As Much as You {completed}

Carmen: 5.

                “I love this place!” Olivia squealed excitedly as the four of them drove past numerous Victorian houses and vintage stores on their way into the next town over; Folkestone. The sun was out.

                “It’s nice, isn’t it? It’s great because although, to us, it seems far away from London it’s not really and this town is advanced. The bus systems run more than twice an hour and the supermarkets are opened twenty-four seven and there’s about five of them here and it also has a night life. It’s adapted more to London’s ways compared to Cornwall. That’s why, if I ever wanted to live somewhere else, it would be here. It’s got everything I wanted in Cornwall but didn’t have, without going to over the top like London.” Ezra said. “But don’t get me wrong,” he quickly added, “I love London too.”

                “I would definitely move here.”

                “Really?” Oscar asked, wrinkling up his nose. “I don’t know… it just all seems a bit too quiet right now.”

                “Oh, that’s ironic, now we hit the traffic light,” Carmen said sarcastically. “Thanks.”

                “No problem.” He responded, puffing out his chest, proudly.

                Carmen turned back around to face the front as Ezra watched as cars piled up in a queue behind them in the rear view mirror. He tapped his finger on the steering wheel and hummed quietly as he waited for the lights to go green.

                “This is ridiculous.”

                “Green!” Olivia squealed excitedly. “Go!”

                “Green usually does mean go, Olivia.”

                “Well, whatever,” Olivia sniffed. “Why’re you so grumpy?”

                “I’m not!” Carmen defended before winding the window down and closing her eyes. She didn’t know why, but ever since she woke up and went down to breakfast in the B&B where she saw Olivia and Oscar she suddenly wasn’t in the greatest of moods. She’d woken up next to Ezra, his curly hair falling everywhere in his face and smiled. Then, when she remembered they weren’t alone, she scowled. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to hang around with any one today – Ezra was always there so didn’t count. Who knows?
Carmen didn’t, but that was the nearest excuse she could come up with.

                “Whatever.” Olivia said again, before mumbling something German.

                Ezra sighed and then turned into a car park. They easily found a spot and still, without saying anything, Ezra got out to go to get a ticket. Everyone else vacated the car at the same time and Carmen jumped atop the front bumper, crossing her legs as Olivia tried to flatten out Oscar’s shirt.

                “So…”

                Carmen looked up from inspecting her nails, internally shouting at herself for being annoying. “So?”

                “Me and Oscar were thinking…”

                “We were?”

                “Uh-huh,” Olivia replied, waving her boyfriend off vaguely.

                “What about?"

                Flicking her blonde hair, Olivia turned to Oscar and raised an eyebrow. “Shut up.” She mumbled. “So,” she turned back to Carmen, “we were thinking that we were going to go off and do our own thing for a bit. You know, see this place by ourselves for a bit. Do you mind?”

                “No.” Carmen said nonchalantly. “I don’t care.”

                “Great!”

                “But Ezra might.”

                Olivia’s face fell and her mouth twisted. “Oh. Yeah…”

                “W—”

                “Do you think you could tell him that we’re going off? Or suggest you’re going off? Please…”

                Carmen looked at Olivia biting her lip and shot her a flat glare. “Really?”

                “Yeah.”

                “No.”

                “Oh come on!” she pleaded. “Don’t be so stubborn.”

                Carmen looked around the car park, looking towards the exit which lead to an alleyway near a bunch of shops. Then she looked at Ezra who was frowning, biting his own lip as he searched his change for the correct amount to put into the machine. She chuckled quietly to herself before reconstructing her face to a neutral position before Olivia could question why she suddenly turned happy.

                But Olivia saw anyway.

                And before she could open her mouth to protest, Carmen questioned her by raising an eyebrow herself.

                Before anything else could be done or said, Ezra walked back with a ticket it in his hands, placing it in the front of the window before closing the door.

                “Are we okay here?” he asked, watching the two girls stare each other down as Oscar scratched the back of his head.

                “Fine—”

                “Carmen has something she wants to tell you!” Olivia burst out quickly and Carmen dropped her jaw, jumping down from the car.

                “Bitch.”

                “You do?”

