables.

"Well, look who it is. If it ain't my buddy Chord. What are the odds of seeing you here?" Rising from the table, he approached, drawing an arm across his shoulder, the girl following him like a lovesick puppy. "You know, I was just thinking about you. Why don't we take a little walk?"

Chord was pulled away from tables and food booths, taking him to the parking lot mostly shrouded in half-lit street lights and obscured by dozens of cars.