35. The Fall Festival

It was the weekend which meant the Fall Festival was finally in town. A few days before, what had been an empty lot was now filled with people, rides, games and delicious smelling food. I was ready to experience all of it, unlike the two people next to me

Miles and Nikki frowned up at the Ferris wheel that towered over us. It was a change. Usually, I was the one backing out of things while the two of them just dived in.

"I don't trust it," Nikki said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Me either," Miles agreed. "How do we know it's secure? What if it collapses?"

I rolled my eyes as I let out a laugh. "I thought you said you came here every year to ride the rides?"

"Not the ones that are more than three feet off the ground," he clarified, his eyes glued to the ride like he was waiting for it to come crashing down.

"It'll be fun," I said to them. "Think of the amazing view." My arms spread out to the clear blue sky.

They both looked at me like I was crazy. My arms dropped in defeat. How come they weren't adventurous when I needed them to be?

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Nikki asked, suspiciously.

Miles grinned, pointing to himself and I smacked his arm.

She was right. I was unusually happy and it wasn't completely due to the fact that I got to make out with Miles.

It was because of my meeting with Victoria. She told me about a contest that she and Shanelle were working on. She didn't tell me much, just that I had to design an outfit that fit a summer theme and if my design was chosen I'd be featured by Beauteen.

All of the excitement had been building up in me for a few days, I finally had a place to unleash it without spilling the secret. However, Miles and Nikki were making it difficult to unleash my joy when they refused to go on the rides with me.

"I'm happy because I'm at the Fall Festival," I said, semi-honestly. "And I'm here with my favorite cousin and my --" The word 'boyfriend' nearly slipped out of my mouth and the back of my neck became inflamed as I tried to think of a way out of this. "--Miles."

Nikki didn't seem to catch my mistake, probably because she was too busy eyeing the candy apple station. Miles caught it though and he looked utterly amused by my slip up, causing the blush to spread to my cheeks.

"You two can ride on that death trap," Nikki said as she walked backwards towards the candy apples. "I'm going to grab a snack."

I started to protest, not wanting to be alone with Miles at the moment, but she was already lost in the crowd.

"Did you just call me yours?" he asked, a smile growing on his face as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black hoodie.

I was relieved that's all he thought it was. We'd only been seeing each other for two weeks. It was too early for titles. At least I thought it was. It's not like I was an expert or anything.

"I didn't know you were so possessive," he went on, a smirk on his lips. I rolled my eyes, taking his hand in mine and pulling him towards the line for the Ferris wheel. Someone was riding this with me. Thankfully he didn't protest. We stood in the line that was relatively short.

"You know what I've been thinking?" My brow raised, waiting for him to keep going. "You said you came to this festival when you were younger, right?" I nodded in agreement. "And so have I. That means we could've crossed paths long before you moved to Westbrook."

That was weird to think about. We could've been in the line next to each other as we we waited for popcorn, battled each other in one of those water squirting games or bumped into each other inside the mirror maze. I got goose bumps just thinking about it.

"That's creepy."

"Creepy," he said, his voice going up an octave. "That's the adjective you're going with?"

"Yeah," I told him, moving forward in the line. "The possibility of us brushing pass each other when we were kids, only to meet when we're older is creepy."

"I think it's cool." He shrugged.

"Says the guy who believes in destiny and fate," I teased.

"Laugh all you want, Mermaid," he said as we inched closer to front of the line. "But think about all the things that had to happen to get me and you together at the Twins house. It had to be more than just a series of random choices."

I allowed myself to think about that for only a second before I stopped myself from going down that rabbit hole. "The reason I'm even in Westbrook is exactly why I believe people make their own choices." It was easier to accept that what happened four years ago was due to poor choices and not some unknown force.

His facial expression morphed into one of intrigue. "What do you mean?"

"Next," a woman not much older than us said, talking to Miles and me.

We slid into to wobbly seat and waited as the woman secured the safety bar. We were the last ones to get on and the ride started immediately, slowly moving us around the giant wheel.

From where we were I could see the entire festival. The stage where a someone dressed as a clown was juggling, all of the other rides, the tops of colorful tents and of course the tops everyone's heads as the enjoyed themselves.

I focused on the distraction below, hoping Miles would drop the previous discussion. When I glanced over at him I noticed the slightly horrified look on his face as he looked down at the crowd below.

Fighting back a laugh I asked, "Are you afraid of heights?"

"No," he said coolly. His voice sounded calm, cool and collected, but the whiteness of his knuckles as he gripped onto the safety bar suggested otherwise.

I didn't call him out on his obvious lie. Instead I placed my hand over his, feeling as it relaxed under mine. 

+ + +

I found Nikki at the front of the crowd that had formed around the stage. It was dark and Mom was about to go on and perform. Once the sun went down it became colder and most people were leaving so the crowd was sparse.

"Where's your boyfriend?" she asked, nudging me with her elbow.

"He went to get food," I told her. "And he's not my boyfriend. There are no labels. I'm following your advice and going with the flow."

"Look at you," she grinned, "living in the moment and not over thinking things."

"Me over thinking? Never!"

She shook her head at me and laughed. "Anyway, is Aunt Dana's band even good?"

"You've heard my mom play before."

"Exactly, I've only heard Aunt Dana," she said. "I don't know about these other people."

Just as I was about to tell her how amazing the band was, someone called out my name. When I turned around my entire body froze at who I saw.

Tasha stood before me, a smile on her face as if she were happy to see me. She looked the same. Same dark brown skin, same relaxed hair, same rectangular glasses. I don't know why that was such a shock since I last saw her about four months ago. So much had changed in that amount of time, though, it felt longer.

I knew that seeing someone from Adsgrove was possible, but I didn't think it'd actually happen. Her smile faltered a bit when I said nothing in return. I couldn't. My mouth had gone dry.

"What do you want?" Nikki spoke up, putting herself between Tasha and I. "If you're here to start another fight I will gladly kick your ass."

Regaining the ability to move, I grabbed Nikki's arm, pulling her back. "It's fine. Just ignore her."

"Hold on," Tasha said and Nikki stopped allowing me to drag her away. "You think I started the fight?" Her darted to me. "Is that what you've been telling people?"

Now, Nikki looked back at me, her brow creased in confusion. "Are you saying you didn't?" she asked, facing Tasha.

"Why would I want to fight her? She was my best friend."

My stomach churned and I made one last attempt to pull Nikki away before Tasha could say anything else, but she wasn't budging.

"She started the fight," Tasha pointed an accusing finger in my direction.

Nikki turned to me and the look on her face made my stomach drop. I didn't realize I had been backing away until I bumped into and older man. After mumbling an apology I took off. Ignoring Nikki calling after to me. All I could focus on was the fact that I had been caught in a four year long lie.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top