                Carmen sighed. “Olivia doesn’t want to hang out with us—”

                “N—”

                “She wants to go off with Oscar but she’s scared you’ll mind. Do you mind?”

                “That’s not wha—”

                “I don’t mind!” Ezra said happily. “We’re here to do whatever we want, outside of London. So you can do what you want.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “Just go, Olivia.” Carmen said flatly. She made Carmen tell Ezra they wanted to go off and now she was trying to put off going. Really? To be frank, it was annoying Carmen.

                “Carmen…” Ezra said under his breath, shaking his head. “It’s fine, Olivia, really.”

                “I’ll see you both later then.” Olivia said quietly, an apologetic look set on her face. “Have a good day.”

                “You too.”

                When they left, Ezra turned to Carmen and sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What was all that about?”

                “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I just woke up in a funny mood.”

                Suddenly, and to Carmen’s surprise, Ezra grinned widely. Carmen shot his a sceptical look and narrowed her eyes, wondering why he was smiling at the fact she woke up in a funny mood. She didn’t find anything amusing with being grumpy, so why did he?

                “What?”

                “Nothing…”

                “Why are you smiling then?”

                “No reason…” he replied, walking closer to her so she had nowhere to go but back up to the bumper of the car.

                She laughed nervously. “Ezra…”

                “Yes?”

                “What are you doing?”

                The look in the young lad’s eyes was pure, devilish excitement. He placed his hands on the bumper, either side of Carmen and she literally had nowhere to go. His breath was hot on her face and she opened her mouth to say something but instead Ezra lifted one of his hands and placed it over her mouth.

                “I want you to cheer up.” He said simply. “I want you to be happier.”

                “I’m fine.” She replied, her face heating slightly.

                “Good.”

                Ezra didn’t move.

                Carmen looked to the side, but Ezra’s hand was there. So she looked to the other side and before Ezra could say anything, or do anything, Carmen slipped out from his grip and was running away, laughing and screaming as Ezra realised what had happened and had begun running after her.

                They soon found themselves on George Street and after eating in a cute, little corner café called Ken’s they decided to go into the shop  opposite, on the other corner of the small alley that split then onto the main street. It was nice but more Carmen’s style than Ezra’s. Carmen picked up pillow after pillow, admired painting for the wall, touched silk curtains and smiled at a Buddha.

                “Want one of these?”

                Carmen turned around to Ezra who was holding up a small, orange, pocket sized Buddha.

                “No. I’m cool.” She said, although it wasn’t the truth. It was adorable and Carmen had wished that she had been the first to spot the little pocket size wooden model.

                “Not even as a souvenir? For our day together.”

                Carmen lips lifted a tiny bit. “Oh, go on then…”

                “Sure.” Ezra replied, happy that he had found something to buy for Carmen. He wanted to buy her something. He wanted this weekend to be special. To mean something. And maybe, just maybe, even drastically change Carmen’s life. “I’ll go get it and meet you outside.”

                “Okay.”

                Carmen waited and not two minutes later, Ezra walked out with a paper bag.
                “You going to name him?” 

                “No.” Carmen scoffed. “Why?”

                “I think you should name him.”

                Carmen looked at Ezra’s face. His mouth had down casted a little and he gripped hold of the paper bag. Carmen tried to take the bag but Ezra wouldn’t have it. He moved out of the way and Carmen sighed, looking up at the sun.

                “Fine. I’ll name him Jeremy.”

                “Why’s that?”

                “Because it’s the first name that came to mind…”

                “That’s not good enough.”

                “I like that name!” Carmen defended. “It’s a nice name.”

                “Would you name our baby Jeremy?”

                Carmen looked at Ezra, a little surprised, a little alarmed and also very aware of her heart skipping a beat. Children? Why would he talk to her about children?

                She let out a shaky laugh. “No.”

                “I wouldn’t either.” Ezra replied. “You can’t like it that much if you don’t want to name your child Jeremy. It’s got to be a special name.”

                “It is special.” Carmen argued. “I just don’t want to name my child Jeremy. Why, what would you want to name your children?” She was clever to say ‘your’ not their child. Because it was highly unlikely that they would ever, ever have a child together.

                “Harrison.”

                “Like, Harrison Ford?”

