Love's Recipe ~Choji~

Chapter 12

Every year, the village hosts a fall festival. There are so many great things involved, like unhealthy food, and music, games with cheap prizes, and rides that are all just different versions of spinning you around. But it is one of the greatest weeks of the year. Yes, it's crowded, loud, filthy dirty. But there is so much joy there, and it's a beautiful thing. It's probably not hard to guess that I'm usually stuck working during this time, because I have employees who call in or ask for the days of the fair off. But this year, I told Ken to work, because I wanted to go with Choji to meet his mom.

I never guessed he would bring me to the fair for our first date.

I looked all over the field, at all the people walking around, kids with corn dogs and stuffed animals holding their parents hands. Adults enjoying the music and beer. Couples laughing and holding hands. The sounds of people screaming with joy on the rides filled the air. And speaking of filling the air... I took a deep breath, sniffing out corn dogs and funnels cakes, lemon shake-ups and shaved ice with too much syrup.

It was a beautiful sight. And Choji hesitantly took my hand, smiling as he lead me through the crowds. First, we got a few ride tickets. Being the first day of the fair, every ride was only one ticket. And in all honesty, I didn't peg Choji as much of a rides guy. But we rode the scrambler and the tilt-a-whirl over and over and over again. We stumbled out the exit, and I almost fell over. But lucky me, Choji still had his barring's and was able to hold me up.

"Got it?" He asked with a laugh.

"I'll let you know when the trees stop swirling." He took my hand again and we ended up near the gaming booths. Like I said earlier, these things have nothing but cheap stuffed toys, posters, and other little trinkets, but by the Gods, you just want to win one. "Okay, popping a balloon with a dart. Easy." Or not... My first dart didn't even make it to the board. My second hit the board, but not the balloon. And my third followed the way of the second.

Choji put down a dollar to play and somehow managed to pop three balloons with ease. "Whaaaat! How did you do that?!"

And that's the story of how I found myself wrapped up in Choji's arms. My face broke with heat when I found myself before the game, Choji behind me as he put a dart in my hand and guided my movements. "Have some force, follow the line between your hand and the balloon, aaaaand..." He moved my hand back and forward, releasing the dart and popping the balloon.

"Oh my goodness!" It's the first time I've ever won a game. And with Choji's guidance, I was able to pop the other two balloons. The guy behind the counter handed me a small, bright pink and white stuffed lemur. Actually, it's really cute, and soft, and I just want to hug it. But that's when I realized how close Choji still was to me.

I turned to face him, the lemur held tight against my heart. He avoided my eyes, face slightly pink and hand rubbing the back of his head. But he was smiling. That cute smile that I love so much. "Sooo... food?" He finally asked, eyes shifting to look a me. I nodded and we moved to the nearest stand for corn dogs and lemon shake-ups.

Now, some people think that since I'm an aspiring top chef with heightened taste, things like this are beyond my taste pallet. But corn dogs! I took that first bite, covered with mustard, and was ready for heaven. Sometimes, you just need deep fried delicious. Choji was well seemed like he was highly enjoying his corndog and I started to laugh when I noticed the ketchup on the side of his mouth.

"What?" He asked. And started to laugh himself. I gave him a questioning look, only for him to grab a napkin and wipe at my own mouth, coming away with yellow mustard. I wiped his clean and we both began to laugh. Fair food equals mess. But we were having such a great time together. And I really wanted it to last longer. But there is work tomorrow for both of us.

Choji held my hand the entire way back home. And as the town faded behind the trees, I knew our day together was almost over. Holding the lemur in one hand and Choji's hand in the other, I began to think... this is great. I wish we could do this more. Stopping outside the door, Choji seemed slightly embarrassed.

"Thank you. Today was really fun." I said, hand out to push the door open.

"Is it... okay to come by tomorrow?" He asked.

"Of course!" Joy, joy, so much joy! "Come by any day, bring Shikamaru and Ino. I always have food ready."

Choji's grin was so large and happy. And he continued to grin until I disappeared behind the door. Oh my goodness. I really, really, really like this guy. Please let this be real! I grinned and thought back on the night with lemur held snug against my chest.