                “You know it.” He grinned, shoving the bag into her hands. “Look at this. It’s an antique store!” And so Ezra walked off to the shop closest to the one they were next to now, near Ken’s café.

                Carmen walked in, after Ezra and was met by a woman in mid-forties -- who definatly looked a hell-of-a-lot younger -- looking up through black rimmed glasses, turning a page from her newspaper. “Hello.”

                “Hi.” Carmen replied shyly. She noticed that the woman had fake nails and peroxide hair but looked down to earth in her lining trousers and vest top. A man walked out from out of the back of the room. He was quite tall and looked foreign – maybe Italian. He went and sat with the blonde woman and they talked quietly amongst themselves as he rolled a cigarette.

                “Look at this!” Ezra said excitedly. “Look! A new camera for your collection!”

                Carmen looked over at Ezra. He was holding up a Seagull-4 and Carmen’s face literally lit up. “Where did you find this?”

                Ezra chuckled. “In this box, labelled for camera’s.”

                “Oh my god,” Carmen said excitedly. “I have to get this!”

                And she did.

                They then walked up the main street to a large ASDA so Carmen could get a particular roll of film. But that didn’t matter. She knew exactly what type to get, how to fit it and how to set it up without even reading a manual. Ezra was impressed and he watched as she walked down the aisle with her camera now in her hand, now looking for some ribbon and anything else that they may want.

                “Blue or green?”

                “Green.” Ezra replied, grabbing a basket that was conveniently nearby. . “Defiantly.”

                “What’s wrong with blue?” Carmen asked, blinking her large Siberian eyes at him deliberately.

                “Nothing. But I have green eyes. Everyone loves my eyes. You love my eyes,” he added in slyly before continuing, “plus, it will be another thing to add into our day together.”

                “Fine. Green it is.”

                Ezra took the green ribbon and placed it in the basket. Then he grabbed her arm.

                “What?”

                “You want to do something exciting?”

                “What?” Carmen asked again.

                Again Ezra stepped closer to her, trapping her like he had in the car park and Carmen’s eyes had become accustom to widening whenever Ezra did this. 

                “W-What are you doing?”

                “This!” Ezra said quickly before shoving his best friend into the basket that he had dropped on the floor moments before. Carmen was about to protest, but Ezra began wheeling it away, Carmen’s legs hanging out as she failed her arms, laughing and screaming from the thrill. That was the beauty of the fact that ASDA had renewed all of their basket; these now had wheels and an arm-length handle.

                “Hey!” Someone shouted as they raced down the crafts aisle. “Hey! Come back here!”

                Carmen looked over her shoulder the best she could but her hair was in the way and she was sat awkwardly so it was hard to remove her hair. Ezra heard the voice of the security guards and automatically stopped. He turned around and pushed Carmen out, holding her hand, to the ground. As her converses hit the floor, Carmen’s heart was pumping with adrenaline and being careful, she took a picture of the security guards that were running towards them before stuffing it in her bag. She then grabbed Ezra’s hand and headed down the aisle. She got halfway there when she saw a head of blonde hair.

                                “Hey!” she shouted and Olivia turned around. She had a massive grin on her face and Carmen knew that she’d seen what they’d been doing. Then Ezra pulled on Carmen’s hand.

                “Gotta go!” he shouted and Carmen looked over her shoulder to see the security guards were close to them now. She could feel her heart thumping against her chest and her breaths were getting shorter and shorter but Ezra got Carmen to the main entrance – filled with security guards that didn’t yet know they were looking for them – and dragged her towards the escalators.

                She could hear the shouts of the guards and instead of taking their time; they raced down the empty escalators and through the ADSA – George clothing store that was underneath the food store and out the door, where they ran into the nearest Starbucks across the road. 

                Now completely out of breath, excited and shocked, Carmen collapsed on the nearest chair.  Ezra joined her and she hit his shoulder playfully.

                “All that commotion for riding in a basket.” Ezra murmured.

                “Yeah, and you owe me ribbon for my camera.”

                “But it was worth it.”

                Carmen looked Ezra dead set in his emerald eyes, his flushed cheeks and also at his curly, soft brown hair before her lips pulled up into a genuine smile. “Yeah… it was. Now go and get me coffee.”